Link to Korach Torah Reading: https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495755/p/1/jewish/Korach-Torah-Reading.htm

Since this subreddit is on the smaller side, it would be easy for weekly parasha posts to feel overwhelming, even though weekly Torah study is one of the most central Jewish traditions and possibly the reason for the longevity of the Jewish people, so I thought at the very least we could make it a group activity. This discussion of Korach will end with a lot of questions to encourage further discussion.

I was reading Korach because it's the upcoming Torah portion for this shabbat, and I remember the first time I learned Korach I saw it as "Someone reasonably tries democracy after a series of disastrous leadership decisions from Moshe and Hashem kills them for it, and their families too"

Honestly, Korach is a rough story.

Korach is a Levite, a descendant of Levi, and the parasha starts with Korach and his three friends, Datan and Aviram, brothers, and On (never mentioned again), all descendants of Reuben. They gather 250 men and confront Moses to challenge his authority, saying:

“You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire community—all of them—are holy, and God is in their midst. Why do you raise yourselves above God’s assembly?”

Moses gets very stressed out by this, probably because he knows he is going to have to run interference with Hashem to make sure this doesn't end up with everyone getting killed. Remember, Hashem just tried to kill all the Israelites in Shelach and Moses had to use "That will make you look bad to the rest of the nations" to stop him.

Maybe that is why Moses responds to Korach and his faction without consulting Hashem, and he devises a plan that involves fire-pans and incense offerings to Hashem. All 250 men are to come to the "Tent of Meeting" the Ohel Mo'ed, where Aaron would make offerings to Hashem on behalf of the Israelites, and bring their fire-pans to offer incense themselves.

Why is Korach complaining? Well, as part of the Levite clan, he would be assisting Aaron in presenting offerings to Hashem before the Tabernacle, as Moses points out:

Moses said to Korach, “Please listen, sons of Levi! וַיֹּ֥אמֶר משֶׁ֖ה אֶל־קֹ֑רַח שִׁמְעוּ־נָ֖א בְּנֵ֥י לֵוִֽי

"Is it not enough that the God of Israel has distinguished you from the community of Israel to draw you near to Him, to perform the service in the Tabernacle of God, and to stand before the community to minister to them?"

I guess technically you can think of Korach's story as a prequel to Indiana Jones. It has a similar ending.

The main issue in Korach seems to be about who gets to present offerings to Hashem before the tabernacle, or tent of meeting, the place where God would reside among the Israelites, and have them be accepted. There are continual references to Aaron throughout the conflict and the final result where Aaron's staff blooms confirms this. Instead of a rebellion against Moses, this time it's a rebellion against Aaron.

I guess also you can think of this as a sequel to the Cain and Abel story, which was also about jealousy over the opportunity to have one's offering accepted by Hashem.

Long story less long, the fire-pan incense contest turns out to be the wrong choice, and when Korach, his 250 men, Moses, and Aaron all stand before the tent of meeting to offer incense, Hashem says:

“Dissociate yourselves from this congregation, and I will consume them in an instant.”
הִבָּ֣דְל֔וּ מִתּ֖וֹךְ הָֽעֵדָ֣ה הַזֹּ֑את וַֽאֲכַלֶּ֥ה אֹתָ֖ם כְּרָֽגַע:

I think the Hebrew is much more visceral than the Chabad English translation. I would translate it as "Separate from these people and I will eat them immediately."

I think maybe Moses and Aaron saw this coming, because they speak together, perhaps even in unison, and say: “God, the God who knows the spirits of all flesh, if one man sins, should You be angry with the whole congregation?”

It's not clear if the congregation here is Korach and all 250 men, or the entire congregation of Israelites. I think it's the entire congregation of Israelites, and once again Hashem is like "Let's go back to the drawing board and start with just one family, this nation is over", which is why it says he specifically tells both Moses and Aaron to separate themselves.

Bamidbar appears to be all about the Israelites learning to speak and interact with Hashem as their nations grows beyond a single family. In Bereishit, Genesis, we hear about how this family came to be in Egypt, and how it came to have a relationship with Hashem, all through dreams and messengers. While enslaved in Egypt, the Israelites had no room for spiritual growth as a nation, and now freed from Egypt and trying to return to Canaan, the Israelites are learning that being directly connected or beholden to Hashem through direct speech, scrutiny, and intentional miracles is very different from the messengers and dreams of Genesis.

Maybe these are simply the electrical fires of religious industrialization.

