How Losers Can Really Be Winners

Parshat Korach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Whenever I participate in a raffle, with great anticipation I wait for the drawing which will declare me, as usual, a loser. And my losing ticket? Ends up in the garbage, of course.

The mature response to not winning is to perhaps congratulate the winner, and to otherwise move on, putting the competition behind us. Is there any merit to keeping the losing ticket?

After Aharon heroically stops the plague which followed the Korach episode, after people had accused Moshe and Aharon of causing the deaths of “nation of God” (17:6-15), God tells Moshe to put a stop to all this rebellion once and for all time, through the head of each tribe writing his name on his personal staff and placing it in the Tent of Meeting over night. The staff which blossoms will be the proof that its owner and his tribe was chosen by God.

Sure enough, Aharon’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, famously blossomed, “It had given forth leaves, and was [now] producing blossoms and almonds were ripening on it.” (17:23)

When Moshe brought the staffs out, the Israelites were able to see that Aharon was in fact chosen, as of all the dead pieces of wood, only his brought forth growth, and we are told “Each man took his own staff.” (17:24)

Each one took his losing ticket. Why?

Perhaps it can be that each had a personal attachment to the stick at hand, perhaps as a walking stick, perhaps as something else. But whereas Aharon’s staff becomes a “mishmeres l’os livnei merri” – a safeguard and a sign for those who might rebel – these staffs serve what purpose?

The Netziv explains that there was a deeper message here. When the staffs had been brought into the Mishkan to functionally serve as a test of who should be the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) and to demonstrate which tribe had been chosen to be the tribe to service the Mishkan, each leader thought his staff had become sanctified. Each had intent that his staff was a gift to the Mishkan and would no longer be available for use ever. But when Moshe brought the staffs out, everyone saw clearly that Aharon’s staff had blossomed and that God had confirmed the choice that had been made long ago.

They then realized that their staffs were not holy, and that with the exception of Aharon’s staff, the others were not designated for Mishkan use any more.

This was a powerful lesson for a People who had just seen some of their peers make valiant efforts to prove that their service at the highest level was acceptable to God simply because of their own desires, emotions and feelings. Korach and co said “We are all holy, so we can all be High Priests!” Um, no. You can achieve a level of holiness, but you cannot take on a role God did not assign to you.

This is why the firepans were able to be hammered out and placed as an adornment on the Mizbeach, as a reminder that there is holiness, and there is HOLINESS. You can all bring a korban (offering), but only the Kohanim can be the representatives through which each korban is offered properly. When you look at the Mizbeach you’ll be reminded that you can only go so far.

Simlilarly, each tribal leader may have had a snippet of a thought (much more innocently than Korach’s cohort did) that maybe maybe maybe my tribe will be chosen. Maybe maybe maybe I have a shot too!

And the proof is that they even came to see if their staffs had “won.” As a result, they took their losing ticket home, partly because it turned out to not be “mekudash” (sanctified), partly because they may have had a sentimental or practical attachment to the stick, and partly to remind themselves and their tribes for all time, “I tried. We tried. Our losing stick is meant to remind us of that episode, so we can always be aware of what our role is, and what our role is not.”

But even more than reminding us what is and what is not, perhaps the stick was also meant to show that I can hope, I can dream, and if I put in my effort, I can at least be a competitor for the top.

Sometimes we think we are unworthy of even competing. Certainly in the Olympics, for example, there are only three medal winners in each competition. But don’t ever think that those who don’t come home with a medal look back on the fact that they competed with the greatest athletes in the world, and as the greatest athlete in their own country, and ended up in 10th place or 20th place. That is still an incredible accomplishment, even for one who did not winner.

Not everyone who loses is a “loser.” Losers walk away having learned nothing from the experience, or having gained nothing.

I suppose I should learn not to buy raffle tickets. Then I’d be a winner when these raffles come along, because I’ll have saved my money.

The tribal leaders were winners who took home their “losing” souvenirs as a reminder that the winner accepts one’s role in God’s camp, and doesn’t look to usurp a position that is not assigned by God’s rules.