More kvetching in the desert. This time it is Korach who complains that Moses has gone too far. But that’s not in our reading during this triennial cycle.

At the beginning of Chapter 18, I am intrigued by one root that repeats: Sh-M-R.
V’shamru. And they shall guard or keep. We know this word, V’shamru b’nei yisrael…And the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath. It is a sign forever between Me and the children of Israel.

Count the number of times you see this root: 8. And it repeats again later in the parsha. It must be important. What does it mean to keep or to guard. What is “safekeeping”. Why does it repeat so many times and what does it have to do with leadership? What is it that the priests are asked to safeguard? Why does this follow the story of Korach’s rebellion?

Korach challenges Moses’s leadership. He believes that every person in Israel is holy. And he has some evidence to support this. The Torah teaches that Israel is to be a holy nation, a light to the nations and a kingdom of priests. Why then this structure of cohanim, levites and Israelites? Aren’t we all equal?

In the discussion, it was pointed out that we are not necessarily supposed to be equal, but that we have equal access to strive to be good. In order to be equal we need to strive.

I was intrigued by the Chief Rabbi of England Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who mused on this portion, “That is surely a Jewish idea. Was not Thomas Jefferson at his most Biblical when he wrote, in the Declaration of Independence that ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

Are we not all created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of G-d and as such entitled to a direct relationship with the divine? What is the distinction that Korach is calling out? Is Moses really lording over us, over his people, over G-d’s people?

The language here in the parsha that we read is important. The priests are supposed to keep the covenant, it is a lasting covenant, a covenant of salt, a brit malach. Salt is something that is used to preserve, the keep something fresh. It was also currency, people got paid in salt. Hence we have the word salary, from the Latin, sal, salt. Talking about a brit malach, we are back to that language of V’shamru, and they shall keep, safeguard. Over and over again the text we will read uses a verb from this root. What do we keep? Shabbat, the mitzvoth, the covenant, the tradition. And what do we need to keep it safe from. According to this text from outsiders. Those who are not priests. Why? Because sometimes getting to close to the Holy One is scary. You might get burned.

Rabbi Lord Sacks teaches the midrash from Tanhuma that links this week’s parsha with the last of last weeks. In the midrash Korach challenges Moses by asking a halachic question about tzitzit. Korach “dressed them with cloaks made entirely of blue wool. They came and stood before Moses and asked him, “Does a cloak made entirely of blue wool require fringes [tzitzit], or is it exempt?” He replied, “It does require [fringes].” They began laughing at him [saying], “Is it possible that a cloak of another [colored] material, one string of blue wool exempts it [from the obligation of techeleth], and this one, which is made entirely of blue wool, should not exempt itself?” (Tanhuma, Korach 4; Rashi to Num. 16: 1)”

Rabbi Sacks interprets its importance for us: “The deep one is that the Midrash deftly shows how Korach challenged the basis of Moses’ and Aaron’s leadership. The Israelites were “all holy; and God is among them.” They were like a robe, every thread of which is royal blue. And just as a blue robe does not need an additional fringe to make it bluer still, so a holy people does not need extra holy people like Moses and Aaron to make it holier still. The idea of a leadership hierarchy in “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” is a contradiction in terms. Everyone is like a priest. Everyone is holy. Everyone is equal in dignity before God. Hierarchy has no place in such a nation.”
But Korach was still wrong. What was his mistake? And this is as important for us today as it was in Moses’s and Korach’s time. We have just gone through a leadership shift in this congregation. Joe is completing his very first week as synagogue president. There are different models of leadership—even in the Torah. Korach saw leadership as a hierarchy. The leader is better than the rest of us and as such has certain rights to which he is entitled. That’s what he wants for himself. But as Sacks points out, that is not what leadership is about in the Torah. The ideal model is Moses and “Moses was a very humble man, more humble that anyone else on the face of the earth.” When Miriam and Aaron challenged that, they were the ones who were punished.
Priests were not above the rest, they were they agents through whom the rest were blessed, through whom the rest could draw close to G-d. They did not have personal power or authority. They are enabling the others to draw close. They are in Sacks words, “Transmitters of a word not their own. The prophet spoke the word of G-d for this time. The priest spoke the word of G-d for all time. But neither was the author of the word.”
This is similar to what we heard last week at installation. If we keep G-d at the center of the spokes of the hub, then we will succeed. It is what we are taught in this parsha. One of the roles of the priest was to redeem the first born. Perhaps you have heard of the ceremony called a Pidyon haBen. The first born son of his mother needed to be redeemed, presented at the Temple and bought back. On the 31st day after the first male child was born, the father would present the boy to a cohain and received the child back in exchange for the redemption price of five pieces of silver. This is a link between the redemption of the children of Israel as they were leaving Egypt and the redemption of the first born. The idea that the child belongs first to G-d and not the parents is a powerful statement and a humbling moment. G-d is at the center. This is what we must remember and keep.
When I daven the amidah facing the ark, I am reminded of the quote above, Da lifnei atah omad. Know before whom you stand.” When we read Bei ana rachatz as we take the Torah out, I am reminded that I am a servant of the Holy One. Both are humbling moments.
So if I were to give a charge to Joe and the rest of his board, I would use Sacks’ language. “In Judaism leadership is not a matter of status but of function. A leader is not one who holds himself higher than those he or she leads. That, in Judaism, is a moral failing not a mark of stature. The absence of hierarchy does not mean the absence of leadership. An orchestra still needs a conductor. A play still needs a director. A team still needs a captain. A leader need not be a better instrumentalist, actor or player than those he leads. His role is different. He must co-ordinate, give structure and shape to the enterprise, make sure that everyone is following the same script, travelling in the same direction, acting as an ensemble rather than a group of prima donnas. He has to have a vision and communicate it. At times he has to impose discipline. Without leadership even the most glittering array of talents produces, not music but noise.”
Our job as leaders is to create music. Our job as leaders is to remain humble. Our job is to work with everyone. Our job as leaders is to keep, to guard the relationship with the Divine, so all of us, presidents and officers, rabbis and laypeople, cohanim, leviim, and Yisraelim can all have equal access to G-d.