These days, we watch the world with cautious optimism. As places begin to reopen we pray -- as cases surge in some places -- that we will somehow find a way to take whatever precautions will keep us and our communities safe. And as we face the pandemic of COVID 19, our eyes have been opened to the pandemic of systemic racism.

We are impatient for the day we can use our voices at the voting polls. In the meantime, we watch with a mix of hope and fear, the responses of our local and national leadership: how will they balance economic interests with our overall well-being, and the safety of the most vulnerable in our midst?

**

In this week’s Torah portion, Israel rebels against Moses and Aaron. Having got used to being slaves, the Israelites miss the normalcy Egypt provided. They mourn those who died in the wilderness since they left. They want to know where they’re going, and when they’ll get there. They feel angry, restless, and uncertain about their future.

So a man named Korach decides to speak up.

The Torah tells us he “took it upon himself…to rise up against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites...They protested against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them!”

In a true democracy, he seems to say, we can hear everyone’s voices! It’s an idea Moses even seems to support: in a previous moment of unrest, Moses responds to his community by gathering 70 elders, to share leadership with him.

To do so, Torah says, “God drew upon the spirit that was on [Moses] and put it on the elders.” The spirit that rested on them gave them the momentary power of prophecy – the ability to see and speak some hard truths that Moses had been holding alone.

But the spirit could not be contained: like an electric current. it jumped from the elders and zapped two ordinary passersby: Eldad and Meidad, who began to see and speak some hard truths of their own. Alarmed witnesses ran to Moses, and asked if they should stop them.

How does Moses reply? “Would that all God’s people were prophets…!” Moses clearly wasn’t an authoritarian – he wants to hear people’s voices.

So why does he silence Korach?

**

According to Rabbi Zvi Kalischer, Korach is not like Eldad and Medad; he is a demagogue, he tries to get power by dividing the community, defining himself only by what he is against; by contrast, Eldad and Medad, give voice to what they stand for.

These uncertain days invite us to turn away from demagogues, and find the prophets in our midst: people who are a voice not just for themselves but for the oppressed in their midst: for the Black and brown communities, for poor people of all races, for immigrants and LGBTQ people.

Perhaps the prophetic spirit will even zap us from time to time, helping us see and speak some hard truths, energizing us to be citizens in building a world that is more loving and just:

I wonder, what is a vision you hold of the world you want to leave the generations to come? What’s one step you can take to build that world?