Fear’s Power

Welcome! Spiritually Speaking Weekly Torah Portion Torah Commentary Press Page Available Now! Store Meditations

I hope you enjoy this website! I’d love to hear from you! By shopping with my partners, you get an automatic discount!

Mac Friends Books Free

Swarovski

Mac Speech IPCamera Supply

Amazon Google Books

Edge Tech Corp

Abe Books Office Max

Red Envelope Link Assistant

Wedding Channel Store Promo Direct

Your donations are very appreciated! They will help to grow Torah Teachings and to be able to maintain this site! If you like what you read, please help support this and other sites like it. All of my monetary buttons are from PayPal so your information is secure.

Now out in Paperback!

“What The Torah Teaches Us About Spirituality

Through Isaac’s Own Spiritual Journey” www.amazon.com, createspace.com, smashwords.com

Order my books in their e-book formats through me with PayPal!

“What The Torah Teaches Us About Survival” (vol. 1)

Companion Workbook for “What The Torah Teaches Us About Survival” (vol. 2)

“What The Torah Teaches Us About Spirituality

Through Isaac’s Own Spiritual Journey” (vol. 3)

We all know greed and power are powerful motivators. Some people are even good at convincing others to think greed and power aren’t their motivations for leadership, attempted or gained. Fear, unlike greed and power, doesn’t necessarily need to be instigated by a human being; rather, it may simply take over people’s lives all by itself. Fear may arise through threats, both real and imagined, and its power grows when it is shared.
Fear by itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as when, for example, a house is on fire. While inside the burning house, one’s fear motivates this person to save himself/herself, and the lives of others inside. In this case, fear of death is a helpful emotion to have.
On the other hand, fear may become so strong inside a person or group, it obfuscates the truth. In this instance, it feeds on itself and induces logical and clearheaded thinking to fall by the wayside. This is what happened in this week’s Parashah.
So much has been written about Korah himself, that I would like to help you focus on what happend to the group - which included the Israelites and others - as an unintended consequence of his actions. Clearly, Korah was motivated by greed and power, and the jealousy in which they were rooted, but he wanted control, power, and all of the benefits which came with the role of leader. While he wanted to achieve this power through intimidating Moses and Aaron into complying, I don’t believe he actually intended to instigate fear in everyone else. He was taking advantage of what he perceived as passive loyalty to Moses, and acceptance of him as the leader of the group.
Korah’s biggest problem with this thinking was Moses wasn’t an elected leader, he was chosen by Adonai as an instrument of Adonai’s actions, voice, and desires on earth. We were told in Exodus that when Adonai started declaring the Ten Commandments to the people, they themselves preferred to have Moses relay all information from G-d to them, rather than hear it directly.
Had Adonai simply invoked the plagues without Moses’ communications with the people and with Pharaoh, history may have been very different. Now in Numbers, after the Israelites had been freed from bondage, and after they received and agreed to all the laws in the Torah, and finally, after the Mishkan was built, Korah wanted to take over. We never heard a peep from Korah when all of the big miracles were taking place! Most, if not all, people with evil intentions, or intentions born of evil motivations, are the same way.
The truth that Adonai chose Moses to lead and Aaron to be the High Priest, and had indeed kept working through them, plus the fact Adonai’s presence was visible as the cloud by day, and fire by night, was brushed aside by Korah in his confrontation with Moses. There were direct consequences from Korah’s actions and desires, specifically when those who stood with him were instantly killed by Adonai the next day. Two hundred fifty people were consumed by fire when they tried to make a sacrifice of incense, and the others with him were swallowed whole by the Earth in what reads like the description of an earthquake.
Did the rest of the people stay levelheaded in their thinking and understand only the troublemakers and their followers were targeted and killed? We know they weren’t. The rest of the people were afraid they themselves would be killed too, even after Moses told them to separate themselves from the followers and supporters of Korah. Even with obvious targeting as a consequence of what amounted to questioning Adonai’s power and choices, the rest of the group was still afraid they would be next. Logically, as long as the people followed Adonai’s instructions, desires, and laws as relayed to them through Moses, they wouldn’t be “punished”. And yet, logic “went out the window” when unreasonable and misplaced fear took over. Due to the group dynamic, this misplaced fear took over and grew.
Through ignoring the obvious truth, the Israelites incurred Adonai’s wrath and a plague was sent, most likely targeting and killing those who stirred this fear up. As a righteous leader, Moses immediately acted to try to stop this ever growing and powerful misplaced fear, and to restore some order amongst the people. Moses told Aaron to stand between those already killed by the plague, and the living, and make a sacrifice of incense in order to appeal to Adonai to save the rest of the group.
One should also keep in mind, this wasn’t the only time the people had so angered Adonai by their ignorance of the truth, and because of those who allowed this behavior to continue, and by those who instigated it in the first place, that Adonai wanted to start his “Chosen People” over, through Moses and his descendants. Each time, Moses, as a righteous leader, pleaded and prayed on behalf of his followers. It would have been less stress on Moses had he simply agreed. He didn’t; instead, he continued to “serve the people - his family” despite their behavior, to pray and plead to intercede on their behalf, and to do what he could each and every time to restore order by bringing the truth to light.
The very next thing which happened after Adonai stopped the plague was Adonai told Moses to place a staff from each tribe with the names engraved of the fathers of the tribes (Jacob’s sons), and under these names place the name of the living patriarch representing each tribe and lay each staff before the Ark of the Covenant. The staff which had a blossom would be the High Priest chosen by Adonai. Obviously, this would be another miracle witnessed by the group - as we all are aware - since sticks of wood used as staffs don’t have life continue from them. Once the wood is taken from a tree, or the ground, the wood itself is dead.
To make a miracle as blatantly obvious as it could be, Adonai not only made Aaron’s staff bloom, but included almonds fully ripened upon it. This way, even if someone were to argue the wood for the staff was freshly-taken from a tree and bloomed before it was completely dead, it is not natural for the fruit of the tree - in this case, almonds - to grow and be fully ripened that quickly, even if the branch of wood had never been removed from the tree in the first place. After this, Moses was instructed by Adonai to place the staff with its blooms in front of the tent of meeting for all to see, and keep it there to permanently remind the people Aaron was chosen by Adonai.
This, of course, could only stand as a reminder if the blossom and the almonds continued to live on the staff, which isn’t the way of nature. Yet, the people were still afraid. This time, however, the imminent fear of death subsided, and now was properly replaced by fear and awe of Adonai, and the chaos ceased. How do I know? I know because this story immediately terminates and the Torah picks up again with general instructions for the Levites, and the two divisions of Levite and Kohanim for the tithing and distribution of the tithes.
This may seem like a deviation and an odd account to include within this week’s parashah; however, upon contemplation of this, one comes to understand leadership isn’t about one person, nor does it imply this person has a right to act however he/she pleases. It teaches us a leader can only lead when the group supports him/her. It is a symbiotic relationship. One can only lead with the support and consent of others. Therefore, we are told the people must tithe the Levites, who in turn tithe the Kohanim, and in so doing, all agree to support, protect, and defend each other, since they all depend upon one another.
Fear can be extremely powerful, and can lead thinking people to stop thinking logically and ignore the bigger picture. If the bigger picture, the larger truth, or truths, are ignored, there is chaos, and we do ourselves and each other more harm than good. The only way to stop the vicious cycle of fear feeding upon itself, and in so doing becoming more powerful and ultimately all consuming, is to place the truth, the visual proof of the larger picture, in front of the people. Anyone can lead in times of ease, but not many can effectively and righteously lead people and bring order back to the group. Evil leaders take advantage of times of fear and foment chaos. Something to think about.
Shabbat Shalom! As usual on Shabbat, may we pray for peace locally, for our country, for Israel, and globally. Let us be instruments of change, and help repair the world from all of the anger, hatred, fear, destruction, and pain of the global happenings, both man-made and natural. Let us all help restore order and invite Adonai’s presence and love back to this world. Adonai is always here - meaning everywhere - but as I discussed, people might easily loose site of this fact by allowing fear, and therefore blindness of the truth, to reign. I hope I have helped to teach my readers a way to understand the relevance of our parashah to what is happening in our time. The Torah’s messages of truth are infinite, and timeless.
Again, and always, I wish you Shabbat Shalom, a week of peace too, and I’d love to know what you think!

