A Lesson Learned

This weeks parsha, Korach has so much to teach us beloved. It's about leaders, it's about followers. At the heart of it all it's about intention and relationship. According to a teaching adapted from the late Lubavitcher Rebbe Menechem Schneerson z'tl whose yarzeit we honor this Shabbat, Korach's ultimate intention was one we all should asprire to. He wanted to be Kohen Gadol. He wanted to bring in the final redemption, the era of Mosiach. Alas it was not the time, and if Korach had attached himself to HaShem through his Torah he would have known that it was not HaShem's will for his life. Make no mistake least we judge Korach instead of learning the lesson we are to take from this parsha. We can be brillant in Torah, but if we don't cling to HaShem the only way we have, which is through the performance of his mitzvot, we could find ourselves on the same path of Korah and his followers.

 It is written, "To love YHVH your G*D, to listen to His voice and cleave to Him". Deut. 30:20. How can we do this? The only way we can know an unknowable G*D is through His Torah. Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin says that G*D cannot be seen or felt except in so far as He is known and He is known only insofar as the knowledge of His Torah lives in the minds and hearts of mankind. To cling to a Torah scholar, a person who is already one with his creator, is one way we can connect to G*D. May we all be blessed with Torah scholars in our midst.
When I keep HaShem close, when I surround myself with people whose lives are committed to following HaShem and keeping His Torah I truly feel a deep connection with the One who loves me more than I can ever imagine.
Shabbat Shalom
Elisheva