"To be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner.  I am not a teacher, only a fellow student."  (Soren Kierkegaard)

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A FEW PRE-SHABBAT WORDS FROM RABBI AARON

Korach is Angry and Self-Righteous, and He's Having a Blast on Talk Radio
The riveting dramatic confrontation of Korach and his followers versus Moses and Aaron affords us some biblical insight insidious craft of the demagogue.  Let's start with an internet-handy (answers.com/topic/demagogue) definition of the term:
Demagogue (DEM-uh-gog): Noun - A person who appeals to the prejudices and emotions of the people to gain power.
Verb - transitive and intransitive - To manipulate an issue, to speak, or to act in the manner of a demagogue.

Etymology
From Greek demagogos (leader of the people), from demos (people) + agogos (leader). In ancient Greece, a demagogos was a popular leader and the word didn't have any negative connotations. With the passage of time, the word shifted meaning and today no leader would like to be called a demagogue, no matter how often he uses words such as "patriotism,” "honor," "courage," and "sacrifice" in trying to sway people.
Like democracy, the idea of a demagogue has its roots in the ambiguous Greek word demos meaning ‘the people’, but in the sense of either ‘the population’ or ‘the mob.’ Thus a demagogue was, even in classical times, the leader of the mob, but also the leader of a popular state in which sovereignty was vested in the whole adult male citizenry. In this defunct, neutral, sense all modern Western leaders are, to some degree, demagogues. But the modern significance of the idea of a demagogue lies in its pejorative sense, as the leader of a mob, with the implication that those who rouse the rabble always do so for ignoble purposes.
Let's look at the Torah's text:

Now Korach, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliav, and On son of Pelet — descendants of Reuven — to rise up against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftains of the community, chosen in the assembly, men of repute. They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord's congregation?"

When Moses heard this, he fell on his face. Then he spoke to Korach and all his company, saying, "Come morning, the Lord will make known who is His and who is holy, and will grant him access to Himself; He will grant access to the one He has chosen.  Do this: You, Korach and all your band, take fire pans, and tomorrow put fire in them and lay incense on them before the Lord. Then the man whom the Lord chooses, he shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!" Moses said further to Korach, "Hear me, sons of Levi. Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the community of Israel and given you access to Him, to perform the duties of the Lord's Tabernacle and to minister to the community and serve them? Now that He has advanced you and all your fellow Levites with you, do you seek the priesthood too? Truly, it is against the Lord that you and all your company have banded together. For who is Aaron that you should rail against him?" 

Moses sent for Datan and Aviram, sons of Eliav; but they said, "We will not come! Is it not enough that you brought us from a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, that you would also lord it over us? Even if you had brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and given us possession of fields and vineyards, should you gouge out those men's eyes? We will not come!" Moses was much aggrieved and he said to the Lord, "Pay no regard to their oblation. I have not taken the ass of any one of them, nor have I wronged any one of them." Moses said to Korach, "Tomorrow, you and all your company appear before the Lord, you and they and Aaron. Each of you take his fire pan and lay incense on it, and each of you bring his fire pan before the Lord, two hundred and fifty fire pans; you and Aaron also bring your fire pans." Each of them took his fire pan, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and took his place at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, as did Moses and Aaron. Korach gathered the whole community against them at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

A bit of analysis
Korach (and his clever radio and TV descendants) have a knack for blending accepted facts with lies and half-truths. Here's a closer look at the opening of Korach's diatribe...
"You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord's congregation?"
No reader (or listener) would disagree with the idea that everyone in the congregation is holy and that God lives in their midst. We read elsewhere that God calls Israel a holy people, a nation of kohanim. We understand that the mishknan [the wilderness sanctuary] is a sign of God dwelling in the midst of the people. Korach swift-boats Moses and Aaron, asking them why they've grabbed power, holding themselves above the people. We understand that Moses and Aaron have earned the leadership slots the hard way. God has clearly indicated that the divine Will is expressed through them. Korach's attack momentarily knocks Moses and Aaron off their feet, but they manage to regain their stride, and they decide to call Korach and company out - while the cameras are rolling...
"Come morning, the Lord will make known who is His and who is holy, and will grant him access to Himself; He will grant access to the one He has chosen.  Do this: You, Korach and all your band, take fire pans, and tomorrow put fire in them and lay incense on them before the Lord. Then the man whom the Lord chooses, he shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!" Moses said further to Korach, "Hear me, sons of Levi. Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has set you apart from the community of Israel and given you access to Him, to perform the duties of the Lord's Tabernacle and to minister to the community and serve them? Now that He has advanced you and all your fellow Levites with you, do you seek the priesthood too? Truly, it is against the Lord that you and all your company have banded together. For who is Aaron that you should rail against him?" 

Note: Moses, in a poetic version of "bring it on," is telling Korach to come to an open forum where God will make the leadership choices clear to everyone. That's not all. Moses charges Korach with having ulterior motives; namely, that he himself covets the stature of Moses and Aaron. Even though Korach is a Levite, those honors don't satisfy his lust for power. So, how does Korach respond to the invitation to talk the issues out openly on C-SPAN? 

