{"id":4965,"date":"2024-07-01T10:53:33","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T14:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/?p=4965"},"modified":"2024-07-16T12:47:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T16:47:40","slug":"the-lost-torah-of-korach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lost Torah of Korach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

By Matthew Schultz, Hebrew College rabbinical student<\/a><\/p>\n

Parashat Korach<\/em> Numbers 16:1-18:32<\/a><\/p>\n

\u05db\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05e2\u05d3\u05d4 \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them\u201d<\/em> (Numbers 16:3)<\/p>\n

These words were uttered by Korach before he was consumed by the earth. If you hear something profound in them, you\u2019re not alone. Were they not words of truth, the 19th century Hasidic master, the Ishbitzer Rebbe tells us, the Torah would not have recorded them for all eternity.<\/p>\n

So Korach was a flawed man. His message was marred by ulterior motives\u2014by hatred and self-interest. Still, he had a Torah\u2014a teaching\u2014and it is ours to learn.<\/p>\n

To understand Korach\u2019s Torah, I turned to the book of Psalms, eleven of which were written by \u201cthe sons of Korach.\u201d Of course, the relationship between these psalms and Parashat Korach is mysterious. Are the sons of Korach the bearers of Korach\u2019s lost Torah? Or did they rebel against their rebel father, forming a theology in the negative space of his own?<\/p>\n

They form a coherent body of work. The poetic voice is completely different from that of King David. King David\u2019s psalms erratically veer from bleak desperation to an outsized sense of vindication and invincibility. Praises to God are shot through with paranoid ruminations about enemies. When frenzied, he is self-righteous, castigating fools and sinners who will meet a sorry end while he\u2014the beloved of God\u2014will thrive.<\/p>\n

The Korach psalms are of a different nature. They are songs of longing.<\/p>\n

Longing for God: \u201cJust as the deer thirsts for streams of water, so my soul thirsts after you, God\u201d<\/em> (Psalms 42:2).<\/p>\n

Longing for the king: \u201cI relate my verses for the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God has blessed thee for ever\u201d<\/em> (Psalms 45:2-3).<\/p>\n

Longing for the Temple. \u201cMy soul longs, indeed, it faints for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God\u201d<\/em> (Psalms 84:3).<\/p>\n

Longing for Jerusalem. \u201cWalk about Zion, go all round her; count her towers. Take note of her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell it to the next generation that this God is our God forever\u201d<\/em> (Psalms 48:13-15).<\/p>\n

Absent from these psalms is Korach\u2019s rebellious spirit. There is nothing but admiration for ancient Israelite institutions of authority. But Korach\u2019s belief that \u201cGod is in their midst\u201d is felt palpably by the sons of Korach. Every sensual detail pulses with divine immanence.<\/p>\n

Winding through these poems like a thread is the specter of the pit that swallowed the poets\u2019 progenitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbyss calls to abyss through the din of Your conduits\u201d<\/em> (Psalms 42:8).<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have covered us with death-shadow\u201d<\/em> (Psalms 44:20).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not fear, though the earth change, and though the mountains are moved in the midst of the sea\u201d<\/em> (Psalms 46:3).<\/p>\n

And then, in the last Korach psalm, it is as if Korach the elder were speaking to us from the depths of the earth:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am\u2026 like the slain that lie in the grave, whom Thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from Thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps\u201d<\/em> (Psalms 88:6-8).<\/p>\n

This is a strange and sorrowful note on which to end this psalm cycle, emblematic of the Torah\u2019s aversion to pat endings, or to endings in general.<\/p>\n

In the Torah, as in history, there is never a final word.<\/p>\n

In the fullness of time, every sinner will be crowned a tzadik<\/em> (a righteous person) by a new generation of interpreters; and our descendants\u2014bearing our names\u2014will change the meaning of our lives.<\/p>\n

