Ari Goldwag - Korach - Organic Leadership

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with Ari Gold wag recorded with a never-ending assistance and I'm a pitcher material 5777 2017 this week's parsha is partial escora I'd like to remind you once again about my safer perfectly imperfect breaking out of the ordinary and striving for greatness available wherever good Jewish books are sold I also want to mention two other very important things one is that in two weeks from now I'm cautious but luck it will be ten years that I will be celebrating having put out a partial podcast every single week it's right to share with the Shems help so that's one momentous occasion and I'd also like to share with you that I've started a new podcast on the safer Ally sure which is a beautiful muster safer by Rachel Nevada and I've started that at the video podcast you can find out on tour any time calm and you can also find that on my youtube channel as well as on my Facebook page so check that out okay in our practice we get punches and we have the famous rebellion of Korah and its people against motion against Moses against Aaron haquyen the high priesthood was called into question by Korah and I'd like to share with you a thought which is really all-encompassing of the parsha i'd like to look at the pressure generally and also this week at the historic because there's an interesting insight that we can see from the parallel whenever you have our torah which is an added section that we read from the new veeam from the prophets so there's always something that parallels what's going on in our partial it's a special reading that we do and i'd like to share with you a thought that relates to how we can understand our parsha in light of doctora but let's look for a moment at the partial r partial itself and we see that Cora he comes to challenge the authenticity of Moshe Rubino's navoo of his prophecy and of his appointment of our Nocona Aaron as a high priest and he says why should there be any kind of classes Why should there be different parts of clause so actually there were people with more power or have more closeness perhaps to God we're all close we're all special we're all related to God we all have a relationship with Hashem so he challenged the fact that there could be a hierarchy within the Jewish people and he said that no every single person has an equal relationship with Hashem and actually it's a mistake actually when we look at reality on a per shot level we look at it on a simple level we see there are some people who have greater talent there are some people who are more spiritual there are some people who are less well sorry some people have more money people have less money Hashem created it in this way and part of what we have to do here in our lives part of what we have to accomplish what we have to rectify is that the people who have more money need to share with those who have less money the people who have more spirituality or more ability more talent need to share with those who have less yes there is a clear requirement that we try to equal things out so to speak but interestingly the way that the Torah approaches the subjects thing the way that the scope of the Torah is is that our job is to correct to bring back into balance that which is out of balance but correct mistake clearly is that he says no because the ideal is that everything be in balance everything already is in balance that's his kind of approach to life and Moshe Rubino's response to that is if you start that way if you begin and say that everything is already in balance everyone has already created equal it's true that the goal is that everyone ends up equal but don't think that that's how it starts don't make that mistake it's just not true and the result of that mistake is that we see that karach and those who came along with him who challenged mushrooming who challenged the we have Shem set up the world who challenged when Hashem created the fact that they argued Islander people who are greater they're people who are the lesser level of people who have a higher spiritual attunement and they're able to have a higher spiritual attainment as a result so because he challenged that the result was that there was destruction for him for his family and for all of those people who came along with him now as we continue to read the account the Torah gives us of this event so Africa and all the people are destroyed after they all die so the Jewish people are very upset about this challenge that took place they're upset with the way that Moshe Rabbeinu handled it and the fact that he gave them a test they couldn't pass really and in a certain sense he caused them to to die yes it was their own fault yes they could have backed they chose not to but there was a great challenge and the challenge remained even to our decline himself the air and the priest not sure a man says to call he's like why you why are you starting off with our what did he do wrong he hasn't done anything he's clearly the bathenosh a means clearly someone who is chosen by sham we know that our Italian with somebody who has he was on the right of show me was someone who ran after peace he loved peace and the Torah describes the way that the Jewish people cried when he passed away he was someone who was beloved to his people and yet chorus was challenging his appointment he was challenging his the fact that he was placed above anyone else and that challenge that kora created that challenge that he presented remained even after he was destroyed even after his family was destroyed and the Jewish people needed a proof it's very interesting they needed a proof that indeed iron Italian was exalted that Hashem had chosen him to be on a higher level than than other people and that's how the Torah gives us this description of the story that takes place after caracas and is either after the group were destroyed so they take the stabs of the 12 Nassim of the 12 different princes of each of the tribes then take the staff of our anaconda leave them in the Michigan the Tabernacle overnight and the following morning they see that of all the stabs only arnica and only air and staff has begun even though it's a staff its detachment around but it started to grow it started to have flowers and to have fruits or really nuts that grow upon it and so there's a proof there's a show Shem is showing and proving to the Jewish people that there are there are individuals in this case it's Aaron it's Aaron the high priest there are individuals who indeed somehow are able to access a higher place to attach themselves even though we in this world and this is perhaps a deeper understanding of it we in the soil are in a certain sense detach we don't see the spiritual in our lives so easily all right so we're detached we're like that matzo were like that staff but there are those who despite the detachment are still attached instead of shamans showing that Aaron the high priest that are a client is able to attach himself to a higher place to the source of life and so he's not said his staff still