Korach seems to exemplify a dictionary definition of chutzpa.  He asks Moses who made him the chief and his brother, chief Cohen.  How did he dare ask such a question?  Moses had come down from Sinai with the commandments.  Of course it was G-d who commanded him to choose Aharon as high priest.  What a chutzpa!  Well, the only way he could have such chutzpa is if we assume that he did question the very divinity of the Torah.

So what’s the response to Korach’s chutzpa and his challenge?  How do we know it is divine?  While absolute proof beyond any doubt is not a thing of this world, we can rebut Korach from within his own platform.  What is Korach’s platform?  He assumes that the Torah cannot be divine since G-d would never discriminate between Cohen and Israelite.  He also questions the enterprise of going to Israel.  How did he have the chutzpa to challenge our most basic mission?  Here too, it seems, he thought it unfair to single out one land above all others.  If Jews could thrive in Egypt, who needs Israel?  Why is this land different from all other lands?

He also questioned the unique status of mitzvah objects.  According to the midrash, he asked why we needed a little old Mezuzah scroll if the whole house was filled with Torah scrolls?  What’s so special about that little mitzvah object?  Why are Tefillin any more special than my own home made amulet? 

His logic seems quite appealing until we examine the corollary.  If there are no unique statuses in the world, then the Jewish people are also not unique.  Why should we be any different than anyone else?  However, this is patently wrong.  Who can argue that we have a unique status?  Which other country consumes world interest like Israel?  Which other country reclaimed its ancestral heritage after 2,000 years?  Which other country is the subject of two-thirds of all United Nations discussions?  Which people have survived as we have?  Which other people are so hated as to inspire World War II and to some degree, even September 11^th?  In short, the idea that we are not a unique people is absurd and untrue.  

What makes us so special is our rituals and our land.  By implication, all of Korach’s premises are false.  As the sons of Korach say each day, according to the rabbis, “Moses is true and his Torah is true.”  Rav Kook, former chief rabbi of Palestine, said that we can now understand why it is that the most classic song of the Levites, sons of Korach, is the psalm of Monday which lauds Jerusalem as a city of wonder in the eyes of the kings of the world.  And can anyone disagree?  Which other city is the desire of billions of Muslims and Christians?  Which other city has the ability to inspire and to change lives?

The unique status of the Cohen, the Jew, the mezuzah, Israel, and Jerusalem, are inexplicable, but irrefutable.  They are all proof that “Moses is true and his Torah is true.”