\n

Matthew Schultz is a columnist with the LA Jewish Journal. He is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts and author of the \u201cDispatches from the Promised Land\u201d substack newsletter:<\/em> https:\/\/matthewschultz.substack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[maxbutton id=\u201d2\u2033 ] [maxbutton id=\u201d1\u2033 ] <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matthew Schultz, Hebrew College rabbinical student Parashat Korach Numbers 16:1-18:32 \u05db\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05e2\u05d3\u05d4 \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u201cAll the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them\u201d (Numbers 16:3) These words were uttered by Korach before he was consumed by the earth. If you hear something profound in them, you\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3007,"featured_media":4968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,184,13,5,274],"class_list":["post-4965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-70-faces-of-torah","tag-psalms","tag-seventy-faces-of-torah","tag-torah","tag-torah-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Lost Torah of Korach<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Matthew Schultz, Hebrew College rabbinical student Parashat Korach Numbers 16:1-18:32 \u05db\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05e2\u05d3\u05d4 \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u201cAll the congregation are holy,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Lost Torah of Korach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Matthew Schultz, Hebrew College rabbinical student Parashat Korach Numbers 16:1-18:32 \u05db\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05e2\u05d3\u05d4 \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u201cAll the congregation are holy,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Seventy Faces of Torah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-01T14:53:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-16T16:47:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/779\/2024\/07\/matthew-schultz.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"384\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hebrew College\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hebrew College\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/\",\"name\":\"The Lost Torah of Korach\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-01T14:53:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-16T16:47:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#\/schema\/person\/a9e42ac7fd59a95a44550a3d70b8f2f1\"},\"description\":\"By Matthew Schultz, Hebrew College rabbinical student Parashat Korach Numbers 16:1-18:32 \u05db\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05e2\u05d3\u05d4 \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u201cAll the congregation are holy,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Lost Torah of Korach\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/\",\"name\":\"Seventy Faces of Torah\",\"description\":\"A pluralistic Jewish scriptural commentary, produced by Hebrew College.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#\/schema\/person\/a9e42ac7fd59a95a44550a3d70b8f2f1\",\"name\":\"Hebrew College\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22ed48695b7dc79e429d891245c61d43?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22ed48695b7dc79e429d891245c61d43?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hebrew College\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/author\/wlinden\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Lost Torah of Korach","description":"By Matthew Schultz, Hebrew College rabbinical student Parashat Korach Numbers 16:1-18:32 \u05db\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05e2\u05d3\u05d4 \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u201cAll the congregation are holy,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Lost Torah of Korach","og_description":"By Matthew Schultz, Hebrew College rabbinical student Parashat Korach Numbers 16:1-18:32 \u05db\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05e2\u05d3\u05d4 \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u201cAll the congregation are holy,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/","og_site_name":"Seventy Faces of Torah","article_published_time":"2024-07-01T14:53:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-07-16T16:47:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":384,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/779\/2024\/07\/matthew-schultz.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Hebrew College","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hebrew College"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/","name":"The Lost Torah of Korach","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-07-01T14:53:33+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-16T16:47:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#\/schema\/person\/a9e42ac7fd59a95a44550a3d70b8f2f1"},"description":"By Matthew Schultz, Hebrew College rabbinical student Parashat Korach Numbers 16:1-18:32 \u05db\u05d9 \u05db\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05e2\u05d3\u05d4 \u05db\u05dc\u05dd \u05e7\u05d3\u05e9\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05d1\u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05dd \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u201cAll the congregation are holy,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/2024\/07\/the-lost-torah-of-korach\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Lost Torah of Korach"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/","name":"Seventy Faces of Torah","description":"A pluralistic Jewish scriptural commentary, produced by Hebrew College.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#\/schema\/person\/a9e42ac7fd59a95a44550a3d70b8f2f1","name":"Hebrew College","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22ed48695b7dc79e429d891245c61d43?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22ed48695b7dc79e429d891245c61d43?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Hebrew College"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/author\/wlinden\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3007"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/seventyfacesoftorah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}