Parashat Korach
23 Sivan 5774 / 20-21 June 2014
Torah: Numbers 16:1 - 18:32
Haftarah: 1 Samuel 11:14 - 12:22
Full calendar and lots of other info available at: http://www.bethmeier.org
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ON BEING AND DOING
"They gathered together against Moses and against Aaron
and said to them, 'It is too much for you! For all of the assembly - all
of them - are holy, and the Lord is among them; why do you lord yourselves over
the congregation of the Lord?'" Numbers 16:3
Korach and his fellow rebels offer this challenge to the
leadership of Moses and Aaron. What makes them holier than everybody
else? Korach seems to have a point. After all, God did say to all of
the Israelites that "you will be holy for I, the Lord your God, am
holy." Leviticus 19:2 Even before the giving of the Torah at Sinai,
God had told them, "You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy
people." Exodus 19:6
The error that Korach and his followers make is that they
didn't hear God as clearly as they thought. In the Exodus and Leviticus
texts, God spoke in the future tense - "you will (or shall) be
holy". It can be viewed as either a promise of future holiness, or as
a commandment to become holy. How might holiness be accomplished? By
observing God's commandments, of course.
Korach thinks that merely by being a Jew, he has done
enough, he is holy. So it is with too many of us. We think that it is
enough merely to be a Jew. As Korach fatally learns, to really be a Jew,
to really achieve the holiness that God promises us, requires not passivity,
but action - Jewish action. One can not simply "be" - one must
“do".
There are many paths to the kind of holiness the Torah is
talking about. One can kasher one's kitchen or attend prayer services more
often or make Shabbat at home regularly. One might attend Jewish
education classes or read more Jewish books. It certainly means taking
responsibility for one’s actions (or inaction). But in Judaism, it is
equally certain that mere belief is not enough. Deeds speak far louder
than professions of faith.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Congregation Beth Meier
Studio City, CA
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CBM Calendar:
Candle lighting: 7:49 pm
Friday: Shabbat
evening service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00
am. Kiddush lunch follows.
Tuesday: Lunch and Learn – 12:00 noon
Friday, June 27: Shabbat Evening Service – 8:00 pm
Saturday, June 28: Shabbat Morning Service – 10:00 am
This d’var torah is offered in
memory of Marshall Neiman, who passed away on Tuesday. Contact me at ravflom@sbcglobal.net for
funeral and shivah information. Y’hi zikhro liv’rakhah.
This d'var torah is offered for a
refuah shleimah for Avram Yisrael ben Channah (Robert Flom), Miriam Minya
bat Alisa Batya, Howard Ehrlich, Jerry Forman, Debra Freeman, Pamela
Huddleston, Rose Jordan, Jayne Kaplan, and Helen Schugar.
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