This week’s Torah reading, Parashat Korach, might be a leader’s worst nightmare – the rabble rouser in the crowd. You know the type – the person who likes to stir the pot and get everyone all riled up and upset about something. We know the person. There is one in every group who likes to complain and then share complaints with others, not always sharing those concerns in the most helpful way. There is a way to share feedback, and then there are those who often think: Why is she the one who gets to lead? Why was I not picked as the leader? She is always picked? She is the favored one.
Perhaps the complaining as more to do with jealousy than really wanting to help and lead. I think that was Korach’s motivation in being the rabble rouser in our Torah reading. He was basically jealous that Moses was the leader, and so Korach enticed a group of followers to rebel against Moses. Some believe an earthquake came at the most opportune moment and swallowed up Korach and his followers. Whether it was a coincidental act of nature, or an act of God, in any event, it showed: you rebel against the chosen leaders of God, and you speak out against the leaders that God has picked, you will be punished. The lesson we must learn – if one has feedback for one’s leaders: Think of an appropriate way to share that feedback with others. Don’t stir the pot and cause more chaos and discontent. More bees are caught with honey…Shabbat Shalom.
