The Gematria (numerical value) of the week is 308, the numerical value for קֹרַח.
In 1993, Randy Johnson struck out 308 batters, the 49th-highest total ever and 20th since World War II. One of the players he is tied with at 49th highest overall is Hall of Famer John Clarkson, who accomplished the feat in his sophomore season in 1884. Although they finished with the same amount of strikeouts, Johnson's and Clarkson's seasons were very different.
Johnson finished 2nd in the Cy Young voting in 1993, going 19-8 with 308 strikeouts, most in the league, and his strikeouts per 9 innings ratio, 10.9, was tops in the league as well, in 34 starts, 10 of which were complete games, 1 relief appearance, and 255.1 innings pitched. Clarkson's season was quite a bit different. There was no Cy Young award back then as Cy hadn't even starting pitching yet, but Clarkson had an outstanding season in his own right. He went an incredible 53-16, striking out 308, tops in the league, but just 4.4 per 9, in 70 starts, 68 of which were complete games, and 623 IP.The 308 strikeouts were really the only thing in common between these two seasons by these two very different pitchers from very different eras.
How does this relate to the Parsha? Well, Korach didn't understand why he wasn't the Kohen Gadol or the Nasi of Shevet Levi, and part of the problem was that he wasn't part of the decision making process. Hashem chose Moshe and Aharon, and that was completely separate from Korach. It's almost like he was a completely different era.
Hope you all have a good Shabbos,
Robbie
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Dvar Torah for Korach
The craziest thing about the Korach story is that Korach's original reason for his protest against Aharon as the Kohen Gadol wasn't so crazy at all. Korach's group's stated complaint in BaMidbar 16:3 was כִּי כָל הָעֵדָה כֻּלָּם קְדֹשִׁים וּבְתוֹכָם יְקֹוָק וּמַדּוּעַ תִּתְנַשְּׂאוּ עַל קְהַל יְקֹוָק- "because all of the nation are all holy; so why did you raise yourself above the congregation of Hashem?" That's really an amazing idea. Everyone has an equal holiness, an equal potential to be great, and every person, no matter who they are at this moment, has the ability to achieve such greatness. We all know the famous Pasukim קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ and וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם. Aren't those exactly what Korach was saying? What was Korach's real flaw in his protest if the base of his argument really was not that bad at all?
According to Rashi, Korach's mistake was וַיִּקַּח- he created a separation between himself and the rest of Bnei Yisrael in making this accusation. Korach had to mad that he wasn't the Kohen Gadol or the Nasi of Shevet Levi, but maybe his original intentions were just for fairness and equality for all of Bnei Yisrael in terms of their potential and their ability to lead. But Korach took a huge risk- that his accusation would divide Kahal Yisrael and start a rebellion. And so it did. We only remember Korach as evil after the terrible rebellion he started. But really, it didn't have to turn out that way.If Korach had approached things differently, maybe talking to Moshe and Aharon in private instead of וַיָּקֻמוּ לִפְנֵי מֹשֶׁה, everything could have been different. But he did things the way he did, and now whenever anybody reads Parshat Korach, they vilify Korach, and rightfully so.
It was a line drive to right-center. Torii Hunter went back towards the gap and had to make a decision. The ball was quickly falling and Hunter was about within distance to make a dive to make the catch and keep the game tied at 2. But if Hunter missed it and the ball got by him, the ball would go back to the Metrodome wall and it would be a certain inside-the-park home run. Hunter could have played the ball on a hop and allowed Mark Kotsay to reach second on a double, but nothing more. But he instead elected to dive. He wasn't diving to be on SportsCenter the next day. He was diving to save a double and prevent the winning run from going into scoring position in 2006 ALDS Game 2 with the Twins already down a game in the best of 5. So he dived, and what happens? He misses the ball by several feet and the ball goes back to the wall for the inside-the-parker and the A's won the game and ended up sweeping the series. Hunter made a decision to help the team and it went wrong. He didn't receive an error on the play- it was going to be a tough play, and it just didn't work out. But still, if Hunter played the ball on a hop, maybe the Twins would have won the series and ended up as 2006 World Series Champions. Almost nobody criticized Hunter for his decision to dive- it was just a bad break for him that the ball went by him. But it turned out for the worst, and that's all everybody remembers.