Fear’s Power

June 23, 2011

Torah Commentary by Laura Weakley בה

Not by might, and not by power, but by spirit alone (ruach) shall all people live in peace!

This week’s Parashah:
Korah
Numbers Chapters 16:1 - 18:32

Spiritually Yours,
Laura Weakley

copyright© Laura Weakley, June 23, 2011

Contributing Editor: Kevin A. Weakley

For an autographed copy of any of my books, you can send the appropriate check amount to:

Mrs. Laura Weakley

2400 Barrett Creek Blvd.

#826

Marietta, GA 30066

If you are in the Atlanta area and you would like to meet with me, I would be happy to! Just call me through my Google voice widget, as it has my various numbers.

Any and all donations are always appreciated and helpful as well in growing Torah Teachings!

You can use my PayPal buttons to purchase the e-books through me:

“What The Torah Teaches Us About Isaac

Through Isaac’s Own Spiritual Journey”

“What The Torah Teaches Us About Survival”

“ Companion Workbook for What The Torah Teaches Us About Survival”

“What The Torah Teaches Us About Spirituality” has received Honorable Mention in the New York Book Festival! Here’s the link!
http://newyorkbookfest.brinkster.net/portal/content.asp?ContentId=661
Buy one and see what all the buzz is about! Buy one as a gift for the holidays!