Concealed in Truth

Shabbat Shalom, beloved.

Korach.

So I sat down, and I began to study. I began to work through the portion — analyzing the text, playing out the scenarios, trying to get ingrained in it so I could understand it deeper. And I realized something. When I was picturing Korach, I was picturing him as a Disney villain. The beady little eyes. The little goatee. You know the character I'm talking about. Maybe it came from a Bible movie I saw as a child.

But it got me thinking. I'm already picturing this man as the villain. I've already taken what I know from the end of the story — the judgment — and I've laid it on top of him at the beginning. And what am I missing now? What do I lose by doing that?

If I already think I know the ending, I think I already know everything the story has to offer. So why am I even reading it? I'm injecting myself into the text, taking what I think I know and planting it at the front.

And how often do we do this? We insert information that may not actually be there. The mind has an amazing ability to create, to fabricate, to imagine. We fill in gaps. We interject things that aren't really there but we think they should be — because it feels good.

The Blind Spot

Our eyes do this too. Where the optic nerve connects, there's a blind spot — but the brain fills it in. It fills the gaps in our perception, and we don't even notice them. Science calls this a perceptual fill-in. It's the mechanism behind optical illusions. If you've ever stared at a dot that seems to change, you're feeling this principle at work.

This helps explain the way the Torah uses sight versus sound. We are told Shema — hear, with intention toward doing, hear in order to implement. And just last week, at the end of the portion, we were given the command of tzitzit: do not follow after your heart or after your eyes, which lead you astray. Instead, look upon the tzitzit.

With hearing, when we miss something our tendency is to ask for clarification. Excuse me, could you repeat that? I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. But with sight, we assume we saw enough. I saw it with my own eyes, so it had to be true. The desires of the heart lead us astray, and the eyes invent reasons — they invent things in the text to satisfy the heart.

The heart is the most deceitful of all, and it is wicked — who can know it? I, Adonai, search the heart and test the innermost thoughts, to give to each man according to his ways, the fruit of his deeds.

Jeremiah 17:9–10

Why We Offer the Heart

There is a kind of prayer that asks for G-d's fire to fall — for the heart to be placed on the altar, for HaShem to receive what we offer. In most settings, that sounds beautiful. Devotional. Surrendered.

But in this portion, G-d's fire falls on 250 men who bring an offering He did not ask for. So the image becomes heavier. Fire does not only warm. Fire also tests. Fire consumes. Fire purifies.

So why would we offer the heart to that fire, if the heart is deceptive? If the heart is where our desires twist what we see?

Son of man, these men have brought their idols up into their heart, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces… Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says Adonai Elohim — Return, and turn away from your idols; turn your faces from all your abominations.

Ezekiel 14:3, 6

That is why we offer the heart. Not because it is already clean, but because it is not. We bring HaShem the place where the idols are stored. The desires. The self-protection. The offense. The hidden things after which we stray. We place them before Him to be consumed, so He can purify what we could not purify ourselves.

If our eyes cause us to stray, and our heart causes us to stray, what is the solution G-d gives us? He gives us holy things to look at. Look at the tzitzit. Remember the commandments. And He commands us to love Adonai our G-d with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might.

If you are busy loving Adonai your G-d with all your heart, you don't have room to store idols in it.

And Korach Took

At the very beginning of the portion we hit a little gap in the Torah — an anomaly that leaves room for us to fill in, which we are very good at doing. What we do with that gap matters. If we invent something in the void and build it into a doctrine, into a theology, and try to make it our foundation — we've taken something that has nothing in it and built whatever we wanted there. That just leads to destruction. But if we examine the gap and lay biblical patterns into it, testing the patterns against the text, we can learn.

In the Hebrew it begins: Vayikach Korach — "And Korach took." But we are never told what he took. There is no object.

Now Korach, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, took — with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben.

Numbers 16:1

Many translations take the simple meaning — Korach took men. He gathered those around him. That's one possible reading, but the text itself doesn't give it. It doesn't name Dathan and Abiram as the object he took. It almost places them as co-takers. We're not going to build a theology on it, but we can look at what could be there.

Rashi says Korach took himself — he separated himself from the camp, secluded himself, set himself apart from the people. And as I read slowly through the story, not dragging the ending back to the front, I see a man who may have taken offense.