Before we make decisions in life, we have to realize the consequences. There's always a risk and a reward, and we have to know when the risk is too high. We have to take risks in life- if we didn't we would live as boring people in a mundane world. But we have to pick our spots. Sometimes, a bad decision can start something far worse than we ever expected. My hope and prayer is that we can make the proper decisions in life and take chances only when the proper opportunities arise, and may that be part of the process of Mashiach coming speedily into our midst, Bimheirah Biyameinu, Amein.
Good Shabbos,
Robbie Knopf
I hope you enjoyed ITtB Dvar Torah #1.
According to Rashi, Korach's mistake was וַיִּקַּח- he created a separation between himself and the rest of Bnei Yisrael in making this accusation. Korach had to mad that he wasn't the Kohen Gadol or the Nasi of Shevet Levi, but maybe his original intentions were just for fairness and equality for all of Bnei Yisrael in terms of their potential and their ability to lead. But Korach took a huge risk- that his accusation would divide Kahal Yisrael and start a rebellion. And so it did. We only remember Korach as evil after the terrible rebellion he started. But really, it didn't have to turn out that way.If Korach had approached things differently, maybe talking to Moshe and Aharon in private instead of וַיָּקֻמוּ לִפְנֵי מֹשֶׁה, everything could have been different. But he did things the way he did, and now whenever anybody reads Parshat Korach, they vilify Korach, and rightfully so.
It was a line drive to right-center. Torii Hunter went back towards the gap and had to make a decision. The ball was quickly falling and Hunter was about within distance to make a dive to make the catch and keep the game tied at 2. But if Hunter missed it and the ball got by him, the ball would go back to the Metrodome wall and it would be a certain inside-the-park home run. Hunter could have played the ball on a hop and allowed Mark Kotsay to reach second on a double, but nothing more. But he instead elected to dive. He wasn't diving to be on SportsCenter the next day. He was diving to save a double and prevent the winning run from going into scoring position in 2006 ALDS Game 2 with the Twins already down a game in the best of 5. So he dived, and what happens? He misses the ball by several feet and the ball goes back to the wall for the inside-the-parker and the A's won the game and ended up sweeping the series. Hunter made a decision to help the team and it went wrong. He didn't receive an error on the play- it was going to be a tough play, and it just didn't work out. But still, if Hunter played the ball on a hop, maybe the Twins would have won the series and ended up as 2006 World Series Champions. Almost nobody criticized Hunter for his decision to dive- it was just a bad break for him that the ball went by him. But it turned out for the worst, and that's all everybody remembers.
Before we make decisions in life, we have to realize the consequences. There's always a risk and a reward, and we have to know when the risk is too high. We have to take risks in life- if we didn't we would live as boring people in a mundane world. But we have to pick our spots. Sometimes, a bad decision can start something far worse than we ever expected. My hope and prayer is that we can make the proper decisions in life and take chances only when the proper opportunities arise, and may that be part of the process of Mashiach coming speedily into our midst, Bimheirah Biyameinu, Amein.
Good Shabbos,
Robbie Knopf
I hope you enjoyed ITtB Dvar Torah #1.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Parshat Korach Players of the Week: Korach and Joe Korach
No, the title is not a typo. When Baseball-Reference.com finds information for a player with a known last name and an unknown first name, they list the player just under his last name. So, you can find "Korach Minor League Statistics and History" on Baseball-Reference.com. Korach was a pitcher who played two seasons in organized baseball, the first of which in 1934 for the Class D Bentonville Officeholders (gotta love that name) and the second in 1936 for the Class D Rogers Lions. Next to nothing is known about Korach (why didn't they look in the Torah?). He pitched and played some other position in 1934, and he hit .303 with 3 homers at the plate while posting an 8-5 record on the mound. In '36, he went 0-1. Korach wasn't anything special at all as a baseball player, and this will probably be the last time you hear of his baseball career. (So that's why he was so frustrated that he wanted to challenge Moshe!)
