A new study has found that all of the most populous urban areas in the US are sinking. While the study recommends improvements in urban planning, it ignores the apparent parallels between US cities and the community of Korach, who sank into the desert for the sin of challenging Moses and Aaron.
The study, published under the headline “Land subsidence risk to infrastructure in US metropolises” in Nature Cities, described the scientific aspects of the phenomenon. It presents research from Virginia Tech, documenting land subsidence across all 28 of the most populous urban areas in the United States, affecting approximately 34 million people and 29,000 buildings. The study used satellite radar technology to measure ground elevation changes that are typically invisible from surface observations.
Scope and Scale
The research reveals that subsidence is now a nationwide urban issue rather than just a coastal phenomenon. Every major city studied shows at least 20% of land area affected by subsidence, with many cities exceeding 65% land area impact. Ten cities, including Chicago, Dallas, Columbus, Detroit, Fort Worth, Denver, New York, Indianapolis, Houston, and Charlotte, show nearly 98% of their land area affected by measurable subsidence.
Subsidence Rates and Geographic Patterns
The highest-risk cities include Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth, where more than 70% of the land is subsiding at a rate faster than 3 mm per year. Houston presents particularly severe conditions, with 42% of the city subsiding more than 5 mm per year and 12% experiencing rates exceeding 10 mm per year. Chicago demonstrates average subsidence rates exceeding 2 mm per year, with 10% of the city experiencing rates above 3 mm per year.
Notable exceptions to the subsidence trend include Memphis, San Jose, and Jacksonville, which show slight elevation increases rather than decreases.
Primary Mechanisms
The study identifies groundwater extraction as the primary cause, accounting for approximately 80% of the observed subsidence. The process involves pumping groundwater from aquifers, which leads to soil compression above depleted water reservoirs and results in surface subsidence. Additional contributing factors include glacial isostatic adjustment, tectonic activity, and natural sediment compaction, but these mechanisms are secondary to anthropogenic groundwater depletion.
The research identifies several management approaches for addressing urban subsidence. Immediate measures include integrating subsidence data into urban planning, retrofitting infrastructure in affected areas, updating building codes specifically for high-risk zones, and implementing development restrictions in the most vulnerable areas.
The Biblically minded may take a different approach to dealing with the earth swallowing up entire communities. Visions of the earth suddenly opening up and swallowing evildoers epitomize the biblical concept of divine retribution, which was most clearly seen in the case of Korach and his rebellious crowd.
And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men that pertained unto Korach, and all their goods. Numbers 16:32
According to the commentaries, Korach was an incredibly righteous man who never sinned until he rebelled against Moses and Aaron. The commentaries note that his claim that all the Jews were equal, all of Israel was at Sinai, was a valid claim, but it was made at the wrong time. His vision of universal holiness was for the messianic era.
An esoteric teaching by Rabbi Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, a 16th-century mystic known as ‘Ha’Ari Zal’ from Safed, gives a remarkable insight into a verse from Psalms.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree. צַדִּיק כַּתָּמָר יִפְרָח Psalms 92:13
Rabbi Luria taught that the last letters of these words, which describe the end of days, spell out the name of Korach. When Korach first made his claims of universalism, that we are all holy and God is in our midst, he was blinded by ego, and it wasn’t yet the right time for that reality to be revealed. At the End of Days, when all men declare together that God is one and His Name is One, universalism will take on a new meaning and become true. Korach will be considered righteous, and his claims of universalism will be accepted.
The United States is polarized, both politically and culturally. The urban culture is based on subjective universalism. The concept of equality has morphed into a belief that we are all the same, and since we are all the same, each individual defines himself. Gender is determined at a moment’s notice, and history can be rewritten. At the same time, equality is based on the biblical truth that all men are created in God’s image. But erasing the differences and unique aspects God endowed each individual with is an act of hubris, an attempt to topple the Throne of Glory and take control of Creation.
According to Jewish tradition, Korach and his followers did not die after being swallowed up by the earth. They remain in Sheol, waiting for the arrival of the Messiah to release them.
A Midrash (rabbinic biblical interpretation) related by the Talmudic commentary called Tosafot (Kiddushin 31B) describes how Korach’s punishment is connected to the appearance of the Third Temple. Tosafot asks why Psalm 82 is described as a ‘Mizmor’, a joyous song, when the subject matter is the tragedies accompanying the destruction of the Temple. Tosafot explains that Asaf, a descendant of Korach, saw the salvation of his ancestor in the destruction of the Temple and Israel.
This is compared to a maidservant who went to draw water from the well and whose pitcher fell into the well. She became distraught and began to cry – until the king’s maidservant came to draw water carrying a golden pitcher, and it too fell into the well. At this point, the first maidservant began to sing.
“Until now, I didn’t think anybody would retrieve my cheap earthenware pitcher from the well,” she exclaimed. “But now, whoever retrieves the golden pitcher will retrieve mine as well!”
Tosafot explains that the sons of Korach rejoiced when they witnessed the gates of the Second Temple sink into the ground. They understood that God would not allow the Temple to remain destroyed forever. The sons of Korach reasoned that when God came to rebuild the Third Temple, he would also save them.
It is for this joyous song, which the Sons of Korach will sing at the Third Temple, that Asaf, who was from the family of Korach, sang a joyous Mizmor.
