Parashat Korach: On Stepping Aside

The problem with Korach, says the Netivot Shalom, is that he had too much yeshut, too much sense of his own “existence,” the importance of his own place and ego in the world.

“A person who is in the aspect of yesh [“existence”], who takes up space in his own eyes -- it seems to him that his fellow is bothering him and standing in his way. Even if the friend has not done any harm to him in any way, because of his trait of yeshut [his concern for his own existence], he has the feeling that he is bothering him and taking up his place, and out of this he comes into conflict” (Netivot Shalom on Parashat Korach).

Too much ego, too much concern about ourselves and our own existence, is what leads us into conflict with others. Korach felt that Moshe and Aharon had what he should have; they were occupying his space, he felt, standing in his way, bothering him by their very existence, all because he felt strongly the importance of his own self.

On the other hand, the way of peace, says the Netivot Shalom, is the way of ayin, of nothingness, of self-abnegation. When we become like “nothing” in our own eyes – through constant breaking down of the ego and submission of the self to God, according to Hasidic thought – then no one stands in our way; we feel that no one is bothering us and are at peace with the world. Moshe was known for his humility, his ability to see himself as nothing, as he says of himself and his brother, nachnu mah – “We, who are we?” (Ex 16:7).

I am reminded of a Dr. Seuss story about two Zaxes. The north-going Zax and the south-going Zax are each going on their way on the same road, when they bump into each other. Each one refuses to move to the side, insisting that the road is his. They stand there for years, decades, stuck in conflict, while the world builds bridges and roads and buildings all around them.

That’s what it is to be in this kind of a Korach ego conflict; it means to be stuck in a spot where you are unable to step aside for your fellow, where you feel that another’s existence stands in the way of your own, where your particular personal road, your personhood, is the most important thing in the world. It means holding a grudge over some slight against your ego, insisting on your view just because it is yours, or being jealous when it is you (or your child) that isn’t the one picked for an honor. It means viewing the world as your own personal road north or south, never stepping to the side for another.

It’s really mostly ourselves that we hurt in this way. The Talmud reads the first words of the parsha, vayikah Korach, as indicating that Korach made a bad “purchase” (mekach) for himself (Sanhedrin 109b). Refusing to step aside, to learn to push our ego concerns to the side, means becoming stuck. The world swirls and moves forward around us, but we, through our blind allegiance to ego, cannot move forward, cannot join that swirling movement.

Negation of the self sounds harsh and unappealing. Perhaps it is easier to think of it as a connectedness to something larger than ourselves. The Hasidic commentators point out that Korach makes a fundamental mistake in his assertion that kol ha’edah kulam kedoshim¸”The whole congregation, they are all holy.” Yes, the whole congregation is kadosh, holy, but not in the plural, kedoshim, as separate individuals. Rather, holiness only exists when the whole congregation is in the singular, at peace, each individual yielding, not worrying about his individual place on the road, but thinking of herself as a part of the whole.