If Kermit the Frog can give a commencement address, why not Korach?
This year, members of the University of Maryland Class of 2025 received their diplomas along with a dose of sage advice from the famous Muppet ringing in their ears. As you can imagine, there was a lot of talking about leaping.
If we can take advice from a talking frog, we can use our creativity to find insights from the Korach story to share with the graduates of 2025 – and maybe teach all of us a lesson.
Korach gets a bad rap because he deserves a bad rap. He is divisive, arrogant, entitled, and dismissive. He thinks he knows it all. But…he makes a good point.
“Ki kol ha-eidah kulam kedoshim – The whole nation is holy.” (Bamidbar 16:3)
This statement is valid. Every Jew IS holy. Yet, when Korach made this claim, he was using it as a subtext to rebel against Moshe’s leadership. It as if he was saying: “All Jews are holy. That means, we’re all qualified to be leaders. So, I am going to lead.” Korach spoke about all Jews being holy, but he was really interested only in Korach.
And yet…
There is something to be said for each of us living up to the simple truth: We are holy! We can do it. We can accomplish what we set out to do. We need to act within the confines of tradition and community, but we should aim high and believe in ourselves.
If Korach were giving a commencement address, we can imagine he might say something like this:
My dear graduates, fellow future leaders, and soon-to-be questioners of authority, let me begin with a quote from a very wise man: Me. “The entire nation is holy! So why does he get to be in charge?”
You are not here today because you followed. You are here because you thought, questioned, and challenged. You asked – no, you demanded: Why not me? Why not now?
Let me tell you something they don’t often teach: Greatness does not come from titles. Greatness comes from believing in yourself and acting. Sometimes, like Kermit the Frog might say, you need to take the leap. You need to just believe in yourself and do it. (Nike took that one from me.) Do not let anyone tell you that you must wait your turn, that you must stay in your lane, that leadership belongs only to the few. Leadership is not inherited. It is earned. It is claimed.
There will be voices – sometimes loud voices - who say you are stirring up trouble. Good! History is shaped by those who refuse to accept things as they are. If you never push boundaries, you’ll never know what lies beyond them.
Don’t wait to be chosen. Choose yourself. At your new job, when they ask if you have experience, say yes. Then go figure it out on YouTube. If someone tells you, “That’s above your pay grade,” tell them, “That’s why I’m aiming for your pay grade.”
Be brave. Be bold. Don’t do it exactly as I did. Challenge with responsibility, not arrogance. And never forget that true leadership is not taking power but lifting others with it.
This is what Korach could have said – but he never did.
Instead, he let his arrogance, lust for power, and dismissiveness towards tradition guide his actions. Korach was incapable of such positive sentiments. His traits, however, can be redeemed into a call to believe in ourselves and take the initiative to accomplish great things.
One person who DID inspire so many to do this was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, whose yahrzeit is on Sunday.
Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice President Emeritus of the OU, tells of a crisis in confidence he faced as a young rabbi and psychologist early on in his career. He spoke to various close friends, and one of them suggested that he call the Rebbe. And so, in February 1971, Rabbi Weinreb did, and he recounted what happened on the call:
The Rebbe’s secretary answered the phone in English, with a simple “Hello, who’s this?” Now, as I was talking to the secretary, in the background I recognized the Rebbe’s voice asking in Yiddish, “Who’s calling?”
I replied, “A yid fun Maryland - A Jew from Maryland.” I told the secretary that I have many questions which I would like to discuss with the Rebbe - questions about what direction my life should take, questions regarding my career, questions of faith…I spoke in English and, as I was talking, the Rebbe’s secretary was repeating and paraphrasing my words in Yiddish…
And then I heard the Rebbe say in the background, in Yiddish: “Tell him that there is a Jew who lives in Maryland that he can speak to. Der yid hayst Veinreb—his name is Weinreb.”
The secretary asked me, “Did you hear what the Rebbe said?”
Now, I couldn’t believe my ears. I knew for sure I had not given the secretary my name, but the Rebbe had just said my name! I was taken aback, and I wanted to hear it again. So when the secretary asked whether I heard, I said no.
The secretary repeated the Rebbe’s words to me: “There’s a Jew in Maryland whom he should talk to. His name is Weinreb.”
I replied, “But my name is Weinreb!”
And then I heard the Rebbe say, “If that’s the case, then he should know that, sometimes, one needs to speak to himself.”
The secretary said to me, “The Rebbe said that sometimes it’s best to talk to yourself. Isn’t your name Weinreb?”
“Yes, my name is Weinreb, but maybe the Rebbe means a different Weinreb.”
“No, the Rebbe’s saying, ‘Talk to Weinreb,’ and he explained that you must to talk to yourself.”
I thanked him very much, and the call ended with that.”
Sometimes, we need to talk to ourselves, to look within ourselves to find the encouragement, the motivation, and the confidence to move forward.
So, my dear graduates and everyone else, take it from what Korach might have said and what the Lubavitcher Rebbe did say and don’t hold back. Graduations are about advancing and moving forward. We can do it! Look within, listen to your inner voice and just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
And be sure to give thanks to all who help you along the way.