Korach's brother, Joe (can't confirm that he was his brother, but he has the same last name and he played at about the same time), had a more illustrious career. He was signed by the Yankees in 1935 and was sent to the Class C Joplin (Washington state) Miners. Joe, an outfielder, second baseman, and pitcher, hit .279 in 1935 with 15 doubles, 5 triples, and a homer in 109 games while going 0-3 with a 6.20 ERA in 13 appearances on the mound. Nobody has any idea how old he was, but he seemed like he could have a decent professional career. But after hitting .265 with 6 doubles, 4 triples, and 4 homers in 1936 while going 1-7 with a 5.37 ERA in 13 appearances on the mound, Joe was done with baseball. Maybe he had more important things to do (like help his brother in his protest against Moshe).
It's unfortunate that Korach's protest against Moshe ended both his baseball career and his brother's.
Korach's brother, Joe (can't confirm that he was his brother, but he has the same last name and he played at about the same time), had a more illustrious career. He was signed by the Yankees in 1935 and was sent to the Class C Joplin (Washington state) Miners. Joe, an outfielder, second baseman, and pitcher, hit .279 in 1935 with 15 doubles, 5 triples, and a homer in 109 games while going 0-3 with a 6.20 ERA in 13 appearances on the mound. Nobody has any idea how old he was, but he seemed like he could have a decent professional career. But after hitting .265 with 6 doubles, 4 triples, and 4 homers in 1936 while going 1-7 with a 5.37 ERA in 13 appearances on the mound, Joe was done with baseball. Maybe he had more important things to do (like help his brother in his protest against Moshe).
It's unfortunate that Korach's protest against Moshe ended both his baseball career and his brother's.
Introducing ITtB
Hi everyone this is Robbie Knopf and this is a blog where I combine both of my interests, Torah and baseball. This blog is about Torah- if you want baseball you can check out my other blog here and my writing about the Rays over here.
What I am trying to do with this is to use baseball to inspire Torah. There are so many ideas in the Torah that we don't understand or we don't appreciate. Something I like to do is think about Torah concepts in baseball terms, and every once in a while, it actually helps me understand the concept. On this site, I'm planning to give a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parshah with a baseball analogy that (hopefully) ties it all together. Also, I'm going to do other fun weekly features like Gamatria (numerical value) of the Week where I relate the Gematria of something in the Parshah to something in baseball (ex. 262 was Ichiro's record of 262 hits in a season in 2004), and a Player of the Week whose name somehow relates to the Parshah (ex. Harry Desert for BaMidbar). I'll also do some impromptu posts when things happen (if ITtB was around, I definitely would have done a post on the reformation of Josh Hamilton). Also, I will hopefully think of other features to do, and you're welcome to comment on any of my posts with a suggestion (recent ones please- if you comment 2 years from now on this post, I probably won't see it).
This is going to be a lot of fun and I hope and anticipate that both you and I will learn something. I hope you all enjoy.
I'll put something up on ITtB later today, and my Dvar Torah on Korach will go up tomorrow.
What I am trying to do with this is to use baseball to inspire Torah. There are so many ideas in the Torah that we don't understand or we don't appreciate. Something I like to do is think about Torah concepts in baseball terms, and every once in a while, it actually helps me understand the concept. On this site, I'm planning to give a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parshah with a baseball analogy that (hopefully) ties it all together. Also, I'm going to do other fun weekly features like Gamatria (numerical value) of the Week where I relate the Gematria of something in the Parshah to something in baseball (ex. 262 was Ichiro's record of 262 hits in a season in 2004), and a Player of the Week whose name somehow relates to the Parshah (ex. Harry Desert for BaMidbar). I'll also do some impromptu posts when things happen (if ITtB was around, I definitely would have done a post on the reformation of Josh Hamilton). Also, I will hopefully think of other features to do, and you're welcome to comment on any of my posts with a suggestion (recent ones please- if you comment 2 years from now on this post, I probably won't see it).
This is going to be a lot of fun and I hope and anticipate that both you and I will learn something. I hope you all enjoy.
I'll put something up on ITtB later today, and my Dvar Torah on Korach will go up tomorrow.
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