2nd Tammuz 5785  ·  28th June 2025

Parashat Korach

A Devar Torah by Ben Eaton

Parshat Korach seems, on the surface, a simple morality tale of one man's ambition and lust for power. Korach attempts to unseat both Moses and Aaron,

but rather swiftly gets his deadly and very public comeuppance along with a few hundred of his followers. The ensuing collateral damage stretches to 14700 people. Simple lesson: do not mess with those chosen of G-d. To drive the point home, the final chapters of the Parsha concern the dues and duties of the Levites and (more specifically) the Priests.

But was Korach really doing anything wrong? We live in a democracy (albeit one becoming less liberal by the week) where people have died defending the right to do what Korach is doing - i.e., to question the authority of a leader to lead. For all its faults and the hysterical prognostications of Armageddon that greeted the re-election of a temperamental narcissist demagogue to the White House last year (but not, for some reason, when an elderly man suffering from serious cognitive decline involved in a corruption scandal was elected to the same office four years previously), liberal democracy has resulted in the most desirable societies in which to live in human history. That's why the majority of immigrants travel West. So, Korach does what we do every day in our society and complains about who's in charge. He specifically attacks their gatekeeping of the Priesthood. For this he and his family end up being literally swallowed up by the ground. A bit of an extreme punishment for exercising his free speech, no?

What is the Torah telling us here? That anything other than autocratic theocracy is sinful? That we should be afraid to speak? Is Moses a demagogue? Why is the Priesthood hereditary anyway - what makes Aaron and his sons so special? Is that really meritocratic?

These are, of course, absurd questions. I'm purposely being disingenuous in asking them. We're commanded to study the Torah, to live it, and understand it, and take joy in it. We're also commanded that where there is ambiguity in interpreting the law, we should decide according to the majority (hence the Sanhedrin of the Talmud era and the Beit Din in modern times). So, it's fairly safe to say that as long as we operate within the parameters and restrictions that the Torah gives us, we still have a lot of latitude for personal freedom. As a result Jews are wont to question and argue about everything. Given that almost all societies governed by Judeo-Christian ethics have becomes liberal democracies, it seems axiomatic that The Torah strikes the perfect balance between the rights of the individual and the individual's responsibilities to society. But there are restrictions and one of those is around who can be a Priest.

Who would want the Priesthood anyway? It's long hours, get it wrong and you suffer the fate of Nadab and Abihu, and as a Levite you're reliant on the other tribes to provide for your material needs. There are, however, a few benefits. One of which is that the Priests are the highest court [Parshat Shofetim, Deut. Ch.17 vv8-13] - if any of the lower courts fail to resolve your dispute to your satisfaction then you end up in front of the priests - their judgements cannot be contradicted. If a Priest were to wilfully choose to teach and interpret Torah incorrectly then they could pretty much do as they please - authoritarianism would swiftly follow. We see this "High Priest logic" in a lot of modern discourse - it's also known as the "appeal to authority" - whereby discussion is shut down by quoting a perceived authority figure. For example, the calumny that Israel is an apartheid state - clearly nonsense to anyone who has ever been there - is cited as fact because NGOs like Amnesty International say so. Facts take second place to reputation or qualification. Ironically it happens in a lot of scientific discussions - apparently you need all sorts of degrees to know that women don't have penises. The problem being that once you have someone power-hungry in a role where they can dictate acceptable truth, and contradiction carries severe consequences for those lower down the food chain, they can cause untold damage, and you will very soon find yourself living under a dictatorship. As per Lord Acton's maxim that "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely".

Character Matters

Cast your mind back to 2016 and the EU referendum. Full disclosure: I voted to remain. There were, however, compelling reasons to leave - the European Arrest Warrant that had been introduced with no reciprocal harmonisation of criminal evidence standards (a police officer from any member state could literally turn up and arrest you with no evidence), massive corruption from some of the Eastern bloc states, collusion with unsavoury regimes over immigration policy, and a complete failure to address crises on our doorstep (notably the Balkan wars of the 1990s and more recently the war in Ukraine). So why did I vote Remain? One reason was that I have lived through an awful lot of organisational change in my career and I can tell you that it is always risky and very costly - so if you're going to do it then you'd better be sure of your purpose and have a very clear plan. There were other reasons such as free movement across Europe, in addition the EU was very good at investing in provincial areas that our own government neglected. I could easily have gone either way, but the clincher for me was that I simply didn't trust the people running the Leave campaign - they were, to a man, about the most self-serving dishonest bunch of political reprobates that one could hope to meet.

