Success Comes Only from God: Lessons of Faith from Bar Kochba and Korach

At times we may feel that our success is in our own hands. While we put in effort to achieve something, we must remember that our talent and the outcome is from God.

Our matriarch Leah named all her children in reference to God, to acknowledge that everything comes from Him: Reuven (“for the Lord has seen my affliction”), Shimon (“for the Lord has heard”), and so on, because she vividly felt that everything was from God.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (Kedushat Levi) explains that every success must be attributed to God. Do not say: “My child is successful because I have good educational principles” , but rather, “I succeeded because God helped me”. Similarly, when wealth arrives in abundance, one must not attribute it to business acumen, seizing opportunities, or even hard work and diligence, but instead, remember that God is the One who provides livelihood and salvation.

God gave humans free will, and it therefore seems as if people act, achieve, and succeed. However, if someone succeeds, it is only because Heaven already decreed it, and God caused his success. Midrash Rabbah (Bereishit Rabbah 79) tells that when Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai left the cave, he saw a man hunting birds. In his lofty spiritual state, Rashbi heard a heavenly voice proclaim before each arrow was shot whether the hunter would succeed or fail. Of course, the hunter thought his success was due to his own skill or improved aim, but the heavenly voice revealed that everything was decreed from above.

Arrogance Leads to Downfall

When a person becomes arrogant and thinks all success is his own doing, God causes him to fail. A chilling example is told about Bar Kochba, the mighty leader of the Jewish revolt against Rome. He was extraordinarily strong, able to catch boulders from catapults with his bare hands and hurl them back, killing many. His army was filled with fierce warriors. To join his forces, candidates were required to pass brutal tests, such as cutting off a finger (later replaced by uprooting a cedar while riding a horse).

However, when Bar Kochba launched his rebellion, he arrogantly declared before God: “Master of the Universe, do not help us and do not shame us!”, as if to say, “we don’t need Your assistance”. Seeing this pride, God withheld His support and delivered him into Roman hands. Half a million of his soldiers were slaughtered. The blood flowed in Betar for years, needing no water to irrigate the fields.

All That You Have is Determined by God

The Sefer Chassidim writes that in truth, no one can take anything from a person. If it is taken, it means it was never truly his and Heaven had decreed it not to belong to him. A loss is considered atonement for sins because God arranges it to appear as though it was his, so that losing it serves as expiation for his soul. What is truly yours will come to you, but only through faith, not force. The story of Korach demonstrates this.

According to the Chiddushei HaRim, Korach was destined to be a “Great Levite” — just as there is a High Priest (Kohen Gadol), there was to be a Levi Gadol. This role was his by right of greatness. No one else could have taken it from him. To be worthy of it, he was tested — for the higher the position, the greater the trial. His test was to accept the leadership of Moses and Aaron without rebellion. Had he passed, he would have received his destined rank, but by rising against them, trying to seize leadership by force, he lost everything.

Moses told Korach and his followers: “In the morning the Lord will make known who is His” (Numbers 16:5). The Midrash Tanchuma explains: “Just as you cannot turn morning into evening, so too you cannot undo what God has decreed. As it says, ‘And there was evening and there was morning’ (Genesis 1:5), and so too ‘And Aaron was set apart to sanctify him’ (Chronicles I, 23:13).” The Gemara (Nedarim 39b) adds: the sun and moon said, “If Korach and his group act this way, we will not shine!” The Righteous explain that the distinction between what belongs to one person and what belongs to another, is more absolute than the laws of nature themselves.

When a Jew lives with faith he knows that taking by force achieves nothing. Faith means remembering that what is yours will remain yours, and what is not yours will never come, even if you turn the world upside down.