In this week’s Torah portion, Korach, we read about the rebellion of Korach against Moses.
Korach challenges Moses’ leadership as well as the granting of the High Priest position to Aaron. “The entire congregation is holy, and the L-rd is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above the L-rd’s assembly?”
Korach is accompanied by Datan and Aviram, rabble-rousers against Moses from the start of his leadership. There are also 250 other men of stature who join the rebellion against Moses. Eventually Korach died being swallowed alive by the earth.
By all accounts Korach was a religious man and a Torah scholar. What moves a man like him to rebel against Moses, who was installed by G-d as the leader of the Jewish people? And why was he swallowed by the earth?
It is not enough to be religious and learned in Torah. There is a third ingredient that is necessary and that is humility. When one is ego driven he is doomed to fail. All the Torah in the world won’t help from being swallowed alive by his ego. Not being able to see anyone other than himself, he even fails to recognize the true leader of the Jewish people. This is the route of all divisiveness. He knows that everything Moses does is G-d’s will but his ego doesn’t want to recognize G-d’s authority either. Recognizing Moses’s authority is recognizing G-d’s authority.
While this example is extreme, it is something we could learn from. When you feel like you are getting the raw end of a situation, before starting an argument, ask yourself, “Is this truly unfair or is this my ego rearing his ugly head?”
Being humble will be your salvation in all your relationships. At home, at work, at synagogue and everywhere else. It will also help you overcome life’s challenges because instead of thinking “why me?” you will think “G-d put me in this predicament, what is His reason for putting me here? What does He want me to gain from this situation? How would He want me to use my situation to affect others positively?”
Being humble does not mean feeble, weak or insignificant. Being humble means that you can recognize the other, not only yourself. It means you are not alone. It means that you feel that G-d is always with you.