BackThe Power of Compromise
By: Rabbi Dr. Abraham Unger
It is hard to listen. It is even harder to really internalize the other side’s argument to reach a middle ground. In this week’s parsha, we see not only the virtue of open discussion but also the power of compromise.
Moses’ cousin Korach claims that Moses and Aaron have usurped power. He claims all Israelites should be vested with governance authority, not just Moses as the civil national leader and Aaron as the ceremonial High Priest. Korach’s underlying motivation is a priestly role for himself. After all, he was a cousin to Moses and Aaron, but his language uses what seems to be reasonable political rhetoric asking for greater democracy. The claim itself, regardless of its real purpose, has weight. Moses seeks to respond.
Moses then reaches out to Datan and Aviram, allied with Korach and very much in the mix. He seeks some back-channel communication to resolve the matter. Moses asks to meet, and they respond bluntly, “We will not go up.” That’s Biblical language for refusing to sit down at the negotiating table. In the end, Moses and Aaron sustain their positions and Korach and his band are swallowed up by the terrain upon which they stand. They descend into the earth below for not ascending to the level of listening and working things out.
In Halakhah, Jewish law, pesharah/compromise, is preferred to the strict letter of the law when a civil matter reaches Bet Din/Court. The panel of judges is supposed to ask the litigants to arbitrate rather than rely on the court’s ruling, even though the ruling of a Rabbinic court is itself called a Din Torah/Judgment of the Torah.
That’s how significant resolution through negotiation is in Jewish tradition. It is a Biblical mandate! Imagine the powerful change we can make in the world if we apply this value to our lives. It all begins with listening.