Not a Not Top Ten

An altar of memories

When I was younger, I spent a lot of time watching Sportscenter. In the days before highlights were ubiquitous with a simple swipe on your screen, you had to wait until ESPN aired the previous evening’s highlights on its highly rated show. At the end of each hour of the show, they’d always show the best highlights of the night with a Top Ten. On Fridays though, they’d add a segment called the Not Top Ten, showing the lowlights and humorous mistakes from that week. Paired with circus style music, it was always wildly entertaining.

If we were to create a Not Top Ten of the Torah, certain choices would be obvious. You’d definitely include the golden calf incident, probably Joseph’s coat, and certainly the story of when Cain killed Abel. Another one that you’d think would make the list is the major incident of this week’s portion.

When Korach and his band of followers attempt a hostile takeover from Moses and Aaron, they are punished with death after losing an incense offering duel. Bad news, right? That’s not an incident you’d like to remember!

Although they are swallowed by the ground, the fire pans of the 250 people, separate of Korach, Datan, and Aviram remain. What should be done with them? Should they be melted down, buried, or simply forgotten about?

Here is what happens in Number 17:2-3:

אֱמֹ֨ר אֶל־אֶלְעָזָ֜ר בֶּן־אַהֲרֹ֣ן הַכֹּהֵ֗ן וְיָרֵ֤ם אֶת־הַמַּחְתֹּת֙ מִבֵּ֣ין הַשְּׂרֵפָ֔ה וְאֶת־הָאֵ֖שׁ זְרֵה־הָ֑לְאָה כִּ֖י קָדֵֽשׁוּ׃ אֵ֡ת מַחְתּוֹת֩ הַֽחַטָּאִ֨ים הָאֵ֜לֶּה בְּנַפְשֹׁתָ֗ם וְעָשׂ֨וּ אֹתָ֜ם רִקֻּעֵ֤י פַחִים֙ צִפּ֣וּי לַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ כִּֽי־הִקְרִיבֻ֥ם לִפְנֵֽי־יְהֹוָ֖ה וַיִּקְדָּ֑שׁוּ וְיִֽהְי֥וּ לְא֖וֹת לִבְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

Order Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the fire pans—for they have become sacred—from among the charred remains; and scatter the coals abroad.

[Remove] the fire pans of those who have sinned at the cost of their lives, and let them be made into hammered sheets as plating for the altar—for once they have been used for offering to יהוה, they have become sacred—and let them serve as a warning to the people of Israel.

I am always shocked to read this particular of the story. Widely panned for his actions, Korach is forever cast as one of the more problematic characters in the Torah. But somehow, these 250 people that followed his cause are remembered in a bit of a different way. The first part of the story makes you think that nothing about this incident would be remembered positively. But then, these fire pans are saved, called sacred, and made to become part of the altar.

How could these fire pans be considered sacred enough to become part of the holy altar? This question is the centerpiece of a disagreement between two of the great medieval commentators. Rashi, reading the Hebrew word for sacred here in its other meaning of set apart, argues that these pans were misused by these rebels and therefore would never be fit to use in sacrificial service again. Ramban, also known as Nachmanides first argues that Rashi’s logic is wrong. Then, he takes things in a different direction:

However, it is possible to say that since they did so at the command of Moses, the vessels did become holy, because they dedicated them to God.

While the end result was poor, they did so with good intentions. Those intentions were to follow Moses’ command and by extension fulfill God’s wishes, thereby imbuing the fire pans with some amount of sanctity. Interestingly, Ramban’s read of the story is taken up by many of the commentators throughout the rest of the medieval period and onward. They all want to read the 250 men as distinct from their leader Korach. In addition to the text seemingly making it clear that there was something holy in these pans, the commentators also see something laudable in their actions.

One of my favorites comes the work Shnei Luchot Ha’brit, written by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz, a 16th/17th century scholar also known as the Shelah, an acronym based on the title of his major work. He writes as follows:

To return to the matter of the two hundred and fifty men: Their sin consisted neither of an act of insurrection, nor of belittling the honor of God or of Moses his prophet. On the contrary, they strove to be accorded the kind of honor and glory that is traditionally reserved for the sages once they enter the World to Come. They endeavored to come close to God and died while coming too close to God prematurely. Since incense is a symbol of a close relationship with God, their censers became sanctified, not like those of Korach whose incense was equivalent to idol worship. ¹

These people were categorically different than Korach. He worshipped himself. These people desired to reach the highest levels of wisdom and honor because that was the closest they could come to the Divine. Incense is not a coincidental choice here argues the Shelah. That sacrifice is seen as one that reaches the highest levels of connection with God. They started with a desire for intimacy and closeness and got duped by a con artist.

That is why these fire pans are saved to serve as a memorial. It’s not just to shame them but to honor them. Yes, they met their end early because they linked their cause with Korach. Yet, we want to remember them because of where they started.

This feels like such a valuable lesson in life. We all probably have our obvious Not Top Tens for our own lives. But then there are also these in-between moments. They’re not highlights but they’re not things we want to simply forget. They’re the lessons in our life where maybe the conclusion was not what we desired, but how we got there in the first place is something we want to hold on to.

Maybe it was something you were passionate about that you lost focus on. Or perhaps it was a project that got waylaid by a partner you linked up with. The Torah wants to remind us that just because something ended poorly doesn’t mean there aren’t pieces we can still honor. In fact, those things can be some of the most sacred in all of our memory banks. So much so that they have a place in the most sanctified of places. Not a Not Top Ten Indeed.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Weeknd

1. Torah Ohr 59