FALSE ACCUSATIONS

“Moshe was very incensed, and said to the Lord: Do not turn to their offering. Not one donkey did I take from them nor did I wrong one of them.” (Bamidbar 16:15)

The rebellion of Korach against Moshe and Aharon and his challenge to Moshe’s authority was a crushing blow to the nation in general and to Moshe in particular. Korach and his entourage accused the prophet (ibid verse 3), “It is too much for you [you have taken for yourselves too many positions of authority]. As the entire congregation, all of them are holy, and the Lord is among them; why do you elevate yourselves over the assembly of the Lord?” Their accusations included claims of nepotism and “lording it over” the people. Moshe was deeply hurt by Korach’s claim. As leader of the Israelites, he had only ever acted in their best interests and had never used his position of authority to enrich himself. This is the meaning of his heartfelt plea to Hashem to ignore the rebels’ incense-offerings as “not one donkey did I take from them.” Rashi explains that this is a reference to Moshe’s trek from Midian to Egypt after his encounter with God at the burning bush (Shmot 4:20), “Moshe took his wife and his sons and mounted them on the donkey, and they returned to the land of Egypt. Moshe also took the staff of God in his hand.” Moshe said to God, “Even when I journeyed from Midian to Egypt and I placed my wife and sons upon a donkey, although I had every right to claim the expense of the donkey from them, I did not do so and I used my own animal.” Moshe was on “state business.” The purpose of his trip was no less than to redeem the Hebrew from slavery. He could have claimed his travel expenses from the people and yet he did not do so!

The prophet Samuel made a similar statement when the people rejected him as leader and demanded a king, as described in the haphtarah (I Samuel 12:3-4), “Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before His anointed [the king]: Whose ox did I take? Whose donkey did I take? Whom did I exploit? Whom did I pressure? From whose hand did I take a bribe to avert my eyes from him? I will return it to you! They said: You did not exploit us, and you did not pressure us, and you did not take anything from the hand of any man.” Samuel had always acted above board and had not enriched himself at the nation’s expense. His speech served another purpose: to prepare them for the reign of the king which would be very different from his own period of leadership. A king could confiscate property at a whim and press-gang men into his army and working force. They would have no recourse against such behaviour which was not so when Samuel had been the Judge and Moshe had been the Prophet.

Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (the Chida, Israel, 1724-1806, in Rosh David) provides a novel interpretation as to why Moshe specifically mentioned taking a donkey from the people. The firstborn animal (bechor) of a cow, sheep or goat is holy and must be given to a Cohen as a gift. If the animal is unblemished, it must be brought as a sacrifice and if it is blemished, the Cohen may slaughter it and eat it wherever he chooses (see Shmot 13:2 & 12 and Bamidbar 18:15-18). The law of the firstborn does not apply to non-kosher animals, except for the donkey, as the Torah (Shmot 13:13) states, “Every first issue of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you do not redeem it, then you shall behead it…” The owner of the firstborn donkey must redeem his animal by giving a lamb to a Cohen. The Cohen may consume the lamb wherever he wishes, it has no holiness. If the owner of the donkey refuses to redeem his animal, it is taken from him and beheaded. This is the mitzvah of pidyon peter chamor. It is very rare today as we do not live in an agricultural society. When the mitzvah is performed, it is done so in grand style due to its rarity. There have been some redemption ceremonies in the last few years, some of which have been filmed. See for example, this one from Melbourne, Australia in 2009: https://youtu.be/GVgd1tbaZwc?si=6MFAxF3zg7IzMBhX

The Talmud (Bechorot 5b) asks why donkeys were given this special privilege more than any other non-kosher animal. The sages respond: “[Donkeys were awarded this special honour] because they assisted the Israelites when they left Egypt, for there was not one Israelite who did not load at least ninety donkeys with the silver and gold of Egypt.” On the eve of the Exodus, Moshe commanded the people to request of their Egyptian neighbours “silver vessels and gold vessels” (Shmot 11:2). They did so (ibid 12:35-6): “The Children of Israel acted in accordance with the word of Moshe, and they requested silver vessels, gold vessels and garments from Egypt. The Lord granted the people favour in the eyes of Egypt, and they acceded to their request, and they stripped Egypt.” The former slaves now had considerable wealth. But how were they going to transport it through the wilderness to the land of Canaan? That is where the humble donkey comes into the picture. These sturdy and reliable pack animals were the Toyota Hilux bakkies of the ancient world and could handle a large load. They carried all the luggage of the Israelites throughout their wanderings in the wilderness and for this, their offspring were honoured with the mitzvah of pidyon peter chamor.

But not all the Israelites were engaged in requesting wealth from the Egyptians on the eve of the Exodus.  On that fateful day, Moshe was attempting to locate the burial place of Yosef (see Sotah 13a). Yosef had foresworn his brothers to remove his body from Egypt and bury it in Canaan (Bereishit 50:25). But no one gave thought to that ancient oath as they were all preoccupied with the booty of Egypt. Only Moshe saw to it that Yosef’s remains were exhumed and taken from Egypt, as the verse (Shmot 14:19) states, “Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him, for he [Yosef], had administered an oath to the children of Israel, saying: God will remember you; and you shall bring my bones up from here with you.”

We can now understand what Moshe meant after he heard Korach’s accusations: When you were all loading your donkeys with wealth, I was loading the coffin of Yosef. The responsibility to remove his body applied to each and every person in the nation and yet I was the one who actually did it, thereby forfeiting my opportunity to amass my own fortune. I had every right to demand at least one of the laden donkeys that you took out of Egypt and yet I did not do so. If I did not even take what I was entitled to, then how can you, Korach and your followers, accuse me of taking something that I am not entitled to?”

We have become very used to political leaders who are guilty of the worst forms of corruption, bribery and graft. They siphon off as much wealth as possible from their constituents and often act with complete impunity. South Africa is rife with such corruption. We even gifted the world the phrase “state capture.” Imagine a leader of the calibre of a Moshe or a Samuel! These were people of utter integrity and honesty. Woe to us that we have lost them and they have not been replaced!    

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Liebenberg.

Rabbi’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/kkL0yImaHOM?si=irFt-mVqIKcgTGW1