Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. — Numbers 16:1–2

The Torah portion for this week is Korach, which means “Korah,” from Numbers 16:1–18:32, and the Haftorah is from 1 Samuel 11:14–12:22.

As human beings, we naturally try to please others. We want people to like us, and there is nothing wrong with that. But here’s an interesting statistic for you: Between 10 and 25 percent of people you meet will not like you. And there’s nothing we can do about it. As much as we would like everyone in the whole world to like us, some folks just won’t. It has nothing to do with us – and everything to do with them.

In this week’s Torah portion, we witness a rebellion staged against Moses by Korah and his followers. The Sages provide us with some very interesting and important background information about Korah and his cronies. Korah, from the tribe of Levi, teamed up with certain men from the tribe of Reuben, who were geographically neighbors with Korah’s tribe. These men were disgruntled because long ago Reuben, Jacob’s eldest son, had lost his privileges as the first-born when Jacob took them away from him. And consequently, the tribe of Reuben lost its status, too. These men still harbored resentment over the fact that what should have been theirs was being enjoyed by others. The Sages teach that the 250 men that joined Korah had a similar gripe about their own lives, too. They were all first-born sons who had lost their status after the sin of worshiping the golden calf.

As for Korah, he had his own grievances, as well. Korah was from the Levite family of Kohath. Kohath had three sons. The eldest was Amram, who was the father of Moses and Aaron. The second son was Izhar, Korah’s father. The youngest son was Uziel, and his son Elizaphan was chosen to be the prince of Kohath. According to Korah’s calculations, this was a great injustice. He, as the son of the second son, should have been chosen, not the son of the youngest brother.

The point is that while Korah came with a formal accusation against Moses, challenging him for taking too much power for himself, the reality is that it wasn’t about Moses at all. Korah and his followers had an axe to grind. They were resentful and felt hurt by events that had nothing to do with Moses. In fact, just a few chapters earlier we read, “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else . . .” (Numbers 12:3). Moses clearly had no great desire for power, it was Korah who desired the fame.

The lesson for us is that we shouldn’t be overly invested in winning over fans. Some people just won’t like us, and that’s all right. It’s probably not about us, but about them. Try not to take it personally. There is only one fan that we really need on our side – and God already is our biggest fan.