Category: Korach

Aviva Gottlieb Zornberg’s Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers

On By SarahIn Bamidbar, Book Review, Feminism, Korach, Leadership, Midrash, Motherhood, ReligionLeave a comment

In this month’s Jewish Action I review Aviva Gottlieb Zornberg’s new-ish Bamidbar anthology.

Excerpt: Beyond offering specific insights, Zornberg presents an expansive framework for reading Tanach that sets her apart from nearly every interpreter out there. Her books are a true illumination of the Talmudic maxim which describes the Torah: “Turn it and turn it for everything is in it” (Avot 5:22). Zornberg highlights the remarkable potential of Tanach to reflect upon, and in turn be illuminated by, many of the deepest questions and concerns raised in continental philosophy, postmodern criticism and the field of psychoanalysis.

The full review may be read here

Parshat Korach: The Bible’s Coalition of Complainers

On By SarahIn Bamidbar, Hassidut, KorachLeave a comment
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The Punishment of Morah and the Stoning of Moses and Aaron (Sandro Botticelli, 1482)

…Koraḥ’s conglomeration is thus a distorted mirror-image of the Israelite encampment itself: less a collection of distinct subgroups united in service of a common goal than representatives of different tribes united only in insurrection. One is reminded of John Milton’s confederation of devils and pagan deities who inhabit Satan’s underworld in Paradise Lost: a “promiscuous crowd” with disparate grievances and ideologies who find common cause in the rebellion against God. The debates among these parties, described by Milton as “words clothed in reason’s garb,” vividly recall the grievances of Koraḥ and his mob…

The full article may be read at Mosaic Magazine