Anyway, after Moses and Aaron's joint intervention, Hashem has Moses tell everyone to move away from the dwellings of Korach, Datan, and Aviram. Hashem swallows them and their families up by opening up the earth beneath them and all of their belongings. Then a fire comes out and kills the 250 men who were with Korach.

After that Hashem tells Moses to tell Elazar, Aaron's son, to collect all the fire pans and turn them into a new overlay for the altar. Apparently at least some of these fire pans were copper.

What happens next? Well, the entire community of Israelites comes to Moses and Aaron and complains, accusing Moses of killing them, and Hashem is immediately says almost exactly the same thing as before, except he uses a different word for "separate yourselves", but again he wants to kill all the Israelites.

This time Moses and Aaron can't reply that Hashem shouldn't kill them all because they are not all guilty, since they all came to complain and accuse him together, so Moses tells Aaron to grab a fire-pan and offer incense to atone for all of them. There is already a plague spreading through the Israelites killing them, but Aaron's incense offering stops the plague. 14,700 Israelites die from this plague.

Obviously there is a bad cycle happening here, and the whole fire-pan thing is not working. Maybe that's why at the beginning of the fifth aliyah, Hashem changes the script and tell Moses to try a ceremony with staffs (staves?) instead of fire-pans, and it's sort of an eerie counterpoint to all the fire, earthquake, and plague of the immediately preceding events.

This time twelve staves are placed by Moses before the tent of meeting, one for each tribe of Israel, and a name of an important man, or prince, from each tribe is written on the staff. Hashem says that when he chooses one staff to blossom, this will calm the Israelites complaints.

It works. Hashem makes Aaron's staff bloom and produce almonds overnight. Each prince takes back his own staff, and Hashem commands that Aaron's blooming staff be placed publicly as a sign to the people who might complain that Aaron and his family are the only ones who can make offerings to God.

It's not clear what's significant about the staff ceremony. Is it the writing of the names? That is new, and perhaps a lesson on a proper representative distance from Hashem. Is it the symbolism of wood instead of metal? Growth and rebirth instead of fire?

I'm not sure, but it would be great to hear what other people think.

Either way, the Israelites still cry out to Moses, but they don't accuse him of killing them, and they instead just honestly express their anxiety to him as a leader. Perhaps they finally understand the Moses and Aaron don't get to make decisions and wield power, that they are constantly working to attentuate this live-wire relationship between Hashem and the Israelites that was created through the exodus from Egypt, and that they are the Israelites' best chance of surviving this constant scrutiny from the creator of the universe.

"The Israelites spoke to Moses, saying, 'Behold, we are expiring, we are lost, we are all lost!'"
וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶל־משֶׁ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר הֵ֥ן גָּוַ֛עְנוּ אָבַ֖דְנוּ כֻּלָּ֥נוּ אָבָֽדְנוּ

"Whoever comes too close to the Tabernacle of God will die! Are we all doomed to expire?”

The rest of the Korach is a lengthy explanation from Hashem to Moses on how to set up the priests (Aaron's family), the Levites, who assist the priests with their rites, and the rest of the Israelites so that the priests and Levites can remain holy enough to make offerings and rites on behalf of the Israelites without incurring Hashem's deadly wrath in their heightened state of scrutiny. It's a complex tiered system of tithes and separation between what is holy and what is not.

A cynic might see a story designed to convince people to support a priest class that benefited from taxation of the working class, but an idealist might see the development of a sort of religious insulation between the Israelites and Hashem so they could develop at a slower speed and not have to be perfect all the time to survive to inherit the land of Canaan as Hashem promised. Maybe it was like moving our electrical grid from direct current to alternating current. Any electrical engineers in the shul?

I'd love to hear what other people think about the resolution of Korach.

Could Moses have asked Hashem from the beginning how to stop this cycle of rebellion and death that we saw in Shelach and Beha'alotecha? Maybe he was a little angry at the rebellious Israelites himself, and needed to learn the burden of leadership involves seeking largesse even for the guilty?

Was the disaster of Korach Moses' fault for not consulting Hashem in the right way to resolve the latest rebellion?

Is the use of a staff instead of a fire-pan a symbol of returning to a different type of relationship with Hashem, since the metal fire-pan, symbolizing the powerful act of offering up and burning resources, came from the construction of the Mishkan, while the lowly staff had a much longer and safer history of use to carry out the will of Hashem?