grows it still produces fruit it still produces flowers and so we need to know when it comes to I was showing the Jewish people that we need to know when it comes to our leaders they have a special appointment by a Shem and the appointment doesn't come because they grabbed leadership like a car tried to do it comes because of the fact that they are the bigger Shem there is a chosen one of a Shem proves to us that indeed these people are special and not because of anything that anyone else has done not because anyone at the point of them but just because it's a natural progression and after the Torah describes all this gives us this account so the Torah also gives us towards the end of the parsha it gives us a description of the fact that we have the Levites son gives the Levites all of the love iam not just the column not just the priests or all of the Levites are there to serve the mission help our own to a certain extent to be involved at that level so the Laveen are also artists chosen above the Librium the Lavi march ozan above the jewish people there's a hierarchy there are levels in our relationship with Hashem and the way the Jewish people interact and relate to a Shem and now corresponding to that the Torah describes the obligation to give my sir to give a tithe to the Levites and the way that it's this rezidentura is that's really given to a Shem we give it to God and God in turn gives it to the Levites and then beautifully it's not just in comment upon the Jewish people themselves to give to the Levites the Meister the tithe but the the Levites themselves also have to give at rumor they have to give a donation from their tithe they give a tithe as well to the Kohanim so the Jewish people give a tithe to the Levites in the Kohanim to the priests and the Levites themselves also give a tithe to the priests to the Kohanim so within this is an acknowledgment of the fact that I need to give from myself I need to give something of mine it seems to be mine I need to give it to God and recognize that God gives it to these people there's something that they have there's something that I need to give to them and recognize that they have access to a share in a way that I don't naturally have an need to get from them and interestingly I also need as a result to give to them because because the fact that I am not in that relationship of not serving a Shem all day long in the way that the Kohala priests and the Levites are so therefore I perhaps have more time to be working on my business be involved in earning so I need to give from what I have more of to those who have less and there's an interpolate as an interdependent reality that's created that we see very clearly here and it's beautiful and it's such a contrast between the beginning of the parsha where cos is trying to grab away from our own trying to grab away the hierarchy perhaps try to take maluca kingship for himself but he's trying to take away the hierarchy and say no everyone can equally access God we don't need this hierarchy as opposed to the end of the partial with the Taurus teaching us how we approach hierarchy in a proper way how we acknowledge the fact that there is a hierarchy and the point of the hierarchy is to share that those who have more in one area share with those who have less in that area those who have more in a different area share with those who have less in that different area and I would also point out just something interesting like why I shall set it up this way what's the what's the reason for it and the thought that comes to me is that I shall wants us to interact with each other she wants us to have compassion on each other and the very way that a Shem created the world is such that we are less perfect when we compare ourselves to God God is perfect the shemin's them what the ultimate perfection shall created us in this world so that we can earn our rewards as we are or a relationship with Hashem which is the reward and we need to start off in a place which is lower and because of the fact that we have this interaction we have this relationship with Hashem which is that God is great and perfect and we are less than that much less than that so that also exists in a parallel way in different places within the reality that we exist between people between a parent a child but the point is that it's always going to be getting to a higher place to a greater level of equality of a place where you know as I raised my child they become greater and greater the point where we're almost going to say level of course is always the respect that's needed this is always a relationship you know the parent is always the pair of the child is always the child but as the child grows they become closer to equals and that's that's all a result of the onset of the world and that represents the fact that we're in this world and there are imbalances partly in order that we be able to learn how to interact with each other it's a beautiful idea now I'd like to share with you what happens in the astara now that we've seen kind of an overview of the parsha innascar it's very interesting it brings us the story of shoreland I'll be Samuel the Prophet that he appointed a king over the Jewish people was the first king of King Saul show hemella and Shimon was very upset and it was actually a mistake on the part of the Jewish people to ask for a king and he shows them in a miraculous way that this requested day I'd made for a king was a mistake and it's very difficult to understand what what exactly what's the mistake because the Torah tells us that when we come into our to throw one of the mitzvahs one of the obligations upon us is that when we get into the Land of Israel something similar hemella there's an obligation to appoint the king so what was the problem what was the mistake of the Jewish people made such that you all had to say to them you're interesting he says he speaks it actually is in a very parallel way to the way Moshe Rabbeinu spoke he says if sure Mila Kaktovik Omer Mila caste he was upset has used people for asking for a king and he said what did I do wrong whose ox did I take that it was an illegitimate thing for me to request who is come or who's gone key that I take I never took anything that didn't belong to me I didn't take anything that that wasn't mine I was always served to service you social more loving she wannabes like I you know a Shem sent constantly different people in order to help the Jewish people when they did things wrong when they sinned they were sent away so to speak from Hashem and there were enemies who arose such I'm always appointed somebody to come and take care of you and I was one of those people and I don't understand such one of you why you guys came and he wanted something else he wanted a king and it seems to me as we read this account it seems to me that the difference is exactly the same as parallel to what we see going on in our parsha it's a big difference be - an emotional vein oh and a carafe between an iron a cane and a carafe between a small an RV and even a shawl hemella you know Shaw was