Parshas Korach 5782: Roe V. Wade and a utopian society

Parshas Korach 5782: Roe v. Wade and a Utopian Society

Torah Psych101

Dr. Jonathan M. Lasson

I was once working at a Pesach hotel. Among my responsibilities aside from speaking and running the minyanim, I was in charge of the complaint department. There was no actual complaint department but because I was very visible, I became the ‘go-to’ person for a crowd who paid a lot to have a stress free Pesach. If you’ve ever been to a Pesach program, this is perhaps the most important job. It’s amazing what happens when seemingly normal, civil people you have known for years do not receive their strawberries within two minutes of being seated.

After a couple of years in his role, I decided to change the way of operating. I made an announcement when everyone was finally happy in front of the largest gathering of people and said “And if you happen to experience a problem with any aspect of the program, please select the most level headed person from your family to come and approach me and I would be happy to help.” My announcement must have struck a tone as some people felt either embarrassed or guilty for complaining over stupid things like the quality of the toilet paper in the bathrooms or the firmness of the ping pong balls being used. There were still a few complaints (that were new to that year) but it was more manageable as people saw that I was approachable and responsive to their constructive critique of the program.

In Parshas Korach, we see more complaining. Korach’s complaint was not coming from a level-headed place and perhaps if he ran his intentions by a level headed family member, he would not have been swallowed up (pun intended) by his ego. His crazy complaint was against none other than Moshe Rabbeinu, known as the humblest of all men. “Why don’t you think you can elevate yourself over everyone else?” and it didn’t stop there. Korach obviously was not at my talk about selecting the most level headed family member to complain. He was getting nowhere…fast.

Recently, there was a court decision that has catapulted the country into massive debates, some of which have turned violent. I will not get into the politics of the debate. However the psychopolitics  or the general psychology of the debate is fascinating to me. This recent debate involved the Supreme Court overturning a 50-year-old decision of Roe v. Wade. This is a very emotionally charged debate that had raged on for years and has made the country more divisive than I have ever seen it before. I am not here to express my opinions because I am not a constitutional expert but more importantly, the emotional nature of the issue clouds people’s ability to hold a civil conversation with one another about the issue.

Rav Twerski Zt”l makes this point very clear and zeroes in on the words that Moshe responds to Korach. He says “Listen now, sons of Levi.” (1) Why is he calling out the sons of Levi if he was seemingly talking to Korach himself? I believe the answer is exactly the point I tried making at Pesach programs. My message was not necessarily to the chief complainer but a plea to the people as a whole. Find someone level-headed and have them meet privately with someone who can possibly help. Moshe wanted everyone to hear this message. When you have an emotionally charged issue as in the case of Korach, it is futile to have a civil debate on the issue.

Rav Twerski points out something further and deeply psychological. What was Aharon’s role in all of this? Not much. Yet Korach levels complaints against Aharon. (2) The Gemara tells us that in order to see the true character of a man, get him drunk, subject him to financial stress, or do something to tick him off. Aharon technically has no skin in the game. He had no financial burdens to become stressed about. He was a Kohen so he could not get drunk. So the only chance was to possibly make Aharon angry. Korach obviously not the most psychologically astute man in the world chose the absolute wrong person to mess with in Aharon. Aharon’s character was so well developed that nothing could really upset him. However, when there is passion and emotion involved, all logic seems to fade away.

What would the world look like if we had a world full of Aharon’s and Moshe’s? Probably unimaginable utopia. What we can do in the meantime is at least strive to become closer to the likes of an Aharon and a Moshe and civility will be restored.

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(1)    Bamidbar 16:8

(2)    Bamidbar 16:11