Who is Korach? In Numbers 3:30, Elizaphan son of Uzziel is made leader of the Kohathite families. Uzziel was the youngest son of Kohath. Amram was the firstborn — father of Aaron and Moshe. The second-born was Izhar — father of Korach. Then Hebron, and finally Uzziel.

So perhaps Korach looks at this and says: the firstborn's sons become the high priest and the leader of the people. Fine. But I should be next in line for a place of honor — and instead I'm passed over, and it goes to the youngest brother's son. Perhaps he fell into offense. He couldn't recognize his own identity, who G-d created him to be, so he started attacking someone else's identity.

But here is what I would propose. Korach took his heart back from HaShem. He took it back to himself. He said, maybe, G-d, You are not looking out for my best interest. Maybe Korach needs to watch out for Korach.

We can picture him growing up playing with Aaron, studying with the other Levites, sharing a meal at the table when they were small. He is a consecrated Levite, a member of the family of Kohath that carries the Ark and the holy objects. He had a reputation. Many leaders of the community joined with him. And he uses all of it to aim an accusation at Moshe and at Aaron.

The Accusation

They gathered together against Moshe and against Aaron, and said to them: You take too much upon yourselves! For the entire assembly — all of them — are holy, and Adonai is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves over the congregation of Adonai?

Numbers 16:3

And Moshe, being typical Moshe, does not answer with ego. He doesn't defend himself. He doesn't have to — he didn't become anything by his own hand; the Creator did it. He falls on his face. He prays. He already discerns what is happening, and we get to watch that discernment play out. This is a beautiful lesson for us in exercising discernment.

Because there is truth in what Korach says. Korach is speaking HaShem's own words back to Moshe.

You shall be holy, for I, Adonai your G-d, am holy.

Leviticus 19:2

You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Exodus 19:6

So Korach is working from something with real validity. All the people are holy. G-d does dwell in the midst of the camp — we'd just seen it. Most of what Korach says is true. And then we reach the end of the sentence. You have exalted yourselves above the assembly. You, Moshe, lifted yourself up — and then you lifted up your brother and handed him the priesthood.

Moshe sees beneath it. He sees Korach's desire for a priesthood of his own — one different from the priesthood G-d gave to Aaron. And he calls it out.

Is it not enough that the G-d of Israel has set you apart from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself… that you seek the priesthood as well? Therefore you and your whole company have banded together against Adonai. And Aaron — what is he, that you complain against him?

Numbers 16:9–11

Then Moshe calls for Dathan and Abiram. And they refuse to come. They won't even sit down for a conversation. They send back word — and they harden their hearts like Pharaoh, and they twist the truth into a lie.

Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you should also lord it over us?

Numbers 16:13

They take G-d's own words and invert them. The land flowing with milk and honey — that was the Promised Land. They pin it on Egypt. So we have two extremes. Korach brings truth with a little deception folded into it. Dathan and Abiram twist everything.

We benefit from watching Moshe's discernment reveal the matter, and from seeing G-d's judgment. We know how it ends. G-d honors the priesthood He gave to Aaron. Those who conspire are consumed — by the earth, and by the fire.

But that doesn't end it. The very next day the congregation shows up:

You have killed the people of Adonai!

Numbers 16:41

What an accusation. Even after the divine witness, even after the divine judgment, Korach's teaching is still living in the hearts of the people. They're carrying it with them.

It doesn't take much. It just takes something that makes people feel good, something that resonates with what is already in the heart. Korach says, you are all holy, and they like it. And they miss the accusation hidden inside.

Test the Teaching, Not the Teacher

We often don't test teachings. We rely on a superficial look. Looks good to me. I listened to it. From what I can see in the text, it seems mostly true.

And more often than that, we test relationally instead of textually.

None of those questions tell you whether the claim is true. And Korach was all of these things.

When we look past the persona of the one delivering the message, to the words actually being said, we get a more honest analysis. We don't have to lean on the personality of the teacher. Moshe nullified himself — he didn't rely on his own persona or ego. G-d was the one who lifted Moshe up, and all the people saw it.

I want to share with you my own process for discerning a teaching — in the hope that we can use it, and bring the conversation about discernment to the forefront. We need to talk about it. We need to practice it. Discernment is a muscle. It does nothing unless we exercise it.

When I handle a teaching — online, in person, even in conversation — the first thing I do is validate the claim.