anointed and appointed by God King Saul was somebody with an amazing static amazing righteous individual is a great person Thomas Holcomb a Torah scholar somebody was an awesome individual but the difference was the approach what how did that person get into power what was it that was being requested when it came to an article like we said it was somebody he was somebody who came into power because Hashem appointed him to power Shmuel says I came into power and there were other people who came to save the Jewish people these were people who were appointed by a Shem it was organic it happened on its own nobody forced their way in when you guys made a request for a king it was akin to the request of Cora Cora came and said I should have the power all the Jewish people should have the power instead of acknowledging and recognizing that the way that the power comes in is in an organic fashion yes through a hierarchy yes through people who have a greater spiritual attunement through people who have a certain higher level and they share that with those who are beneath them and bring them up raise them up until they can also be on a higher level Clark is trying to grab the spiritual power as opposed to an iron aucoin who receives in an organic and natural way the spiritual power she will is thank to the Jewish people you guys are trying to grab you're trying to create an individual who has grabbed the power instead of it coming in an organic way like it's happened until now instead of it coming to a profit of Shmuel to other people who are able to fight against the enemies of the Jewish people in an organic way because a Shem appoints them you guys are breaking with the organic way that Hashem creates the world and brings people who are leaders to the Jewish people it's an amazing thing I recently on a ship from a Russia Sheva repair about the the contrast between the weight of the Jewish people socks worlds the way that we get arganoil how do we get our leaders it's something that just happens organically a person grows and grows and becomes greater and greater and all of a sudden one has to point to them to be the leader of the Jewish people but they just become that as opposed to what you see elsewhere whether it's in politics or whether it's in other religious circles people become leaders often by appointment or perhaps they've built themselves up etc but it's there there's pop and there's ceremony around that leadership which has its place and certainly we see that around the king of the Jewish people there was such a thing as pomp and ceremony but naturally the way that it occurs for the Jewish people for our world is in a more natural way a more organic way a person becomes accepted by the Jewish people people because of his greatness we accept the leadership of our Judaism of the great leaders of the Jewish people organically because of their greatness because of their leadership ability nan has appointed them to become the leader so really we see that there are two different things two different points when it comes to understanding our partial partial skoura and the oft or the idea of the mistake of the Jewish people when it came to asking for King one point is that we see that the way that we get to our leaders the way that we receive our leaders the way that Hashem brings about the fact that we have people who can lead us and guide us it's in an organic way it's not something that we can grab at or force we try to bring into the world on our own it's something that happens on its own that's the first point and the second point is that we can't grab for spirituality we can't be able to get that leadership ability as I hired you know try to get higher in on the hierarchical ladder or something like that it's not something that we can grab it's only something that comes that we receive and if we try to grab it the result is going to be negative but if we just receive if we're open to receiving it the result will be positive and so the Torah lays down a blueprint for the correct approach the way to receive indeed the proper hierarchy is so that ultimately we can bring things into that balance which Cara said we have already but it's not something that we have already something that we need to go through a process in order to receive and the key to it all the depth of it all is the way that a Shem shows us so beautifully so so gently this is how you do it gives nicer to the Levine give trimmer give a tithe give a donation and recognize you're not giving that donation directly to the Levite or directly to the Cohen to the priests it's really something that you're giving to God and Hashem gives it to the Levite Shem gives it to the Cohen to the priest and the Levite also has to recognize and acknowledge that there's a hierarchy that the the priest the coin is higher than him that he has a greater spiritual ability that he has a greater access to godliness and in so doing in that recognition it's the opposite of a core of crossties to grab and say no I have a relationship with the chemin ready get letting go give it to me let me be in charge Curran says no that's not how we do we do the opposite we say we recognize we recognize through our actions through the Trula that we give through the tithe and the donations that we give that this person has a higher level of spirituality this person was imbued with a higher level of spirituality and by the way it's true the Jewish people as well there's a certain spirituality that's imbued in the Jewish people that the nations of the world are supposed to turn to us and recognize as the verse speaks about one mushiya for the Messiah arrives you know 10 Gentiles are going to grab the four corner garments of the Jewish people of each of the Jewish people and say take us with you for God is with you right the idea there as well is that the spiritual attainments that are possible are only possible when we first recognize who somehow has a deeper access to those spiritual attainments we recognize that we acknowledge that through our giving through the tie that we give to the Levite to the priest we recognize that and in so doing we open up the possibility for us to receive that spiritual connection in a positive way in the correct way and the way that I shall plan for us through the relationships that we develop with those when the arm were spiritually developed at us with those who indeed have organically received the leadership that they indeed have so I want to bless you and please bless me Hashem should help us to be able to recognize to place to give our tithes that's enough for the charity that we give to give it to the right place so the Torah the Torah institutions to those who had that deeper spiritual place who had a deep deeper spiritual access to be able to create relationships with those people and assumption help us that we should be able to receive organically the spirituality the relationship with him that he so desires that we have thank you so much for listening have a wonderful Shabbos this podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit [Music]