For decades, I’ve penned a weekly column, and for the past two years, a parashah commentary for the ADL, as the inaugural rabbinic fellow. As that term comes to an end, I want to thank Jonathan Greenblatt, Gail Cohen, and the ADL for all their work and all their help.
I will be taking a break to work on a book about the spiritual crisis in America. This week’s parashah is a pretty good jumping-off point to think about that crisis. Korach is in rebellion against Moses, and a lot of Israelites are motivated to join him.
Why did they join? In part, because Korach is right. The first words he speaks to Moses and Aaron are: “rav lachem” – “it is too much for you.”
Who can argue? It is too much to lead a recalcitrant people through the desert, to transform a band of slaves into free worshippers of God, and to prepare them to enter the Promised Land.
Yet, there is no choice. Without leaders willing to take on monumental tasks, there is no leadership. We are all flawed and subject to biases and mistakes. Korach’s error was that he saw the imperfections but not the struggles.
As a Rabbi, I have seen so many leaders take on responsibilities and roles that were too much for them, but they did so with dedication and achieved great things. Along the way, they stumbled, as people do, and were sometimes treated as Korach treats Moses—not with understanding, but with the expectation of impossible standards.
This week, we have seen leaders in the U.S. and Israel make very difficult choices. We pray those courageous choices lead to safety and to peace. Of course, we can criticize; leaders are never exempt, not even Moses.
Still, in Jewish life, remembering how hard it is to lead, how tricky it is to get it right, and how many constituents and interests are jostling for attention and confirmation at the same time will give us all a more cohesive, kind, and loving community.
Jews, the Talmud tells us, are compassionate people and the children of compassionate people. Together, let’s learn to begin our sentences as Korach did but end them differently: “Rav lachem—It is too much for you.” Then: “Can I help?” God bless Israel, God bless America, and God help us make peace inside our communities and in the world.