Character matters - the office being held is nowhere near as important as the person holding that office. Did Korach really think that he was a better man for the job than Moses or Aaron? Once you allow people of poor character or lacking in moral courage to rule over you, all the laws and guidance in the world will not save you from injustice.

Let's take an example. In November 2023, six police officers were sent to arrest a retired special constable by the name of Julian Foulkes. His crime? Posting a tweet. Not a tweet that had incitement or threats in it or broke the law in any way whatsoever. But that didn't stop him spending the night in the cells while the police ransacked his house and, in one incident captured on bodycam footage, described his books as being "very Brexity".

What they did was illegal – we know this because when it came to court Mr Foulkes received £20,000 in compensation for the misadventure of the Kent Keystone Cops. But how did this happen? We have numerous laws in place around evidence and entering property and risk assessment for public safety – all of which should have prevented this ever happening. Not only that but six police officers do not go out on a whim – that kind of resource needs to be signed off by a senior officer. So that's at least seven public servants who decided to ignore the law and harass an elderly gentleman. Not one of them questioned it. To date, nobody has been sanctioned or disciplined.

By the way, your taxes are paying for this.

What the Torah Requires of Leaders

So, what should we expect from people in positions of authority? What does the Torah say? In Parshat Yitro, Moses is advised by his father-in-law to:

"…enjoin upon [the people] the laws and teachings, and make known to them the way they are to go and the practices they are to follow. You shall also seek out from among all the people capable men who fear G-d, trustworthy men who spurn ill-gotten gain. Set these over them as chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens and let them judge the people at all times."

Note that the only qualifications that Jethro proposes is that these men are G-d fearing and trustworthy. Not that they are more learned in Torah. Not that they are rich, or powerful, or popular. Only that they are G-d fearing and trustworthy. To be G-d fearing is to recognise that there is a higher authority who loves us and gives us laws that are right and true – that there are times when we must sublimate our own selfish desires and instead do what is right.

Herein likes Korach's problem - he's neither G-d fearing nor trustworthy. He is actively choosing to ignore the Divine presence that rests over the Mishkan and all the miracles that brought us out of Egypt. He wants to occupy the office that exists to support the spiritual wellbeing and ritual purity of the Jewish people - but he obviously doesn't believe in the Divinely given Torah, which he was witness to, that only four Parshot ago made clear the boundaries of the duties of the Levites. Allowing Korach to take the Priesthood would be like putting an arsonist in charge of fire safety.

Being G-d fearing should not be confused with self-righteousness, which is when someone's belief in their own moral certitude overrides any doubt about their own conduct. One should be very wary of the self-righteous – to quote CS Lewis:

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

— CS Lewis

So, my advice to you is that if you're voting for people to be in charge then make sure those people are G-d fearing and trustworthy. Make sure they're competent too.

A Note on Governance

Even in a charitable interpretation, Korach's problem is that he was more concerned with what he perceived to be "equal" rather than whether Moses was the best person to lead us - not that it was his decision to make. But even if he didn't accept the Divine revelation that we were all witness to, Moses' integrity was unimpeachable. His record was unquestionable.

The AGM is in four days, this Wednesday 2nd July. One of the motions to be voted on is a small change to the constitution to bring us line with charities law. There is also a working group that are looking at a more long-term approach to governance. This sort of thing is important to set the parameters of what people can and cannot do in the running of the shul. However, all the rules and regulations in the world will not save you if the people governing you lack moral fibre - you cannot legislate for integrity. We have been very fortunate at BPS to have been led by great men and women of upstanding moral character - many of whom are, sadly, no longer with us: Harold Inglis, Eric Ackstine, Heinz Shire, David Blain, Henry Cohn, Lilian Rose, Corrine Oppenheimer, Helga Loeb and many others - Zichronam Livracha. It is their personal character, much more than the articles of association, which sustained our shul.

Don't be like Korach - letting your personal ambition or arrogance blind you to the words of Torah. One of the most important aspects of the Torah is that, although G-d gives it to us, we are the ones who willingly receive it. A lot of the commandments are very public, many aren't - they are between us and G-d. Nobody else knows whether we're following them. So, a large part of The Torah is predicated on us taking on those obligations with a willing heart and doing our best to follow them. I've spoken before about how remembrance isn't left to chance in Judaism - The Torah gives us ways of helping us to stay on track. For example: Yom Kippur - we get one day a year dedicated to doing a self-audit on the previous year – which, year on year, should help us improve our character. Some people are born righteous, the rest of us have to work at it.

Shabbat Shalom