We returned from Camp Ramah Darom on Sunday afternoon and it’s great to be back. We love our time at Camp each summer and reconnecting with friends and a place that’s a second home to us. We love the opportunity to witness the future of the Jewish people unfolding right in front of us. We love seeing our daughters smiling from ear to ear as they’re immersed in a Jewish environment and given so many meaningful and fun opportunities. I thank all of you for affording me this annual opportunity to reinvigorate my soul and my spirit and my passion.
Now onto the Parsha. Who was Korach? He was a Levite. He had an uncle named Amram (who had a son named Moses) and thus his cousins were Aaron, Miriam and Moses. He was a member of the leadership class of the Israelite people. He was a persuasive man who led other leaders in a rebellion against the leadership of the people (his own family members). We should attempt to understand the psychology of Korach to better understand where his actions came from. Why would someone who’s so close to the leaders act in such a way? Why would someone who’s related to the other people in charge behave like this? What’s behind his demands and what’s behind his drive? Is it merely a thirst for power? Is it merely his need to be in charge of all other people? Both of these might be true of him but they’re not at the core of his actions. Korach was power hungry and was unable to live in a world where he wasn’t all powerful. Beneath this thirst/hunger for power, was a man who couldn’t be content with what he had and who he was.
We learn in פרקי אבות/Pirkei Avot 4:1 איזהו עשיר? השמח בחלקו./Who is wealthy/happy? The one who is happy with their portion. True wealth or happiness comes from contentment. It comes from a person being able to close their eyes at night without worrying about other people having something that they don’t have. Too few of us have this ability. Too many of us look in the mirror and see what we’re not rather than seeing what we are. Too many of us look in the mirror and see what we don’t have rather than what we do have. Contentment is a gift and something we need to pursue with all we have. We need to be able to see we’re blessed with so many gifts and so many treasures. It’s a sad truth about the world we live in when we constantly look at our lives as lacking so much.
Each of us needs to open ourselves up to being happy with all we have. Each of us needs to recognize there’s so much wealth available to us. Each of us needs to be able to look at our lives and be able to simply say the words: thank you. When more and more of us are able to be content, fewer of us will recognize Korach and his psychology. When more of us are able to smile at the person in the mirror, we’ll be more like Moses, Aaron and Miriam and share in all they achieved in their lifetimes.
