Korach in a Nutshell

Thank you for your posts and the responses. I don't necessarily agree wtih you, but I love that you put it out there. I think HaShem provides us with hurdles to give us lessons. From these lesson I do think we grow and become better Jews. Reply

As a rank novice, the things I take away from this are that Hashem has placed boundaries and roles for us to operate within, and violating those boundaries for other-than-honorable purposes can have immediate and violent consequences. The other is that I think a lot of people seem to gloss past the 'miracle' of the event of the consuming of Korah and his cohorts... The community of Israel occupied an area that must have spanned at least a few square miles. The people were camped by tribe, clan, family, so these followers had to have been spread across the community. Yet, when the Earth opened and the fire of G-d consumed them, only the areas around the tents and belongings of those conspirators were affected; no one else. It would have been possible to have been a 'neighbor' of one of them and watched the ground open and take them and not you! Reply

Wow and what has just happened in Jerusalem? Sink hole and fires... Reply

One cannot un-light a candle once it's lit. All that you are, knew, thought, did, or said, will exist forever. And because HaShem straightens all the bent, the state of the righteous in the Olam Haba will be better than their current state. The Creator is the Omniscient and does not think like men. Reply

Korach as a feudal oligarch Egyptian atavism. Korach as an Egyptian atavism. Perhaps Korach and his followers symbolize the last gasp and attempt to return to the feudal dictatorial Egyptian past from which must people were fleeing. Korach the oligarch vs. Moshe the peoples' defender. Reply

My perspective (and hopefully tasty food for thought) on the "after-life" question.

A creation with a creator who did not "set aside" a dimension for recompense has negative implications:

1) The creator is lacking in its abilities - why could they not create something infinite (i.e. the soul) if they are indeed themselves infinite?

2) The creator is evil - what good creator would choose to not reward the righteous for their steadfast loyalty and good conduct?

3) The creator is apathetic - after all, a world in which the only life we have is this life, brings an indictment against said creator: where is the justice? Where is the mercy? The two most common questions asked are, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" and "Why do bad things happen to good people?" - the deistic (a creator world bereft of an after-life) worldview transform a wise creator into a selfish and careless monster.

4) The creator is a purposeless entity.

And I will end on this note: I believe in Olam Haba. Reply

Korach sounds like the founder of Reform Judaism. Reply

No Afterlife I was 19 years old when I hit a ditch driving in a car in Wyoming. 60 miles per hour to dead stop. totaled the car, nothing left but the back trunk lid.
The seatbelts save my life.
For a brief time I left the physical realm and experienced the expansion and compression of time. Two minutes felt like 15 minutes, one hour became three years, 20 years felt like 2.5 seconds.
Floating in the dark, I realized I was alone, I tried to experience fear, but could not generate the emotional response. I came to the realization fear requires a body, and there is no fear without the flesh.
When The experience ended, I realized I was in a car accident and managed to get myself out of the car.
Passing motorist saw the accident and called the police, I later learned in the hospital someone had died in that spot on the opposite side of the road two weeks earlier. I had escaped with a sprained neck and had to wear a neck brace.
Now I try to live my life without fear, because fear has no power without A body. Reply

Thank you for the ease in understanding this portion.
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What I got from the Parshah of the week Give incense or something that smells nice and everything will be fine Reply

A lingering image and a need to create a vision of the blooming almond blossoms. For years in reading the passages of Korach and visualizing the violent mutiny that threatened Aaron, and his chosen priesthood, as well as the violence of HaShem's response, it''s the end that stuck in my mind for many years. How the blooming of Aaron's rod, with blossoms and almonds signify HaShems choice. I am a visual artist, and am on my second attempt and I hope it will be complete in time for shabbos of my own personal vision of this. It's on canvas in acrylic and water color. I had to consult wikipedia for what an almond blossom looked like and budding almonds. I hope it works. Reply

Korach's mutiny was without merit. He sought only power. If he absolutely believed his cause was just why challenge Moses? He could have taken his 250 followers and journeyed out on his own. Reply

afterlife Maimonides 13th article of faith of Judaism is: I believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead. The Jews have a great big cemetery on the slopes of the Mt. of Olives. They believe they will be the first to be resurrected on that day.
We will be held accountable for our deeds on this earth and we will all stand before the Bimah. Reply

No Afterlife Sheol is the grave, the pit, where all mankind goes. Maybe later, Judaism was influenced by the Greek idea of Hades, the underworld, where the spirits go to. Rabbinic literature does talk about an afterlife, but there is no base for it in the Tanakh. When we die we sleep: Daniel 12:2; There are no thoughts: " His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish." Psalms 146:4; The dead does not praise God: " The dead praise not God, Neither any that go down into silence Psalms 115.17,88:10;The dead does not have hope: "They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth." Isaiah 38:18; "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Ecclesiastes 9:10. "But man dieth, and is laid low: Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
etc. Reply

Korach's downfall. Because Korach was of such high standing and still questioned the will of G-d, through Moshe, his sin was particularly shameful. He and his followers went straight into Gehinnom (Hell). However, in the time of redemption, 'nobody shall be missing' and Korach and his misguided followers will rejoin the children of Israel to welcome Moshiach. Reply

Rabbi vs. Prophet Nobody talks about one obvious and perhaps incovenient truth about this parsha. 250 Rabbis revolted against Moses and Aaron, and vanished. The basic lesson from this is that the rabbinical understanding of the Torah is secondary to the prophetic. And yet, many people approach Judaism as if it is the other way around. Reply

alternative view I am a Jew and don't believe in a "spiritual afterlife". One lives on through Yizkor and Yartzeit. Do good and may your memory be a blessing. Do bad and may your memory be forgotten or cursed. Reply

Two Things 1) Jews certainly DO believe in an afterlife, as is made abundantly clear by the Rabbinic literature and commentary.

2) Sheol literally means the grave and does not necessarily mean "hell" or anything of that sort, although it is frequently interpreted to mean Gehinnom or purgatory. In fact, according to Talmudic tradition Korach and his followers were swallowed up by the earth and did in fact wind up in Gehinnom.

I hope these points satisfied your question. Reply

Sheol I thought Jews believe that there is no afterlife. Numbers 16 the rebels fall into SHEOL. Isn't that the afterlife? Reply