On Korach and Power-Over

This month’s blog will explore Korach, Numbers 16:1-18:32.  It was the Torah portion for June 28, 2025.  The portion contains a rebellion from a segment of the Israelite people, led by Korach, who insisted on the holiness of the entirety of the Israelites (16:3) and their fitness to give offerings in the Tent of Meeting, which challenges the establishment of the Aaronic high priesthood.  The protest is met by the divine with earth-splitting rage and divinely-sanctioned disease.  Over 15,000 Israelites are recorded to have died on account of this “blasphemous” rebellion against the divine and the divine’s proclamation of the chosen status of Aaron and his descendants (17:14).  From a feminist point of view, this incident in Korach reads as an exercise of power-over and sadly bolsters images of the divine that go counter to a liberating presence, dwelling among the entire community.

The parshah begins with the protest, which the Torah labels a sin against the divine (16:22).  Rashi compares this sin to the worship of the Golden Calf and considers it the fourth example of the disobedient behavior of the Israelites towards their deity since being delivered from slavery in Egypt (his commentary to verse 16:4).  It is, in my opinion, a good example of a power play and an exercise in power-over.  Unfortunately from a feminist perspective, who ends up being the ultimate example of the use of power-over?  The deity.  To punish the offenders, the Torah says that the divine burns them alive, makes the earth swallow their compatriots and families (16:32), and inflicts the camp with a plague (17:11-13), where as I already mentioned, over 15000 people die on account of divine anger. Yes, 15,000. The bowls they used, now purified by “holy” fire, are to be hammered onto the altar as a reminder of the sins of those who thought they could approach the divine but had not been chosen for the position (17:4).

It is important to point out that Aaron and Moses are also holders of divinely sanctioned power-over given their position within the community.  Aaron and his descendants’ role as chosen to perform offerings is confirmed by a ritual involving the staffs of the twelve tribes of Israel as well as Aaron’s (17:21).  It is only Aaron’s staff that grows roots, flowers, leafs, and then bears fruit (almonds) (17:23).  In verse 17:21, Aaron’s staff is set among those of the 12 tribes, but in verse 17:23, it has morphed into being associated with the Levites.  This is interpreted to confirm the service of the Levites to the Tent of Meeting (and then the Temple), and also cements Aaron and his descendants higher position within the Levites.  In other words, it constructs a hierarchical institution which could be considered “balanced” as they do not receive a share of land within the Promised Land (18:20).

What is redeemable from such a story?  In past blogs, I have critiqued the idea of divine wrath and the association of disease with sin, contested the establishment of institutions such as these and understandings of the divine that hold power-over, and been usually able to find something good within the parshah that can be reclaimed. For example, see these blog posts: Behaalotecha, Vayelech, Va’etchanan, Vayikra.  Yet, I find no such thing here.  

One could say that history has denied, in the end, such an enduring, hierarchical structure to Israelite and then Jewish society, as the Jewish people were defeated (and often subsequently exiled) by the Romans, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and so on.  I would warn against such an interpretation, since it was the Babylonian exile that produced the written Torah and thus the dream of a divinely-established hierarchy within Judaism. Likewise, there was a time where at least in theory this hierarchy functioned at the first and second Temples. Second, the Torah often understands the movement of peoples against the Israelites as forms of divine wrath or divinely-ordained, which mirrors the divine wrath and its power-over within Korach. Third, there exist segments of the Jewish population that long for such a reestablishment of the Temple, the Aaronic priesthood, and the Levites’ service and thus this brand of hierarchal, patriarchal Judaism. This is also problematic as I have discussed here.

On a more modest level, there is still a power-over hierarchy operating in the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox streams of Judaism. Women, minority genders, and our allies who confront this systematic inequality are often made to feel like modern-day Korachs, contesting divine will. However, as a feminist, I argue that Korach got it right: we are all equal in holiness in front of the divine. We should be a community of equals. Likewise, imagining the divine as a wrathful, murderous, power-over bully (for lack of a better word) does not inspire such equality. So, how can we continue to insist that it is a correct understanding of the divine? Simply, we cannot.

For the new year, 5786, let us all be Korachs who rightly imagine and fight for a Judaism of equals, the holiness of the entire community, and are willing to confront the powerful to make our visions reality. Let us continue advocating for images of the divine that inspire and empower such a community of equals in holiness.

L’shanah tovah.