If all of that holds — if what they're saying is really in the text and the sources are accurate — then I shine the light of the Torah on it and look for holes. And while I do, I keep three tests from Deuteronomy in mind.

Now, shining the whole light of the Torah is hard if we don't know the whole Torah. So I've simplified it for myself. I build outward from what I know best, in order:

You don't have to memorize all of Isaiah to begin. Start by testing against the Ten Commandments. You don't have to know all of Psalms to work in Devarim. Just start.

Walking Korach Through the Process

Let me put it into practice with Korach's own teaching, so you can see how I walk through it. It doesn't matter how the teacher presents it — how emotional he is, how much he believes it. We test the words being spoken. Verse 3: You take too much upon yourselves. The whole community is holy, and G-d is in their midst. Why do you raise yourselves above the assembly of Adonai?

Validate the claim. Is Israel holy? Yes. Is G-d in their midst? Yes. Does Moshe carry a heavy load? He did — and a solution had already been given for that back with Jethro. Did Moshe elevate himself above everyone? That is the thing actually being tested.

The direction test (Deut 13). Here is the first problem. Korach's teaching pulls the people away from the divinely appointed order. G-d established the priesthood, and Korach is pulling people off of it. He's trying to add the priesthood to his own Levitical service and subtract it from Aaron. That's reason to pause.

A second witness. Is there a single witness anywhere that Moshe elevated himself? At the level of the Ten Commandments, verse 3 alone breaks nothing — it sounds like a legitimate concern. But when we get to Devarim, we find text after text of how G-d Himself established the priesthood, passed it from Aaron to his sons, set Moshe as king in Yeshurun. That is where Korach's whole teaching falls apart. We don't even need to read further into the Torah.

Just because something contains truth — just because it looks good, or noble — doesn't mean there isn't an agenda hidden in it. Moshe saw through it from the beginning. And instead of settling it on the spot, he doesn't call down fire. He says: come back tomorrow. Sleep on it. Get your heart right. He gives them the night to reconsider, to do teshuvah, to burn up what's in their hearts — so they don't burn up with it.

The Hidden Teshuvah

And teshuvah is hidden right here in the portion. In verse 1, four men are named apart from their fathers: Korach, Dathan, Abiram, and On the son of Peleth. On is named with the conspiracy — we can assume as one of its leaders. And then the Torah never tells us what happened to him. It never says the earth swallowed him. It never lists him with the 250 consumed by fire. On is there at the beginning of the rebellion, and when the judgment falls, he is gone.

We won't build a theology on a gap. But we can lay the pattern of teshuvah across it — the pattern we see all through the Tanakh. You start among the rebels. You realize you are a rebel. You repent, and you leave the rebels. And when the rebels are judged, you are not judged with them.

And there is one more tidbit. Numbers 26:11 — "and the sons of Korach did not die." That's all it says. It doesn't tell us how they survived when their father's whole household was swallowed by the earth. But somehow they did. And if we follow them through the rest of the Tanakh, we find a beautiful picture of the fruit of teshuvah — what happens when someone truly turns from a wicked path and pursues the Creator.

From a wicked father, sons who turned, who left, who bore fruit. The sons of Korach are an example for our own return. Just because we were born into a system, just because we carried something for a long time, doesn't make it immune to being tested. We don't have to carry it with us into the pit. Test everything, and hold fast to what is true.

And What Is True?

The Torah is true. The word of G-d. And Psalm 19 bears witness both to the word of G-d and to teshuvah.

The Torah of Adonai is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of Adonai is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of Adonai are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of Adonai is pure, bringing light to the eyes… More desirable than gold, than much fine gold; sweeter than honey, than the drippings of the honeycomb.

Psalm 19:7–10

The Torah deals with our heart problem — it rejoices the heart, after the idols are removed. And it deals with our sight problem — it brings light to the eyes. The very two ways we are led astray, it heals. And then the psalm turns to teshuvah:

Who can discern his errors? Cleanse me from hidden faults. Keep Your servant also from willful sins; let them not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, and cleansed of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before You, Adonai, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:12–14

The Torah is the blueprint. The instruction. The map that leads us to the Creator — to that nearness we long for. And teshuvah is what re-orients us to the map. It's what we reach for when we realize we've gone off the road — driven through one fence and out the other. Teshuvah turns us around and puts us back on the road, heading home.