Stand in their shoes | Rabbi Stewart Weiss | Beit Midrash

Torah Portion and Tanach
Korach

קטגוריה משנית

"Is it not enough that you took us out of a land
of Milk & Honey, & did not bring us into a land of Milk & Honey?!

If a prize was given out for Chutzpa, we Jews
would certainly, hands-down win it every single
year. How could Korach’s rebels dare to insinuate
that Egypt was a virtual paradise, where
nourishment flowed like milk and day-to-day life
was sweet as honey?! Did Am Yisrael not suffer
dreadful losses during the more than a century of
slavery? Did we not endure horrible degradation -
our rabbis say that as many as 80% of the nation
did not make it out alive from Mitzrayim!

There are several ways of looking at Korach’s
hysterical hyperbole. We know there is indeed a
tendency of people to look back upon their past
with romantic nostalgia, imagining that life was
so much better "then" & "back there" – even when
they know that it’s really not true. Consider the
people who reminisce about life back in shtet'l
Europe, waxing poetically about its warmth & its
wondrous Yiddishkeit. But, as my Bubbie z"l (who
hailed from Zamosc, Poland) used to say, "these
are ‘Bubbie-Mayses!’" Most Jews were, at best,
wary of their non-Jewish neighbors, & their life
was a day-to-day struggle simply to survive. And,
in the end, that story almost always had an unhappy ending.

Or this may have been Korach’s attempt at
fomenting mass hysteria by creating a false
narrative, despite the people’s recent exit from
Egypt. Hard to believe the nation would swallow
it? Just look at what’s happening all over the
world, as seemingly intelligent, decent people
fall for the pernicious lies spread about us,
denying our moral excellence while creating
fanciful fiction about the "good people of Gaza."

But here’s another idea: Korach, let us remember,
was among the richest people ever to have lived
(the Midrash says Korach had free access to
Paro’s treasury). Perhaps, for him, Egypt was a
honey-pot, so he likely did miss the standard of
living he had enjoyed (in addition to being a
member of Shevet Levi, which was not enslaved).
But that prevented him from relating to those who
suffered in bondage & were grossly mistreated; so
it’s fitting that he should precipitously fall
(pun intended) from power & end up with nothing at all.

It’s not easy to identify with the plight of
others; we strive to live within comfortable
physical & mental surroundings. But now, as our
soldiers & hostages battle to stay alive, it
would be a fitting exercise to "stand in their
shoes" for a bit. To experience complete
darkness, as if in a tunnel; to postpone or limit
luxurious vacations; to imagine - as we sit in
our homes periodically with the A/C off - what it
must be like for those who wear layers & layers
of heavy clothes in stifling heat. Connecting to
others’ reality can bind us to them and fill us
with hakarat ha-tov - appreciation for their sacrifice on our behalf.

Korach