בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
בְּרוּךֶ אַתֶה חֲוָיָה שְׁכִינּוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדַשְׁתַנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיהֶ וְצִוְתָנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָהּ אֱלֹהָתֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קֵרְבָתְנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתָהּ וְצִוְתָנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
Blessings for learning and studying Torah
Berakhot 11b:
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu la’asok b’divrei Torah
Nonbinary Hebrew Project:
B’rucheh ateh Khavayah Shekhinu ruach ha’olam asher kidash’tanu b’mitzvotei’he v’tziv’tanu la’asok b’divrei Torah
Feminine God Language:
Brukhah at Ya Elohateinu ruach ha’olam asher keir’vat’nu la’avodatah v’tziv’tavnu la’asok b’divrei Torah
(26) He addressed the community, saying, “Move away from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing that belongs to them, lest you be wiped out for all their sins.” (27) So they withdrew from about the abodes of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Now Dathan and Abiram had come out and they stood at the entrance of their tents, with their wives, their adult children, and their little ones. (28) And Moses said, “By this you shall know that it was יהוה who sent me to do all these things; that they are not of my own devising: (29) if these people’s death is that of all humankind, if their lot is humankind’s common fate, it was not יהוה who sent me. (30) But if יהוה brings about something unheard-of, so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that those involved have spurned יהוה.” (31) Scarcely had he finished speaking all these words when the ground under them burst asunder, (32) and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all Korah’s people and all their possessions. (33) They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation. (34) All Israel around them fled at their shrieks, for they said, “The earth might swallow us!” (35) And a fire went forth from יהוה and consumed the two hundred and fifty participants offering the incense.
רב לכם כי כל העדה כלם קדושים, "a great deal for you, for the whole community is holy." They meant that Moses and Aaron had claimed too much authority to themselves. In the event that Moses and Aaron would ask wherein precisely they had claimed to themselves too much authority, Korach and company said that in view of the fact that the entire community was holy having experienced direct communication from G'd [at Mt. Sinai] something not granted to any other nation, plus the fact that G'd remained within its midst, Moses and Aaron had placed themselves above such a holy nation.
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, "Korach: fruitful tension between paradigms," https://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2009/09/korach-fruitful-tension-between-paradigms-radical-torah-repost.html
I've long identified with Korach, who can be read as a proponent of democracy, of grassroots activism, of empowerment. The entire people is holy, he says; power shouldn't be consolidated in the hands of an élite; each of us should be able to draw near to God. We aspire to holy community, don't we? And what could be more holy than a community in which everyone takes responsibility for [their] own relationship with God?
Sasha T. Goldberg, "Queering the Rebellion: Bringing in the Faith," https://www.keshetonline.org/resources/queering-the-rebellion-bringing-in-the-faith-parashat-korach/
Essentially, Korach and his followers are restless, jealous of Moses’ leadership and their own lot in life, respectively, and, particularly, the struggle attached to figuring out this new freedom.
And, within this restlessness, they want to challenge the system. And while this seems to be the natural cycle of life, sometimes it is actually possible, as it says in the parsha, to go too far.
Rabbi Steven Nathan, "Leadership," https://www.reconstructingjudaism.org/dvar-torah/leadership/
Korah was not just a member of the “common folk.” He was a Levite. By his birth he was granted a special status among the people. He had prescribed duties and was one of those responsible for the upkeep of the Mishkan, the wilderness tabernacle that housed the Ark of the Covenant and was viewed by the people as “God’s dwelling place.” He may not have been one who spoke to God “face to face” like Moses, nor was he like Aaron and his sons (also of the tribe of Levi) who became the priests and performed the sacrifices, but he was still a member of the elite. He may have couched his revolutionary language in terms of the desire for a more democratic system by shouting to his cousin Moses “are not all God’s people holy, ” but in reality he was really just trying to expand the elite priestly class to include himself.
Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, "Striving to be Holy," https://www.hadar.org/torah-tefillah/resources/striving-be-holy
Korah watches his cousins approach the holy over and over again, and suffers the indignity of knowing that were he to do the same job, he would die. All he is allowed to do is carry the objects once they are covered.
[…]
So while Korah may seem to be making a claim about the holiness of the entire nation, it seems his frustration is borne of his own status of almost holy. He is so close to the highest level – and yet can never reach it. Instead of looking at his status as an honor, Korah experiences it as an insult. To him, all that matters is the state of achieving ultimate holiness and its accompanying access; being close to the holy does not matter. And that may be the core of his sin.
The Sages taught in a baraita: The basic mitzva of Hanukkah is each day to have a light kindled by a person, the head of the household, for himself and his household. And the mehadrin, i.e., those who are meticulous in the performance of mitzvot, kindle a light for each and every one in the household. And the mehadrin min hamehadrin, who are even more meticulous, adjust the number of lights daily. Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagree as to the nature of that adjustment. Beit Shammai say: On the first day one kindles eight lights and, from there on, gradually decreases the number of lights until, on the last day of Hanukkah, he kindles one light. And Beit Hillel say: On the first day one kindles one light, and from there on, gradually increases the number of lights until, on the last day, he kindles eight lights.
Every argument that is for [the sake of] heaven's name, it is destined (literally, its end is) to endure: That is to say that the [parties to] the argument are destined to endure and not perish, as with the argument between Hillel and Shammai, [whereby] neither the students of the School of Hillel nor the students of the School of Shammai perished. But Korach and his congregation perished. And I heard the explanation of “its end” is its purpose that is sought from its subject. And [with] the argument which is for the sake of Heaven, the purpose and aim that is sought from that argument is to arrive at the truth, and this endures; like that which they said, "From a dispute the truth will be clarified," and as it became elucidated from the argument between Hillel and Shammai - that the law was like the school of Hillel. And [with] argument which is not for the sake of Heaven, its desired purpose is to achieve power and the love of contention, and its end will not endure; as we found in the argument of Korach and his congregation - that their aim and ultimate intent was to achieve honor and power, and the opposite was [achieved].
Rabbi Marc D. Angel, The Koren Pirke Avot
Some present-day disputes are clearly in the category of Korah controversies. People fight for power, seek to destroy their opponents, give vent to their egotistical ambitions in cruel and ruthless ways. These controversies are resolved through power struggles. The stronger side will win; the weaker side will be wiped out or forced to surrender. Other contemporary controversies are more akin to those of Hillel and Shammai. As long as the disputants realize they are ultimately on the same side, these controversies can be healthy aspects of our intellectual and cultural lives. We can weigh both sides calmly and reasonably. We can disagree on various points of theology or philosophy and still remain respectful and friendly to each other.
Rabbi Rachel Cowan, The Torah: A Women's Commentary, pg. 912
The Korah in all of us gets triggered by different emotions: fear, anger, anxiety, greed or doubt. When this happens, we lose sight of the whole and become caught up in our own inner dramas. Our needs eclipses the needs of others.
[Our path] is to move from the narrow place of doubt, fear, anger, and jealousy to an expansive covenanted life in a community of mutual care and responsibility. In such community, all people are holy. They – we – can remind each other that what matters is not the ambition of the self, but the world of helping to make the soul, the home, the office, and the world a safer, wiser, more compassionate place for all.