Parshat Korakh: From Darkness to Light

This week’s parashah/portion is Korakh (Numbers/Be’midbar 16:1-18:32).  The parashah contains within it the revolt against Moses’s leadership led by his cousin Korakh, along with Datan and Abiram.   These three, and their followers, challenge Moses and Aaron claiming that everyone is holy.  Unfortunately, their revolt was led by ego and hubris rather than by any belief in egalitarianism, and so the earth swallowed as a punishment. 

On the following day, Moses is told to take a staff from the leaders of all the tribes, with Aaron representing the tribe of Levi, and to place them in the ground inside the Mishkan/Tabernacle.  On the next day they return and Aaron’s staff that has sprouted blossoms and almonds to symbolize his and his descendants chosen stature as High Priest. 

These images form the basis of this poetic commentary on the parashah.

blossoming from darkness to light

I am here  in darkness

why      what have I done

I hear voices  screaming  pleading

           seeing only darkness  impenetrable

I am in the ground      swallowed whole

I am not dead     or perhaps I am

why did I do it

   why didn't I run

       why was I afraid of them

   they were so persuasive

            all are holy

            we are holy

            who is Aaron

            who is Moses

            we are all priests

            all can serve God

Yes     we are all holy

       yet all have different tasks

     all can see   and serve   God

each in their own way

I didn't want to be high priest

       above others

          over the community

I don’t know   what I wanted

then I heard    their voices

becoming my voice       proclaiming

we are holy

       you have too much

           we have not enough

you shall see

    

I saw firepans

    smelled incense

        searing   burning

I knew    what was happening

        I sensed   what might happen

now I can feel and see only darkness

I had seen God’s power before

   moments of glory   and terror

         deliverance at the sea

    plague and death in the desert

I knew the possibilities

yet I ignored my heart

I did not pay attention to its words

I heard only their words

Korakh Dathan Abiram

  I became them    they were a part me

    they became  my unconscious conscience

        voice of unreason

          smoldering incense

transformed into flaming earth

opening up         swallowing us

filling my  mouth ears nose soul

       with the dark smoke of oblivion

now I am here

  forever beneath the surface

I do not know  what is above

 what exists   what is real

remaining still

listening     waiting

seems an eternity

I try reaching out    up

  my hand moves    slightly

    suddenly

it breaks through the earth

       shattering the shell encasing me

   freeing me from living death

I feel air on my hand

my body remaining submerged underground

 my soul      my heart

remaining shrouded  in darkness     uncertainty

again I reach     out

     I grasp something

           it pulls me up from the earth  toward the light

       the darkness pulls me down

    wanting me to remain caught

torn        in between

  eternal liminality

    where do I belong

under here   or up there

   with them  or with the others

I simply do not know

the force continues pulling me upward

           powerful unstoppable

leading me toward my unknown destiny

I emerge   birthed from my tomb

dirt falling  off my clothing

  the light     the sun

 I sense the shimmering

 fire and cloud

     of Divinity

 all blinding me still

unable to see

I hear a voice calling out a name

            Aaron

 is that me   I am bewildered

           then I realize

       that is the one pulling me up from the ground

telling me that I have been saved

 dazed and puzzled

I look around me

I see the people     my people

surrounding staring frightened wondering

why did I survive

I hear a voice whisper the answer

I have a mission

in that moment I know

  I must show the people

   we are all one

 none of us is

 special   holy chosen

unless we all are

then I notice I feel  what saved me

      what I had grasped before

        my destiny  still in my hands

     shielding my eyes from burning light

I begin to feel the warmth of the Divine

     in my heart and soul

 in my hand  I see a staff blossoming

          I smell sweetness of almond blossoms

 awakening me     reminding me of who I am

        what I must do

 how I must show  those remaining   the truth

            we are One we are holy

I have been saved to save all of us

to help me to see  to know   to show everyone

 the truth  others could not

that is why

  they are underground

           devoured by their gods

ego  hubris pride greed jealousy

that had blinded them to the truth

I am here  where I know belong

  not knowing why I was chosen to play this role

           to open my heart to God to holiness

   for all to see

so we can all join together

 opening our hearts   as One

     creating

       moment by moment

        soul by soul

          holy community

            holy life

              blossoming for God

               exquisitely delicate

                 divinely human

                     so all will see

                       all will know

                        the truth

                        the beauty

                         of the One

                             of us all