Shabbat shalom, thank you for participating in limmud! Please read through the text from this week's parsha, Korah. Prompt your students to pay attention to how Korah presents his argument. Ask them; how do you present yourself when challenge authority?
(1) Now Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—descendants of Reuben— (2) to rise up against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftains of the community, chosen in the assembly, men of repute. (3) They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the LORD’s congregation?” (4) When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. (5) Then he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Come morning, the LORD will make known who is His and who is holy, and will grant him access to Himself; He will grant access to the one He has chosen. (6) Do this: You, Korah and all your band, take fire pans, (7) and tomorrow put fire in them and lay incense on them before the LORD. Then the man whom the LORD chooses, he shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” (8) Moses said further to Korah, “Hear me, sons of Levi. (9) Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the community of Israel and given you access to Him, to perform the duties of the LORD’s Tabernacle and to minister to the community and serve them? (10) Now that He has advanced you and all your fellow Levites with you, do you seek the priesthood too?
(32) And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
Questions for discussion:
1. What do you notice about Korach's tone?
2. What is your middah l'edah*? How might you view Korah's disagreement through the lens of your middah?
3. Note the metaphor of the earth's mouth "swallowing up" those who rebelled. What might this text tell us about the power of our language/lashon?
*Amitzim - Lashon, Adat Shalom - Mechuyavut, Sollelim - chesed
(יז) כָּל מַחֲלוֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, אֵין סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם. אֵיזוֹ הִיא מַחֲלוֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, זוֹ מַחֲלוֹקֶת הִלֵּל וְשַׁמַּאי. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, זוֹ מַחֲלוֹקֶת קֹרַח וְכָל עֲדָתוֹ:
(17) Every argument that is [for the sake of] heaven's name, it is destined to endure. But if it is not [for the sake of] heaven's name -- it is not destined to endure. What [is an example of an argument for the sake of] heaven's name? The argument of Hillel and Shammai. What [is an example of an argument not for the sake of] heaven's name? The argument of Korach and all of his followers.
Pause to ask chanichim how they might define a(n) makhloket l'shem shamayim (arguement for the sake of heaven)?
Note that for the Rabbis of the Talmud, a Makhloket l'shem shamayim, an argument for the sake of heaven, is not one in which anyone gives in, nor one where one refused to hear the other side. It is a disagreement in which people are polite and in which both sides are open to hearing the other side. In order to truly place others' words before our own, as Beit Hillel did, we much listen to them and be able to restate them before we respond to them.
א"ר אבא אמר שמואל שלש שנים נחלקו ב"ש וב"ה הללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו והללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו יצאה בת קול ואמרה אלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים הן והלכה כב"ה וכי מאחר שאלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים מפני מה זכו ב"ה לקבוע הלכה כמותן מפני שנוחין ועלובין היו ושונין דבריהן ודברי ב"ש ולא עוד אלא שמקדימין דברי ב"ש לדבריהן
...A question was raised:Since a Divine Echo declared: "Both these and those are the words of the Living God," why was the halacha established to follow the opinion of Hillel? It is because the students of Hillel were kind and gracious. They taught their own ideas as well as the ideas from the students of Shammai. Not only for this reason, but they went so far as to teach Shammai's opinions first.