Yesterday, an annular eclipse helps those who have lost track of the Hebrew date, because eclipses always happen on a new moon. So, how might we connect the new moon with Korach, the apparently rebellious priest after whom this week’s Torah portion in named. The answer is in the Mishnah of Rosh Hashanah (2:8-9). In order to declare the new moon, and thus the new month, witnesses needed to appear before the court. In this Mishnah, two witnesses came to the Rabbinic court at Yavneh and said that they saw the moon in the east on the morning of the 29th and they saw it in the west in the evening. Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri said that they were false witnesses. However, Rabban Gamaliel accepted their testimony, assuming that they had just made a mistake with their morning sighting. Two more witnesses came along and gave a differing testimony – that they saw the moon in its proper time. However, the moon did not appear to the Court as predicted but Rabban Gamaliel nonetheless accepted their testimony. Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas said that they were false witnesses. He asked, “How can they testify that a woman has given birth when, on the very next day, her stomach is still up there between her teeth?” In other words, how can we say there’s a new moon when no-one can see the new moon? Rabbi Joshua said to him, “I can see your position.” In other words, Rabban Gamaliel, the head of the court, has accepted the testimony of the witnesses who, it turns out, are false witnesses. Rabbi Joshua agrees with Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas who challenges how the court – specifically Rabban Gamaliel – came to accept false testimony. So, then something fascinating happens. Rabban Gamaliel turns to Rabbi Joshua and says, “I decree that you come to me with your staff and purse on the Day of Atonement which is determined in accordance with your counting.” Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas has provided a challenge but instead of answering that challenge, Rabbi Joshua has furthered it, essentially starting a group of people who have challenged Rabban Gamaliel’s authority. So Rabban Gamaliel’s response is to tell Rabbi Joshua that if he counts the calendar differently, he should demonstrate his apparent rebellion publicly. Is it rebellion, though? Yes, Rabbi Joshua is questioning how Rabban Gamaliel’s method for examining witnesses, but is it an innocent query or is it open mockery of the leader of the court? It could be read both ways. Rabban Gamaliel takes it as publicly questioning his authority, so he reacts by showing strict authority. Whether it was intended to be rebellious or not, Rabban Gamaliel’s response turns it into a rebellion that must be ended.
Rabbi Akiva
finds Rabbi Joshua greatly troubled and explains that everything that Rabban
Gamaliel has done is valid because Torah says “These are the set feasts of the
Eternal… which you shall proclaim” (Lev. 23:4). Whether they are in their
proper time or not, the key is that God has given authority to the Rabbis to
proclaim the calendar. Akiva, ever the peace-maker, then went to Rabbi Dosa ben
Harkinas and said, “If we’re going to take issue with the court of Rabban
Gamaliel, we have to take issue with every single court which has come into
being since the time of Moses to the present day.” He quotes the book of Exodus
which talks of “Moses, Aaron, Nadav and Avihu and seventy of the elders of
Israel…” (Ex. 24:9) “Why,” he asks, “have the names of the elders not been
given? To teach that every group of three elders who came into being as a court
of Israel are equivalent to the court of Moses himself.” We assume that Rabbi
Dosa ben Harkinas is calmed and accepts the authority of Rabban Gamaliel to
determine the dates of the festivals because when the court decrees them, that’s
when they are, even if the calendar doesn’t match totally with what is in the
sky.
Next we read
that Rabbi Joshua took his staff with his purse in his hand and went to Yavneh,
to Rabban Gamaliel, on the Day of Atonement according to his counting. In response,
Rabban Gamaliel says to him, “Peace, my master and disciple – my master in
wisdom and my disciple in accepting my rulings.” What Rabban Gamaliel saw as a
rebellion has now been contained peacefully.
