In preparing for my Devrei Torah this week, I have been astonished that so many Torah scholars accept the chronological order of this part of Sefer Bemidbar and ignore the insights of Rabbi Yitzchok Magriso, an 18th Century author from Constantinople, who demonstrates that based on the locations of B’Nai Yisrael during the second year of the Exodus, that the sin of the Meraglim must have taken place after Korach’s rebellion (see Torah Anthology, vol. 13, pp. 333-35).
In one sense Rabbi Magriso’s conclusion is obvious. Miriam’s tzaraat requires a delay of one week. The Korach rebellion takes place over a few days. The Meraglim are absent for forty days, and their sin takes place on Tisha B’Av, only after their forty days touring Canaan.
Given the statements at various places in the in the Torah about where B’Nai Yisrael are during that summer, it is difficult to accept that two to three million people return from the Paran desert to Chatzerot forty days after leaving. The more obvious interpretation is that the people move closer to Canaan to meet the scouts when the ten men return from their investigation. While the scouts depart from B’Nai Yisrael the same week as Miriam’s tzaraat and Korach’s rebellion, the sin of the majority evil scouts only takes place nearly six weeks after they depart. The classic source that Korach’s rebellion takes place after the sin of the Meraglim is Ramban, who argues that the Torah is chronological in almost all cases. Rashi, for example, argues that the Torah is more often thematic and that the Torah changes the chronological order fairly often to preserve thematic integrity.
What strikes me in reading numerous Devrei Torah this week to prepare to compile the material below is how frequently this parsha raises issues across generations. Rabbi Dr. Katriel (Kenneth) Brander observes that Moshe and Shmuel, subject of the Haftorah, share the shortcoming that none of their sons approach the spiritual heights of their fathers. Datan and Aviram, from the tribe of Reuven, join Korach’s rebellion in protest for the first born sons losing the religious leadership of the new generation. Rosh Yeshiva Dov Linzer’s focus on the responsum of Rav Avraham Salnik (Poland, ca. 1550-1620) fits the theme of issues across generations. Rav Salnik argues that an older person who becomes blind should maintain the privilege of having an aliyah and that to deny that honor to them would lead to members of the community feeling excluded and prone to abandon their religious fervor.
Rabbi Ysoscher Katz addresses a similar issue with respect to Korach’s challenge to Moshe and Aharon. According to Rabbi Katz, in the Chassidic tradition, all Jews are holy, the starting point for Korach. However, Rabbi Katz explores this position and concludes that all of us face the challenge of finding holiness within ourselves, nourishing this holiness, and encouraging it to grow. Rabbi Brander focuses this challenge on us as parents. We should view ourselves as gardeners, creating conditions under which our children can take root, grow, and turn toward the light of our religious mitzvot.
