Striving for sanctity

‘And they gathered against Moses and against Aaron and they said to them, “It is enough for you”; after all, the entire witness-community, all of them, are holy, and in their midst is the Lord. Why do you lift yourselves up, above the congregation of the Lord?’ (Numbers 16:3, 4)

By SHLOMO RISKIN
Torah scribe 521 (photo credit: Courtesy Derech AMI)
Torah scribe 521
(photo credit: Courtesy Derech AMI)
Korah is waging a full-scale rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron, pitching the claim that the whole Israelite nation is holy, since every Hebrew man, woman and child heard the Divine Voice at Sinai. Therefore, he argues Moses and Aaron had no right to set themselves up in an exalted position above everyone else.
Korah’s argument may very well be based on what appears to be an identical position voiced by Moses in his farewell address recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy: “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be for Him a treasured nation [Hebrew: segula] from amongst all the nations that are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more numerous than all the nations that the Lord desired you and chose you, since you are the fewest of all the nations. It is rather because of the Lord’s love for you, and it is because He observes the oath which He swore to your forefathers, that He took you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:6-9).
From this perspective, the Jewish people is a unique national entity, chosen and exalted by God above all other nations simply because He loves us.
Moreover, He made an oath to our forebears that we will be a great and eternal nation. Hence God is our protector and guardian. He redeemed us from Egypt not because of our numerical strength or special qualities of mind or character, but only because of His love for us and the oath He made to our founding fathers.
Rabbi Yehuda Halevy (Spain, 1075-1141) in his classical philosophical work, The Kuzari, builds on this notion when he praises the uniqueness of the Jewish people and defines “segula” as a special Jewish gene which makes us different from and even superior to the other nations (Book 1, 27).
I would argue that this is the basis of Korah’s argument: All of the Israelites are considered God’s treasure (segula), all of the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt, and all of the Israelites heard the Divine Voice at Sinai. We are all unique (kadosh), each of us individually and all of us together. We are all equally worthy. You have had your turn at leadership; it is enough for you, and so now please hand over the baton of the priesthood to me and my cohorts.
The Almighty does not accept Korah’s argument. He has Korah and his men attempt to act as kohanim to offer incense on fire-pans and they are promptly destroyed by fire sent by God. They were apparently not as worthy as Moses and Aaron. Indeed, worthiness and sanctity are not gifted by birth. Worthiness and sanctity must be earned by hard work, by the painstaking development of one’s intellect and character.
God does not tell us that we are holy; God commands us to become holy (Leviticus 19:2), charges us with the mission to “become for Him a Kingdom of priest-teachers and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).
God tells us before His Revelation at Sinai that only if “you hearken to My word and observe My Covenant [Torah] shall you be for Me a treasure [segula] from amongst all the nations, for Mine is the entire world.”
God created everyone, all the nations, equally. Our uniqueness, and our sanctity and our segula are dependent upon our following the commandments and emulating the Divine. And as for the verses from Deuteronomy which speak of God’s “love for us” as being the reason for our segula, which I quoted in the beginning of this commentary, note that God concludes that passage with the unmistakable charge: “And you shall [must] observe the commandment and the statutes and the laws which I command you today to perform them” (Deuteronomy 7:11).
Hence Maimonides maintains that the sanctity of Israel is totally dependent on the keeping of the commandments, and the Talmud teaches that a gentile who is occupied in Torah is like a High Priest.
What of the Kuzari and his “nation of segula”? Rav Kook maintains that the mystical and eternal spirit of Knesset Yisrael, the historical people of Israel throughout the generations, contains a special quality of segula which emanates from our accumulated generations of Torah study and sacrificial commitment.
This segula endows us with eternity and secures a constant, faithful remnant which will always remain true to God’s teaching, to compassionate righteousness and moral justice, to our special festivals and our unique lifestyles.
But this segula is relegated to the “soul of the nation entire.” As far as individuals are concerned, “a gentile who is occupied in Torah, is equal to a High Priest,” and every Jew must strive mightily to achieve sanctity.
Shabbat shalom
The writer is the founder and chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone colleges and graduate programs and chief rabbi of Efrat.