The Korach story ends with the Torah enumerating the special priestly gifts. On this special status of the priesthood, the Sifrei comments: “There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of kingship, and the crown of the priesthood. The crown of priesthood was taken by Aharon, the crown of kingship was taken by David, the crown of Torah, however, waits for anyone to take it.” This idea, that Torah is and should be accessible to all, is at the center of a responsum in the book Maseit Binyamin, written by Rav Avraham Salnik (Poland, ca. 1550-1620), on the topic of whether a blind man can receive an aliyah.
In this responsum, Rav Salnik articulates a strong sense of moral and Torah obligation to ensure that everyone, regardless of circumstance or disability, is treated as an equal member of the community. He starts on a very personal note, revealing that he himself has become blind. He takes personally the ruling of Beit Yosef that a blind man cannot receive an aliyah. An impersonal ruling for a group of people is taken personally and passionately by those whom it affects. He speaks as to how this one exclusion will make him feel rejected from the world of Torah.
Rav Salnik concludes that a person who is blind, and an illiterate person, can receive an aliyah even lichatchilah. He makes a critical point about the mandate of inclusion: “The Rabbis waived whatever concerns there might have been in these cases, because the value of accepting the Yoke of Heaven was more important, and also for the sake of giving religious satisfaction.”
Rav Salnik references the parasha of the week by referring to it as “For the entire community is all holy.” Although those words were articulated by Korach, Rav Salnik implicitly states that Korach’s statement was correct. Korach may have been using this ideology cynically, but in the end, what he said was true: everyone is holy, and everyone therefore has a right to have access to that which is holy.