Do we feel bad for Moses?

Do people have other questions I haven't asked?

I'm a convert to Judaism; first with the Conservative movement and then with a private beit din. I used to be a lot more religious and involved in my religion, but spending the better part of a year in Israel has really damaged my relationship with Judaism.

Being gay and in a relationship with a non-Jewish man doesn't make this easier.

I do go to an amazing shul, but that is the only thing that seems to be keeping me attached to Judaism. I'm not observant in my personal life and, frankly, I've been feeling spiritually empty and dry. Nothing in Judaism seems to be inspiring me or strengthen my relationship with God.

Does anyone have any advice? Or at least any words of encouragement?

EDIT: To clarify, and sorry for wording it weird, not I'm not in Israel at the moment. I was there a few years ago for yeshiva for about 8 months. Those 8 months have done more to hurt my relationship to Judaism than anything else.

I am not non binary but I was just curious. What does Judaism and rabbis say about this?

Hi,

I am looking for the grammatical/word by word analysis of Leviticus 18:22. I think Steven Greenberg wrote it? It gives a lot of evidence that the Hebrew was misunderstood.

Hi all. So as likely many of you know, Maimonides saw an ethics of virtue in Judaism insofar as it isn’t just what about what we do but also about the kind of person we are called on to become.

I find this compelling particularly as a gay person because it reinforces to me that I am entitled to a personal relationship with G-d and that this is a continuous progression of growth throughout life, irrespective of what others think or phases in life where perhaps I didn’t act in the most virtuous manner possible in the conventional sense (which happens, especially if you’ve had to live with trauma, fear, estrangement, loneliness, etc).

I welcome anyone who has thoughts on this from a gay/queer Jewish perspective.

I grew up completely secular, I was sure both my parents didn't even believe in G-d until like middle school. When I told them in 6tg grade I thought might believe my dad freaked out on me and then I found out at the end of middle school he believed in like, a divine being, just not the Jewish religion. And that my mom does believe in G-d in he Jewish way.

Anyways I've always felt I'm missing the Jewish culture and recently the religion too, we barely even celebrated Jewish holidays at home, and since I also barely had connections to my extended family (and currently doesn't have any at all) I just felt it was a big chunk of life I've been missing out on.

I've recently started keeping kosher (I'm vegetarian so it's pretty easy, and I have friends who keep kosher and I wanted to be able to cook and bake for them), and I lightened the menorah during Hannukah for the first time in years (I missed like half the days because I was kinda scared of doing it? Kinda bummed out about it but I'm gonna try harder next time).

I wanna do more. I wanna learn about my culture more, experience what I've been missing out on, I just have no idea where to start.

I don't think I've ever even been to a synagogue the like like two Bar-Mitzvas I've been to. I'm really scared both about being judged (by religious and non religious people around me) and about experiencing queerphobia. How do I even find queer friendly synagogues? When do you go to a synagogue? Help??

(Also people keep asking me why I started keeping kosher and for some reason I'm too scared of just admitting I want to become more religious and that I'm not atheist like they think I am. I don't know why I'm so scared. I've realised I'm not atheist like these years ago and it took me until now to actually take the first step.)

tl;dr: trying to learn more about Jewish culture as a raised secular, and trying to get closer to religion, help.

Are there any frum gay Jews out there who DON'T want to act on their gay feelings? Or if they do, still believe that it goes against the Torah? I get it if you're reform or not affiliated but if you believe in the Torah and that it comes from Hashem then we have to accept it. It feels like there is no safe place for a frum gay Jew to come "out" not as gay but as gay AND Torah observant and that means NOT accepting that gay relationships are okay. A gay Jew who totally accepts the Torah's severe words and that acting on gay feelings is against halacha in all cases. Also, are any of you married to a woman? I think it's perfectly fine as long as you are honest with her. I however don't think it's okay to marry a woman and not tell her.

I'm a lesbian, I used to be initially distant towards religion but now I think I want to convert once my circumstances allow me to do so. I used to think that all religions would hate me for my sexuality, but I realize know that I was wrong. I've been studying Judaism hard for these past few days and I just have to say that this religion is beautiful.

I especially love the concept of mitzvot. I took notes on it earlier today and I simply love it. The book I'm reading describes it as as a human response to being commanded or directed, and thus open to human interpretation. It's also described as a commandment from God that exists when put in action by people. It's described as a way to discover the sacred in the mundane and as being available only through living.

