I would like to take a page out of Rabbi Genack\u2019s book and share a story about my father. Rabbi Genack\u2019s father is a rabbi, and my father is a podiatrist, but there\u2019s one thing they share in common: they both save soles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treating a bunion or an ingrown toenail may not seem inspirational, but one fateful day a twelve year old girl walked into my father\u2019s office; sometime prior her mother recalled her daughter stepping on a sewing needle, but it had only recently begun to hurt. After seeing the needle clearly in the X-ray he told the girl and her mother the procedure would to be relatively simple and straightforward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He numbed her foot, made a small incision, inserted a hemostat, and quickly clamped down on the needle. This was going to be even easier than he thought! He began to blindly glide it out similarly to how it went it. But to his dismay, it wouldn\u2019t glide\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My father had performed similar procedures numerous times. Every other time, with success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe just one more push he thought\u2026. But then\u2026.disaster! The needle broke in half, no longer attached to the hemostat, more invasive work was needed. The incision now must be deepened. The tissue dissected back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frustrated and sweating profusely, my father completed what he expected to be a 10 minute procedure 90 minutes later. Thank G-d the pieces were removed successfully, and the girl healed fully and uneventfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking back, my father regrets his overconfident boasting to the patient and her mother. He never again uses the word \u201csimple\u201d to describe a procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Torah describes a chaotic scene in the aftermath of Korach\u2019s rebellion. Korach and the other leaders of the rebellion are miraculously swallowed into the earth, a fire consumes a larger group of rebels, and a plague strikes those who continue the rebellion even after the demise of Korach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What follows is a further demonstration of the chosenness of Aharon and the tribe of Levi: G-d tells Moshe to gather the Nessim, the leaders of each of the twelve tribes. Each man seemingly brings his staff, and his name is written on the staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now before we get to any miracles, a naysayer may want to take a look at those staffs to make sure Moshe and Aharon are not rigging this somehow. But the Midrash Rabbah tells us that the staffs were distributed fairly and this was a controlled experiment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we know, the next day, Aharon\u2019s staff miraculously sprouts almonds, attesting to his chosenness by G-d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u05e0\u05b8\u05d8\u05b7\u05dc \u05de\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05e7\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d5\u05b7\u05d7\u05b2\u05ea\u05b8\u05db\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05b8\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05e8 \u05e0\u05b0\u05e1\u05b8\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05b6\u05dd \u05db\u05bb\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05bc\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05de\u05b4\u05e7\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b7\u05d7\u05b7\u05ea \u05d8\u05b0\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc \u05de\u05b7\u05e7\u05b6\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moshe took one long stick and cut it into twelve units and told each of the tribal leaders to take a staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would like to bring your attention to the concluding verse of that episode:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u05db\u05d3<\/strong> \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b9\u05bc\u05e6\u05b5\u05d0 \u05de\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea-\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc-\u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b7\u05bc\u05d8\u05b9\u05bc\u05ea \u05de\u05b4\u05dc\u05b4\u05bc\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05d4, \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc-\u05db\u05b8\u05bc\u05dc-\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc; \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b0\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc, \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05de\u05b7\u05d8\u05b5\u05bc\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
24<\/strong> And Moses brought out all the staffs from before the L-RD unto all the children of Israel; and they looked, and took every man his staff. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Each man takes his staff and returns home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his brilliant sefer Aznayim LaTorah, Rav Zalman Sorotzkin asks a striking question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In light of the Midrash that Moshe supplied the staffs to each of the tribes, why does each man take his staff home? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201c\u05e7\u05e9\u05d4, \u05dc\u05de\u05d4 \u05db\u05dc \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05d5\u05d0\u05d9\u05e9 \u05de\u05d8\u05d4\u05d5, \u05dc\u05de\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d5 \u05e2\u05e5 \u05d9\u05d1\u05e9 \u05d4\u05de\u05e2\u05d9\u05d3 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5 \u05e9\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d4\u2019 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05d5 \u05d5\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e9\u05d1\u05d8\u05d5!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why would each of them take back his staff? Why does he need a dried out stick which testifies that Hashem did not choose him or his tribe?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Granted that it is likely that some of these men walked with staffs, but this is not a walking staff and it previously served no purpose! Moshe cut a long stick into twelve parts for this demonstration. It is just a dried out stick! Why do these leaders each take home a stick of failure following this demonstration? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The answer to this question sits at my father\u2019s desk in his office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a small jar at the corner of his desk, you will find that needle. A reminder of the panic, a reminder of what he considered arrogance, a reminder that things are not always as they seem and do not always go as smoothly as anticipated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Korach experiences disappointment, when life deals Korach a bad hand, when G-d seems unfair to Korach, how does Korach respond? He points fingers, he blames others, he makes excuses, he rebels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story of Korach\u2019s rebellion begins and ends with taking. Korach takes, vayikach Korach; he takes to launch a revolt. The Nessiim take, vayikchu ish matehu; they take to silence the revolt. They take back a dried out piece of wood, a barren stick which says you are not chosen. You will not serve in the Mishkan. You will have the same role that you had at the beginning of the parsha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like my father, those Nessiim took those staffs home and placed them on their desks. A souvenir and a lesson from Korach\u2019s rebellion. A reminder that life does not always go as hoped or as planned, but we must take life\u2019s experiences with us to gain from them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Failure is a fact of life. We all experience disappointments, we experience loss, missed opportunities, miscalculations, and bad luck. At times we all struggle: in our relationships, in our careers, and in our religious lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can respond to failure like Korach. We can blame; we can get upset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or like the Nessiim, we can triumph over failure and even carry it as a badge of honor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We all have moments of disappointment in our lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vayikach Korach, vayikach ish matehu. What will you choose to take away from life\u2019s disappointments?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I would like to take a page out of Rabbi Genack\u2019s book and share a story about my father. Rabbi Genack\u2019s father is a rabbi, and my father is a podiatrist, but there\u2019s one thing they share in common: they both save soles. Treating a bunion or an ingrown toenail may not seem inspirational, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,55,10,39],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":354,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353\/revisions\/354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}