Jul 1/06 - Parashat Korach: Blossoms

Commentary by Rabbi Lawrence Pinsker

Anyone reading this week’s Torah portion will be impressed by the issues that are raised: leadership, community, freedom, and responsibility. Briefly, Korach is a prince of the people who disputes the right of Moses to lead the people. (Although it is the most spectacular of the rebellions in the Korach portion, it is not the only one. The careful reader will note that there are actually four challenges to the status of Moses and Aaron as leaders.)

During the conflict with Korach, God vindicates the leadership of Moses and Aaron by causing the earth to open a “mouth” and swallow Korach and his rebels. Following this crisis, Moses also demonstrates the worthiness of Aaron’s role as High Priest, and the Torah portion concludes with laws pertaining to the proper handling of sacred donations to the Mishkan (the portable Sanctuary) and the priests who serve in it.

The story of Aaron’s staff of leadership follows the Korach crisis, but does not get much attention in commentaries and sermons; nevertheless, it, too, is a fascinating narrative and rich with symbolic meaning. God tells Moses to take a wooden staff from each tribal leader, each inscribed with the name of its owner—twelve in all. Moses puts them all together in the Tent of Meeting—the sacred center of the Mishkan—in which God addresses Moses. The text describes the next morning, when Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite leaders gather to see what has happened overnight:

“The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Pact, and there the staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted: it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne almonds. Moses then brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites; each identified and recovered his staff.” (Numbers 17:23-24, Jewish Publication Society edition)

What are we supposed to make of this wonder? Do almond blossoms really appear overnight on sticks of wood in the desert? One way to understand this story is to recall that in the early chapters of the Book of Exodus, God designated Aaron to be Moses’ “spokesman” during their confrontation with Pharaoh. In that story—the episode of the Burning Bush—there is another wonder that involves a wooden staff: Moses’ shepherding staff is transformed into a serpent in order to convince him that God can indeed use him as the instrument to bring about a great miracle of liberation to the Israelites enslaved in Egypt.

In the new incident, we have come full circle. No longer is Moses reticent as he was at the moment he was selected to be the leader of the Israelites in their departure from Egypt. Back then, Moses was sceptical, unsure, perhaps even afraid—and needed the promise of Aaron’s assistance in order to go forward. Now, he is fully in charge and needs to demonstrate to the people that Aaron is the legitimate High Priest, a role entirely separate from Moses’ more judicial and political position.

So what does all this have to do with miraculous almond blossoms?

The blossoms and fruit on Aaron's staff, in the context of our ancestors’ vision of blessing, are symbols of Aaron’s leadership role and authority as High Priest. They are declarations of his productivity, vitality, and creativity in the broadest sense. He is a source of hope, sustenance, and future prosperity. In contemporary English, when we say that an action is useful and meaningful, we say that it is “fruitful.” The same symbolism is plentiful in the most ancient Jewish sources—to be blessed is to be identified with the bounty of the earth.

Aaron’s leadership, which was accepted in humility and servitude, is life-giving and “fruitful” precisely because he is utterly unlike Korach and the others who join in his rebellion out of a desire for power to satisfy their needs for status and self- aggrandizement. Nearly all Jewish commentaries dismiss Korach and his fellow rebels as people who talk a good game about sharing power, but who neither think of the welfare of the people nor care at all for what God has planned.

Aaron became a leader almost inadvertently, because his brother Moses needed help—not because he sought out the spotlight, but because he sought to give support. In later Jewish literature, Aaron is seen as the model of compassion and love for his fellow human beings—again, the opposite of Korach, who is willing to start a civil war for the sake of his pride and ego.

Aaron’s staff yields blossoms and gives fruit because his leadership is about giving to others, bringing forth good things for the community and sustaining them through service. The relationship of a leader truly dedicated to serving his or her community is fragile and delicate—like an almond blossom—but also nourishing and sustaining, like an almond itself. Humility and generosity of heart bring forth beautiful things; this is the example of Aaron’s life, which is the deeper truth behind the story of the miraculous blossoms.

Shabbat Shalom.