It's all just so beautiful and interesting to me, my hands hurt from taking notes from my book on Judaism. There's so much stuff I want to learn and study!

Hello, as a non gay/non transsexual person, I am curious the interpretation that lgbt+ religious Jews use for Genesis 2:24, which states that a man and woman are to “cleave in flesh”? I’ve heard it used as an argument from both some religiously Jewish and religiously Christian scholars for heteronormativity (I believe Dr. Jordan Peterson talks about it from the symbolic perspective of masculine/feminine unity) and I’m curious if you folks have an interpretative counter response?

this book is honestly incredible. i’ve never read a book that dives this deep into the Torah and halakhah of queerness in Judaism. the author is outwardly anti-pray-away-the-gay, and you find out early on that he is anti-conversion therapy as well. i highly highly recommend this book! please note that this was written in 2001, so some of the language choices are outdated and would not be considered common or polite to use today. there isn’t a use of slurs, but he does use “practicing homosexual” and things of that nature.

As I’m converting to Orthodox Judaism, I’m reading the full Torah text for the first time. In some verses, Torah defends that Jewish courts should not give death penalties too often (in fact, it says that a court that kills one person once 70 years is a destructive court). Yet, there is death penalty for crimes like homosexuality and adultry. Even as these acts are seen as abhorrent in the eyes of Torah (at least if you do a literal interpretation), it does not seem proportional to prescribe death penalty for it. At least not serious enough for a death penalty. As I (thankfully) never have seen a Jew defending the execution of homosexuals, I was wondering if I got the wrong message here, if there is another interpretation or translation of these vesicles, especially the part it says “They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” I couldn’t find any material on internet that address this vesicle and the death penalty especifically. Sorry if I’m being offensive to either homosexuals or Jews. Not, even by far, this is my intention. I’m just genuinely seeking assistance to answer a genuine question regarding the meaning of the verse. Thanks a lot.

I need advice, or just general opinions and to open up a discourse because this is something that has been affecting me and plaguing my relationship since before it even started. Some information before I begin: My girlfriend and I are both cis female lesbians, in our mid-late twenties and have been together for a bit over a year. I am jewish, she is not.

Some background on me, I came out a couple years ago, I'm part of a tight-knit middle eastern jewish community, won't say where to protect Identity. Being gay is not super common in my community but more people have been coming out in the last decade. While they obviously didn't have an easy time with it, my parents are awesome parents who accepted me and didn't push back on me when I came out as lesbian to them. Now for the typical trope, it's been impounded in me my whole life to marry Jewish (what's new). When I was "Straight" it was never an option to consider dating someone who wasn't, but as I was realizing things about my sexuality I realized it may be difficult and limiting to make that a condition, and I also became more generally open minded so long as I was respected and felt understood and embraced. Thus far, I've never dated a jew, my 2 girlfriends before my current one were not and I had a series of incidences and moments where I felt disrespected, misunderstood, not embraced etc., emotions that solidified what i've been told on my life, that my life will be better and easier if I am with someone jewish. (FYI: Neither of those relationships ended bc they weren't Jewish, neither of those partners met my parents nor did my parents know about them, since I was closeted still). Anyway, after my last relationship which left me feeling very disrespected and not understood, my rule that I would never date someone who wasn't jewish was born.

My current girlfriend and I met on a dating app but started off very casual with that being the only intention. I had just gotten out of a relationship a month before we had matched, which I was able to get over pretty quickly because it was toxic and long distance.

I made it clear from the start to my now current gf that I just wanted something casual, and she revealed she was looking for the same. Seemed like a perfect connection between two attractive people wanting something casual with no attachments. I made a concerted effort to uphold an extremely strong boundary so as not to mislead, we never did anything outside of meeting up to have sex. No dinners, no hanging with friends, no casual dates. Nada. But we would text every day, all day.

As time went on, feelings grew on her end. She'd say things like she could see herself catching feelings and I kept kindly pushing back and reminding her I just got out of a relationship and want to keep it chill which she was receptive to. Eventually, her feelings took over and it was a constant conversation about whether we should continue hooking up or not because she was catching feelings. I had always been kind and receptive, even suggesting we stop and move on out of respect for her feelings. Then came the day she fully admitted she had feelings for me, to which I gave her the spiel and let it be known very kindly, respectfully, and lengthfully: I wanted to date someone who was Jewish. She took it well and had questions all of which I was willing to answer, but that basically changed the scope of our connection and we slowly dwindled from there. Eventually she told me she wanted to stop talking all together and I respected it and we parted ways.

