The Beauty of Darkness
Korach’s philosophy was as provocative as it was fascinating.
Make no mistake. Korach did not start out as a jealous, power hungry man, who resented being overlooked for the position of leader and therefore chose to rebel against Moses and Aaron. In fact, argue the Kabbalists, Korach had a deep philosophical dispute with Aaron’s approach to spirituality.
Korach was a great Kabbalist. He was also an absolutist. Combine the two and you come up with Korach’s strange but compelling claim:
Light is a distraction, darkness is beautiful.
Korach’s argument goes something like this: spiritual light, with all its virtue, cannot capture the essence. Only when the light is swallowed up by the pull of the source of light (similar, perhaps, to a black hole), only when the light is submerged in its infinite source, only when it is dark, does one notice the infinite source of light. Only darkness expresses that there is an essence, a force far superior than anything light can capture.
Light, argued Korach, is not only unable to reveal the essence, in fact, it actually obscures it. Only darkness, ironically perhaps, is a testament to the source of infinity that the light can never express.
Korach resented Aaron, specifically because Aaron was in the light business. Aaron spent his days lighting the Menorah. His life’s mission was to light the physical Menorah that stood in the temple, as well as to light the metaphorical Menorah in the heart of every Jew. Aaron was all about inspiring people to ignite spiritual light in their life through the study of Torah and observance of Mitzvot, to focus time and energy on spiritual pursuits, and to illuminate their souls with a light-producing love and yearning for G-d. Aaron was the embodiment of the divine attribute of Chesed, kindness-sharing-light.
Korach believed that Aaron’s approach to increasing spirituality missed a deeper truth. He believed that it was far better to help people understand materialism as a religious symbol and testament to G-d who cannot be defined by anything spirituality can capture.
Korach said: give me the job of high priest and I will introduce a completely different model of spirituality. I will teach that no matter what the people are engaged in they are still holy: “the entire congregation are all holy, and the Lord is in their midst”[1]. No need for spiritual light. No need to inspire people to yearn to cleave to their source in heaven. No need to seek inspiration to escape the lure of the material and cleave to spiritual light. What I will preach, said Korach, is to celebrate the physical. For the very reason that the physical represents the absence of spiritual light it is capable of directing our attention to the essence, to the infinite source of both darkness and light.
Korach viewed light with disdain. In his view, the light, by definition, compromises the absolute truth of the infinite creator.
According to Korach’s plan the people would live a materialistic life, without the burden of seeking spiritual inspiration. Eventually more and more people would come around to appreciate what Korach himself understood. They would understand that they could be satisfied with materialism because it is a testament that the undefined G-d cannot be expressed in a limited measure of light.
Where did Korach go wrong?
Let’s begin by pointing out what he got right.
He was right that darkness has a higher source than light.
He was right that the material has a higher source than the spiritual.
Yet, his philosophy was completely wrong.
He was wrong because in order to understand the truth of darkness, a person needs light. Yes, indeed, the material is the greatest manifestation of the essence. In the messianic era the material itself will express its source, as the prophet says “all flesh together shall see that the mouth of the Lord spoke”[2]. Yet, the only way a person can crack the shell of the material and connect to it’s source, is by subjugating the material to the spiritual.
Only when one allows Aaron to illuminate his life with spiritual light, with a yearning for holiness, will he be able to appreciate that the material is an expression of the essence of G-d. Only a soul inspired by Aaron can reveal and connect to the superior essence of the body. Only light can reconnect the darkness to it’s lofty source.
A soul illuminated with spiritual light can find G-d where ever it looks. Not only in the light but also in the darkness; not only in the holy but also in the mundane; not only in heaven but also on earth[3].
[1] Numbers 16:3.
[2] Isaiah 40:5.
[3] Based on Or Hatorah Bamidbar page 722, and “Hasam Nafsheynu Bachayim” 5718.