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40

June 14 • 2018

torah portion

Names And
Consequences

I

remember when my wife and I
were preparing to have our first
son. We spent a long time trying
to find just the right name; as part of
that process, we consulted a Jewish
name encyclopedia.
It was fascinating to read through
the various names with their mean-
ings and connections. The list
included a few surprises. I
was more than a bit shocked
to turn the page and see …
In fact, the idea that all
Korach. Right there among
of us are holy is a pillar
all the beautiful names
of Jewish thought; none
that parents might wish to
is closer to God than any
bestow upon their precious
other. Although it seems
new baby. Korach; really?
that Korach didn’t approve
Korach is the character
of God’s choice of leaders,
Rabbi Mark
who gives his own name to
which is a problem, the
Miller
this week’s Torah portion.
foundation of his argument
He was a great-grandson of
is sound. Even today, we
Levi and a tribal leader who
should be willing to stand
had tremendous influence
up and protest when some-
among the Israelites as they wan-
one insists that he is inherently bet-
dered toward the Promised Land.
ter or more worthy than anyone else;
He is famous for stoking a rebel-
in doing so, we model the best of
lion against Moses that eventually
what Korach taught us.
led to him and his followers being
Secondly, while the fate of Korach
swallowed up by the earth in an act
and his followers is fairly horrific, we
of Divine retribution (or at least a
are also left with a story that asks us
supernatural display meant to pre-
to affirm the important roles that
vent any more attempts to usurp the different members of our society
play. After Korach’s death, the Torah
authority of Moses).
takes advantage of this moment
My discomfort with seeing
to clarify the responsibilities and
Korach’s name in the baby book
benefits of the Levites, charged with
stems from the deep and abiding
serving the Temple. They may not
fact that our tradition views Korach
be ultimate leaders like Moses or
as a villain. He was an outlaw of the
Aaron; but without them, the entire
highest magnitude, whose story
system would break down. In that
remains part of Torah as a dire
sense, Korach’s legacy could easily
warning to each generation. As a
be described as helping us to install
result, my assumption was that the
baby book simply put in every name the system that brought us through
the desert and helped guide us in
from the Bible, not thinking about
creating our new society in the
whether or not they were actually
Promised Land. Not too shabby for
good names (I also found Amalek
a villain.
and Goliath, among others).
Ultimately, I wonder if the baby
But Jewish tradition has never
book wasn’t pretty smart after all.
been about the first reading of a
Korach was certainly a villain, but
story, and Korach’s tale demands
he also left us with some impressive
more from us than simple condem-
gifts; and that is something I believe
nation. First of all, our Torah por-
we all wish for our own children,
tion presents a complex theological
whatever their particular talents or
problem. We would be hard-pressed
passions might be. •
to deny Korach’s assertion that “all
the communities are holy, all of
Rabbi Mark Miller is senior rabbi at Temple
them, and the Eternal is in their
Beth El in Bloomfield Township.
midst.” (Numbers 16:3)

Parshat Korach:
Numbers 16:1-18:32;
I Samuel 11:14-
12:22.