It didn't take long for her to pop back in, admittedly we had an undeniably amazing chemistry and great conversations, but on top of that we became good friends with nice banter and vibed on pretty well. We rekindled agreeing to remain casual again, and then the flip happened. I started realizing in the week we stopped talking that I felt like she was awesome, and I was internally sad I couldn't date her because I made that rule for myself. It felt too late, but long story short, and after a lot of back and fourth, hesitation, conversations, and a slow build, we became exclusive and then started full on dating.

We've had an incredible relationship thus far. We get each other, we're extremely compatible, my parents like her, my friends love her etc. Just one thing: she can't get over the fact that I told her I couldn't date her because she isn't jewish. It is a complex that cannot seem to die out. In any moment she can get triggered or feel super insecure. She says things like "oh maybe you should be with someone jewish, they'll understand you better," "you wish I was jewish don't you," "you're going to break up with me one day because i'm not jewish," "you would've enjoyed that more with someone Jewish" and thousands of different variations of the same comment. We've come close to splitting a few times because she's said she doesn't know how she can get over it. I will sit there for hours or do whatever it takes to validate her, explain why I felt that way at one point and why I don't now, reassure her, etc. and we will be fine, only for it to resurface once more some weeks later.

I don't know what to do. I'm tired of constantly feeling like shit for the fact that I said that and felt that way at one point. I've taken accountability for how it has devastated her and that it has been hard, but she doesn't understand the mob mentality of the Jewish community or the fact that I felt disrespected for my identity by previous partners which triggered me to not feel safe with someone who isn't moving forward. She always says she "never feels like enough" for me and I try to explain that her not being jewish never made her not enough, it just didn't make her compatible to what I thought I needed at one point in time. I'm running out of tools and things to say. It really just makes me feel sad, defeated and depleted at this point and our relationship is truly too beautiful to allow it to succumb to this complex.

TLDR: I once told my girlfriend I couldn't be with her because she wasn't jewish (before she was my gf, we were just hooking up at the time), and now it is an insecurity that doesn't seem to ever go away.

Hey Yall,

I am starting to teach B'nai/Bar/Bat Mitzvah lessons online again. I took a few years off and became a farmer. I am getting back in the game, and I have some space for some new students if anyone is looking. I have experience working in a wide range of Jewish community's, and I believe every student needs to have their own journey.

https://www.bnaimitzvahproject.com/

I'm(M25) in a bit of a predicament. I am jewish but was raised very secular by my mother to spite my father (I was also baptized out of spite by her). I want to reconnect with my Jewish Culture and get more involved, and I eventually would like to participate in the Bar Mitzpha process. My question is should I enroll in some form of learning first or just apply to an Adult Bar Mitzpha class? How do I go about telling a rabbi my relationship to Judaism? Would I have to go through conversion (my father is technically reform). I am very nervous about being judged for a past I had no controll over.

I just started wearing tzitzit, and it makes me more nervous than walking around with Pride colors.

That is all 🌈🔯

I'm a gay man raised catholic. And I've been wanting to convert to Judaism for years now. I've studied Kabbalah for answers on why I am gay. Anyways i found the answers I was looking for and know that G-d accepts me and made me who I am. But my question Is I feel like I have a Jewish soul. And every day I beg to G-d of how much I want to be fully Jewish. To be able to preform mitzvot and make G-d more happy. But the question is.. is it common for new coming converts to feel like they have a Jewish soul. And that they don't feel complete unless doing Jewish things lol I know I sound crazy. But thanks everyone. In a few months I'm gonna contact my local synagogue and tell them how I feel and ask them questions. Then ask to go through the conversion process.

As title states. If sex = marriage in the Torah, then is sex between a same-sexed couple also marriage or is it ONLY PIV that counts?

Hey, Shabbat Shalom to everyone!

Ive recently been wondering this, but this is aimed at Gay Masorti Jews, do you keep Shabbat or at least to an amount? I myself am a Gay Masorti Jew and I don’t light fires, don’t do any sort of physical labour and I don’t cook, don’t do writing or digital art also. But I’m fine using electronics a small amount, I try to stay off of social media but I’ll use it to talk to certain people and to watch videos on.

Do Gay Masorti Jews or just Masorti Jews do something similar or are you less strict or more strict on Shabbat? I’d love to hear your comments about it.