In our Torah
portion, Korach challenges Moses, God’s emissary, the man who speaks with God,
the man who literally glows with the Divine Presence. His challenge isn’t one
of subjective rulings – is it the new moon or not – but a challenge of
authority. Korach says that Moses takes on too much because all the
people are holy, not just Moses. Essentially, he’s saying that Moses is no
better than anyone else. That, of course, stands in complete contradiction with
the word of God, since God clearly states at Sinai that only Moses can come up
the mountain and that anyone who even touches the mountain shall die. God also
says that no-one can see God’s face and live but God nonetheless lets Moses see
God’s back, a privilege not granted to any other Israelite. So Korach’s
challenge is one against not just Moses’ authority but actually against the
whole structure of the Jewish community. Judaism sets up a community which has
specialists – the priests were the specialists in sacrifice and the Rabbis are
specialists in deciding halakhah, Jewish law. Rabban Gamaliel is the supreme
specialist in the court, so questioning his decision-making ability is
essentially like questioning God.
This, I believe,
is what leads to the perceived rebellion – divine authority that supports human
decision-making is inherently dangerous, since human beings are flawed. It is
clear that Rabban Gamaliel made a mistake with the witnesses but the system that
was established gave divine approval to his mistake. It made the incorrect
correct. That’s very difficult for those who want a court with no mistakes,
like Rabbi Joshua, who was clearly right to ask his question about the
correctness of the decision. It’s not rebellion to question a leader’s terrible
decision, and to ask how that can be enshrined in law. What’s fascinating is
what else happens – after Rabban Gamaliel seemingly humiliates Rabbi Joshua with
the demand regarding the date of Yom Kippur, their colleagues are so shocked by
Rabban Gamaliel’s behavior that he is ousted as the head of the court! Although
he is later returned to his post once he and Rabbi Joshua are reconciled, there
continues to be a power-sharing agreement moving forward.
When people believe
that they act on divine authority, their leadership can easily slip into tyranny.
Nonsense laws are backed up with humiliation aimed at anyone who dares to
disagree. In some sense, we see this same phenomenon with Korach as represented
in Midrash. For example, when Moses tells the people that God instructs them to
wear a blue tassel on their clothing so that it catches one’s eye and we
remember God’s commandments, Korach asks what to do if their entire garment is
blue? The Rabbis suggest that Korach asks these questions because he’s a
trouble-maker, but I cannot see him that way. I believe that Korach sees divine
authority being directed through one man, who is clearly very flawed, and who
therefore tests the problematic system. It’s not that Korach rebels against God
– he rebels against Moses because he is the only arbiter of divine authority.
The end of the
Korach story is humiliation. Talmud (Bava Batra 74a) says that there is a spot that
Rabbi bar bar Hana visited where he heard Korach cry up from the ground the
words “Moses and his Torah are true, and we are liars.” That’s not fair. God
tells the Israelites to be holy (Lev. 19:1) and Korach says that all the people
are holy. That’s not a liar. He says that Moses has taken on too much, which is
exactly what Moses’ father-in-law Jethro said back in Exodus 18(:14). Korach
says that God is in the midst of the people. Well, that one’s a stretch – God is
clearly centered around the Tabernacle. But once the Second Temple is built and
then destroyed many hundreds of years later, the Rabbis end up saying
essentially the same thing as Korach does in our Torah portion – that God is
not focused on one specific location. If anything, then, Korach is a visionary.
But he is humiliated just as Rabbi Joshua is humiliated, because any system
that claims divine authority can easily tend towards terror and violence
against anyone who disagrees with it.
Moses was flawed
and Rabban Gamaliel was flawed. Moses ends his life without being able to cross
into the Jordan because of his failure. Rabban Gamaliel ends up in a
power-sharing arrangement because of his failure. That, I believe, is a
wonderful lessons for all leaders – that if you think you came to this position
because you’re perfect, you will end up failing. And this can, indeed, be a
lesson for everyone – to hear those who would disagree with us without accusing
them, to learn from their questions about how we may be wrong, to embrace
humility, to be less certain of ourselves. For some of us that’s more of a challenge than
for others. But a religious community that tries to encounter God is not the
same as God – we’re not perfect and that’s the point. We learn from our flaws
instead of pretending that they don’t exist.
So, may God be
with us as we embrace our imperfection, as we celebrate the opportunity to
learn and grow from our interaction with others. May we embrace being
questioned and challenged. And may we all question and challenge each other
with love and respect, and let us say, Amen.
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