Back to the text...
Moses sent for Datan and Aviram, sons of Eliav; but they said, "We will not come! Is it not enough that you brought us from a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, that you would also lord it over us? Even if you had brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and given us possession of fields and vineyards, should you gouge out those men's eyes? We will not come!"

More lies. According to Korach, Moses dragged the people away from Egypt - a land of milk and honey! And, notice: all of a sudden, the silver-tongued Korach has become shy. Maybe he's less-than-sure of how the round-table chat will play out on camera.
In a way, this parasha gives Moses what any legitimate leader craves. Moses wants his say in court. God gives him some dramatic back-up. It should be crystal clear that Moses and Aaron are in the right and that Korach and company are wicked liars. 

Back to the text...
Moses was much aggrieved and he said to the Lord, "Pay no regard to their oblation. I have not taken the ass of any one of them, nor have I wronged any one of them." Moses said to Korach, "Tomorrow, you and all your company appear before the Lord, you and they and Aaron. Each of you take his fire pan and lay incense on it, and each of you bring his fire pan before the Lord, two hundred and fifty fire pans; you and Aaron also bring your fire pans." Each of them took his fire pan, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and took his place at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, as did Moses and Aaron. Korach gathered the whole community against them at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

Then the Presence of the Lord appeared to the whole community, and God spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, "Stand back from this community that I may annihilate them in an instant!" But they fell on their faces and said, "O God, Source of the breath of all flesh! When one man sins, will You be wrathful with the whole community?" God spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the community and say: Withdraw from about the abodes of Korach, Datan, and Aviram." Moses rose and went to Datan and Aviram, the elders of Israel following him. He addressed the community, saying, "Move away from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing that belongs to them, lest you be wiped out for all their sins." So they withdrew from about the abodes of Korach, Dathan, and Aviram. Now Datan and Aviram had come out and they stood at the entrance of their tents, with their wives, their children, and their little ones. Moses said, "By this you shall know that it was the Lord who sent me to do all these things; that they are not of my own devising: if these men die as all men do, if their lot be the common fate of all mankind, it was not the Lord who sent me. But if God brings about something unheard-of, so that the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, you shall know that these men have spurned the Lord." 
Scarcely had he finished speaking all these words when the ground under them burst asunder, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all Korach's people and all their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation. All Israel around them fled at their shrieks, for they said, "The earth might swallow us!" And a fire went forth from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense.

You might think that Korach's radio show would have lost a serious chunk of its listening audience at that point. But you'd be wrong... 

Next day the whole Israelite community railed against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You two have brought death upon the Lord's people!" But as the community gathered against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tent of Meeting; the cloud had covered it and the Presence of the Lord appeared.

When Moses and Aaron reached the Tent of Meeting, God spoke to Moses, saying, "Remove yourselves from this community, that I may annihilate them in an instant." They fell on their faces. Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take the fire pan, and put on it fire from the altar. Add incense and take it quickly to the community and make expiation for them. For wrath has gone forth from the Lord: the plague has begun!" Aaron took it, as Moses had ordered, and ran to the midst of the congregation, where the plague had begun among the people. He put on the incense and made expiation for the people; he stood between the dead and the living until the plague was checked. Those who died of the plague came to fourteen thousand and seven hundred, aside from those who died on account of Korach. Aaron then returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, since the plague was checked. God spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelite people and take from them — from the chieftains of their ancestral houses — one staff for each chieftain of an ancestral house: twelve staffs in all. Inscribe each man's name on his staff, there being one staff for each head of an ancestral house; also inscribe Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. Deposit them in the Tent of Meeting before the Pact, where I meet with you. The staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout, and I will rid Myself of the incessant mutterings of the Israelites against you. Moses spoke thus to the Israelites. Their chieftains gave him a staff for each chieftain of an ancestral house, twelve staffs in all; among these staffs was that of Aaron. Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord, in the Tent of the Pact. The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Pact, and there the staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted: it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne almonds. Moses then brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites; each identified and recovered his staff. God said to Moses, "Put Aaron's staff back before the Pact, to be kept as a lesson to rebels, so that their mutterings against Me may cease, lest they die." This Moses did; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did. But the Israelites said to Moses, "Lo, we perish! We are lost, all of us lost!  Everyone who so much as ventures near the Lord's Tabernacle must die. Alas, we are doomed to perish!"

Moses wanted to clear the air once and for all, and God clearly was fed up with Korach stoking the fires of anger and ignorance among the people. And still - when all was said and done - Korach's rant was embedded in the panicked hearts of the Israelites. That's the hard truth, even if you're God. You can smack down the liars in public. It feels great. But the vindication is short-lived because Korach - or one of his able guest hosts - is back in the studio,feeling the slime machine. The monologue starts, the switchboards light up.

"Korach, it's an honor to speak with you. You bravely tell it like it is. You're a great man!"

"Well, thank you. I appreciate your loyalty, all the hard work you and all our listeners are doing. So, what do you think about this self-anointed Moses? You know he's been raised by an Egyptian woman...and we haven't seen any authentic birth records on this guy! It all fits together, you see. The Egyptians have successfully infiltrated our nation with this impostor. But just you wait and see - we'll take our nation back from Moses and all his un-Israelite radical buddies!"

Don't touch that dial, folks! This is the 24-hour Korach express, right here, right now!

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Aaron