Judy and I listen to old time radio shows on SiriusXM. The Fred Allen show is one of the comedy programs we’ve enjoyed. During the Golden age of radio, Fred Allen (1894-1956) used comedic pessimism to bring smiles to a generation living in the shadows of economic depression and a world at war. His sense of humor was born out of personal pain. Having lost his mother before he was three, it was later estranged from his father who struggled with addictions. He once rescued a young boy from the traffic of a busy New York City St. with a memorable, “What’s the matter with you, kid? Don’t you want to go up and have troubles?”
Even Moses wasn’t exempt from such troubled realism. His first cousin Korakh along with Datan and Avirum gathered 250 men to depose Moses from his position of leadership. The Etz Hayim commentary below the line writes: “In Jewish lore, Korakh is the arch-demagogue lusting for power to inflate his own prominence, not to serve the people. Thus the Mishna describes illegitimate controversies (for personal gain, “not for the sake of heaven”) as being “like the dispute of Korakh and his followers” ( Avot 5:17). Ultimately God vindicated Moses as the true leader of the Israelites and Korakh and his band suffered the consequences.
Who hasn’t been embroiled in disputes! We need to examine our motivations for instigating, entering and maintaining a dispute. If the purpose is for personal gain, power, and self-aggrandizement, then this argument will not be for the sake of Heaven and it will not endure. But if the purpose is to solve the challenge which benefits everybody concerned and we can remain friends even though we disagree, then our argument will be for the sake of Heaven just like the disagreements between Hillel and Shammai.
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