Parashas Korach: Clinton, Trump, and Korach's Followers

Click here for a printer-friendly version of this blog post.

Parashas Korach: Clinton, Trump, and Korach's Followers
Clinton and Trump are both liars, but in different ways. Clinton lies like a duplicitous and conniving rasha (evildoer). Trump lies like an eveel (fool), or a petulant toddler. Both are willing to lie in the face of the evidence, but whereas Clinton uses cunning and smokescreens in an attempt to mask her corruption, Trump openly denies his lies by crafting and pushing audacious alternative narrative. 
As we witness these politicians repeatedly lie and get caught again and again, the question arises: "How did they possibly think they would get away with this?" It is for this question that we turn to our parashah for an answer.
Moshe Rabbeinu responds to Korach's rebellion by proposing a test:

He spoke to Korach and to his entire assembly, saying, "In the morning Hashem will make known to the one who is His own and the holy one, and He will draw him close to Himself, and whomever He will choose, He will draw close to Himself. Do this: Take for yourselves fire-pans - Korach and his entire assembly - and put fire in them and place incense upon them before Hashem tomorrow. Then the man whom Hashem will choose - he is the holy one" (Bamidbar 16:5-7).

The men do as they are told. And guess what happens? "A flame came forth from Hashem and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense" (ibid. 16:36). Aharon ha'Kohen is proven to be the chosen one.

The Abravanel [1] raises a glaring question:

How did Korach and his assembly agree to the test of the incense? Did they not remember the wonders that they had seen? Didn't they know that Nadav and Avihu were burned when they brought incense (Vayikra 10:2)? How did [these men] not fear for their lives? 

He then provides the following answer:

Without a doubt, if Moshe had explained to them the reality of this test, and how it would be - namely, that the chosen one would live and the incense would be accepted from him, and the others would die and be burned - perhaps they wouldn't have agreed to the matter. But he didn't explain to them the outcome of being chosen or not being chosen. Also, they - in their foolishness - didn't ask him about it. They thought that the fire would come down from the heavens onto the chosen incense, and they would all stand very close together, so that each one of them could say that the fire descended upon his [offering]. 

This is similar to what happened to the priests of Baal with Eliyahu. When Eliyahu proclaimed to them the test of the fire, they responded: "The proposal is good!" (Melachim I 18:24) because they thought that they would make their altars and their sacrifices together with the altar of Eliyahu. [They reasoned that] inevitably, either the fire would neither descend upon his nor upon theirs, and they would all be equal, or else the fire would descend, and they would say, "The fire descended for us!" and Eliyahu would say, "It descended for me!" and the matter would remain in doubt [in the eyes of the people] and Eliyahu's words would not be verified. 

Eliyahu saw that this was their plan. After they had agreed and accepted upon themselves this test, he said to them, "Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are the many" (ibid. 18:25). In other words, [he told them] that they would not be doing all of their offerings together, but the prophets of Baal would do it first. Through this, their evil was exposed, for the fire did not descend upon their offering. And that is what happened. Afterwards, Eliyahu did [his offering] and the fire descended upon his altar. 

The same exact thing happened to Moshe Rabbeinu with Korach and his assembly.

The Abravanel answers his question by explaining that the men of Korach's assembly knew that Hashem would not accept their incense, just as the prophets of Baal knew that their offerings would not be miraculously consumed. So why did both parties agree to the test? Because they relied on the prospect of manipulating the results of the test in their favor. 

But as Shlomo ha'Melech said, "Pride goeth before the fall" (cf. Mishlei 16:18). They were so confident in their ability to trick the populace that they walked right into the trap of letting their "opponents" (i.e. Moshe Rabbeinu and Eliyahu ha'Navi) set up the terms and conditions of the test, thereby precluding the possibility of their devious schemes. 

One of the more amusing examples of this mistake is The Amazing Randi's debunking of famous "psychics" and practitioners of the occult. Randi's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge promises $1,000,000 to anyone who can demonstrate paranormal powers under predetermined scientific criteria.

According to Wikipedia, over a thousand people have applied for this challenge, but no one has succeeded. Some of the applicants have gone so far as to be "tested" by Randi on live TV. For example, James Hydrick claimed to be able to move everyday objects (e.g. a pencil, and the pages of a telephone book) using only the power of his mind. Here is the clip of him demonstrating his "powers" without Randi's conditions, followed by a second attempt under Randi's conditions. Note that this is back when the challenge was only worth $10,000:

For those who skipped the video: Randi theorized that Hydrick was moving the objects by clandestinely blowing on them. To test this theory, Randi sprinkled foam packaging peanuts around the telephone book and asked Hydrick to repeat the demonstration of his powers. Under these conditions, Hydrick would be unable to move the objects without also revealing that he was blowing the peanuts.

Surprise surprise, Hydrick couldn't do it. In fact, he tried for an hour and a half (!) but didn't succeed. At the time, he blamed his failure on static electricity generated by the foam and the lights. But this excuse didn't fool anyone. He was exposed as a fraud, and his career as a psychic came to an abrupt end. Randi similarly debunked the even more famous psychic Uri Geller on The Today Show in 1973.

To the clear-thinking observer, it seems like a ludicrous move for Hydrick and Geller to submit themselves to a test with the conditions set by a professional skeptic. And yet, they agreed, and put their careers on the line. Why? Because they were seduced by their pride into believing that they could hoodwink the observers with their trickery, and they believed they were immune to failure.

The same is true of Korach's followers and the prophets of Baal. They knew that their claims were bogus, and they knew that Moshe Rabbeinu and Eliyahu ha'Navi were the real deal. But they still managed to delude themselves into believing that they could pull a fast one, and spin the test results in their favor.

It appears that the same is true for Clinton and Trump. The only difference is that they haven't yet gotten themselves into a big enough "test" situation. But if Shlomo ha'Melech's profiles of the rasha and the fool are correct, then it is only a matter of time before they do this, and destroy themselves with their lies.

Let us hope that this happens at a time when the damage done to America is minimal, and there is someone who is better qualified to take the place of the fallen Queen or King.

[1] Don Yitzchak Abravanel, Commentary on Sefer Bamidbar 18:6