Rabbi's Chayva's Chat

“Complaints are everywhere heard that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority."

   - James Madison, The Federalist Papers (Federalist 10)

Though these words might feel prescient today, Madison also might as well have been talking about last week’s Torah portion. Complaints were everywhere!

Korach, Datan, and Aviram gathered 250 of the leaders of the tribes and confronted Moses and Aaron about what they deemed to be abuses of power and failures of leadership. “You have gone too far!” they cried. “For all of the community are holy and God is in their midst! Why, then, do you raise yourselves above God’s congregation?” It is the closest the Torah ever comes to endorsing democracy, if we take them at their word.

Moses and God reacted poorly. Moses fell on his face, God ultimately created a giant sinkhole beneath Korach, Datan, and Aviram, and everyone who associated with them. This reaction surprised me. After all, Moses' authority was challenged only a few chapters ago by his siblings. Furthermore, the Israelites complain about Moses and God's leadership all the time! What makes this time different?

I believe that the protestors' great offense was not the content of their speech but the way in which they raised their grievance. There was no good faith effort at dialogue; they band together, aiming to appear threatening even before saying a word.

How often have you found yourself responding to someone's tone more than they said? Or, alternatively, how often have you been frustrated that the legitimate point you would like to make was not received the way you wanted it to, and you must restate it in a different tone before the content can be heard? 

Democracy also rests on this invisible foundation of process over content. We know and accept that many legitimate perspectives can arise in a democracy, and as long as they are not destructive, hurtful, or prejudiced, people have a right to voice their opinions. What defines democracy is not idyllic agreement, but rather the processes that hold our society together despite those disagreements. The devolution of democracy is not indicated by the election of candidates with whom we disagree, but rather when those elected candidates (and their appointees) centralize or abuse their power and diminish the voices of the people.

Let us remember that our democracy holds only when we remember, as Korach did, that we are holy beings with a core of ethical goodness within us. And also, when we remember, as Moses did, that there is a good way to go about making change and a destructive one, and the damage of the destructive method long outlasts the content of the grievance.