Parshas Korach
16:1a
Rashi is describing the very nature of a Machlokes Shelo LeShem
Shamayim (see Avos 5:17): Trenchant contrariness. When the issue
ceases to be about one opinion against another where the people
who present the opinions are a secondary or irrelevant
consideration, Korach at the outset 'took himself' as a personal
opponent of Moshe. The subject of the dispute became a matter
of personalities and not of opinions: "This is wrong" became
"You are wrong".
16:1b
The use of verbal persuasion, appealing to emotions instead
of intellect to form a wider consensus behind Korach further
highlights the primacy of personality as the driving force
behind his campaign to usurp the authority of Moshe.
16:1c
One of the most serious concerns that there are in life is
what will be the legacy that one is to leave behind. Will the
world have been enriched and made better because we were here?
Or would it have been the same or better had we not made our
tracks on it at all? Our Patriarchs were constantly occupied
with such concerns precisely because they were acutely aware
of their role as father to this nation-to-be. They contained
within themselves the sum total of all the potential of their
offspring till eternity. This is what defines Fatherhood in
the Jewish sense: knowing that everything about you --for good
and for better-- will be imprinted and perpetuated in some form,
to posterity.
16:1d
One striking consideration of the Torah value system is the
influence of one's surroundings upon us. We should take nothing
for granted in regards to our spiritual imperviousness. We need
to safeguard our level of sensitivity and care to Torah goals
and proper attitudes because erosion will take place in an
unprotected environment. It may not be overtly hostile, which
usually is less dangerous because it evokes conscious resistance.
But constant benign exposure to alternative values and behaviors
makes the subtle but serious impression as being normative.
This is the damage caused by a bad neighbor. It's not the quality
of the deviance but the quantity.
16:1e
The favorite tactic of the polemicist is to single out a
particular detail not germane to his opponent's basic position
and cast it in a certain unfavorable light. Or even make it
seem ludicrous when blown up out of context. Then the attacker
asserts that his opponent's whole stance is reflected in this
one miniscule point which totally invalidates his rival's entire
approach. In short, the polemicist prefers to mock under the
guise of sound critical analysis. Such is the attempt of Korach
to ridicule the authority of Moshe by appealing to a trumped
up 'Kal Vechomer' when all that is claimed is simple Divine
command that need not be justified by a preconceived system
of human logic. Korach employs the classic 'straw man' fallacy
which again, captures the fancy of the crowd, but is devoid
of substance.
16:3
How ironic that Korach's very words are a twisted allusion to
the justification that the Torah itself gives for bestowing
the Priesthood upon Aaron! At the conclusion of Hashem's
conversation with Moshe from the burning bush (way back in the
beginning of sefer Shemos) Moshe resists his appointment as
leader and defers to his elder brother--Aaron. Hashem responds:
You fear that your rise in stature will upbraid Aaron? On the
contrary! He is rejoicing in your ascent and as a result of
your refusal I will remove the priesthood from you and hand
it over to your brother. So it was precisely because Moshe
RESISTED the role of sovereign was he NOT given both sovereignty
AND priesthood that should have been his! And here Korach is
accusing Moshe of grabbing the leadership for himself and
misappropriating the priesthood for his brother out of petty
nepotism? The distortion and cynicism is beyond description.
16:5
The midrash quoted by Rashi outlines a fundamental attitude
that is necessary for proper acceptance of 'the yoke of Heaven'.
We don't usually question the 'propriety' of natural law.
Bemoaning why must I be limited by gravity, or why couldn't
I have been given wings for flight is not considered a mature
complaint on God's decision-making process. We usually come
around to inevitable resignation regarding Divine designation.
Day follows night and night follows day in an absolute
uncontested continuum of creation. So too, says the midrash,
we are similarly immature to claim to be wronged if we aren't
given all the privileges and liberties that we believe are our
due. Laws of nature and Torah legislation are parallels. Both
have an identical source in the Divine will that is not subject
to critique (yet can and should be analyzed for gaining proper
appreciation), and both must command respect and obedience. For
elaboration, see Rav Moshe Meiselman's 'Jewish Woman in Jewish
Law', Chapter 1: "The Source of Jewish Values".
16:6
Moshe is serving notice to Korach and his band that this mutiny
is no light matter. The winners take all and the losers will
forfeit their very lives. Such is the stakes when dealing with
Divine service as the Torah emphasizes countless times throughout
the Sefer Vayikra and Sefer Bamidbar. One cannot afford to
take a cavalier attitude to areas that contain so much sanctity
and intimacy so-to-speak as does the presence of the Divine
amongst us. The granting of our desire for closeness with God
brings with it the awesome responsibility of handling that
relationship with utmost care and caution for as we see from
this and other incidents, one unsolicited gesture or unauthorized
approach brings instant disaster. We don't realize intuitively
that a relationship with God needs to be choreographed and
rehearsed till precision and near perfection is attained. Service
of the Divine is an art that one cannot just stumble into
haphazardly at one's convenience. As is with any intimate bond,
carelessness and lack of focus or discipline cause the bond
to decay rapidly.
16:7
Here Rashi describes the tragic fall of great ones. It is very
unusual that such spiritual giants like Korach would be overcome
with such petty envy as to lose all perspective and throw himself
literally into the abyss. The envy was there at work, certainly,
but what brought him over the brink was the misreading of
destiny. Often the awareness of our great potential creates
a blind spot that robs us of humility and sense of proportion.
We get puffed by the great things that we think are in store
for us and block out the possibility that it may not turn out
exactly as we envision it to be. By ruling out unsavory
possibilities out of the loftiness of vision instead of through
careful consideration, one runs the risk of not seeing the
warning signs of fatal errors ahead. Moshe sees this danger
looming before Korach and tries in vain to bring him to his
senses. There is very little hope in trying to disabuse someone
that the greatness he rightly seeks will not be his.
16:7b
See comments to 15:6 above
16:8
Once Moshe realizes that Korach is unreceptive to reasonable
arguments, Moshe switches to more aggressive tactics to minimize
'collateral damage' and prevent more outsiders from being dragged
into the vortex. Here we see Moshe's selflessness on behalf
of a people who have shown very little faith in Moshe as their
leader throughout his tenure. Still, he unstintingly tries to
protect them from further calamity by exhorting them to abandon
Korach and by praying for them to be spared from Divine
retribution as we shall see.
16:14
Moshe is being painted as the villain by the arch-villains
themselves. Their spurious proof? We know that the death sentence
passed on the generation was communicated to them by Moshe from
God for their refusal to enter the Land of Israel. Their version:
Moshe promised to take them in, and now he reneges and condemns
us all to die in the wilderness! How typical it is that the
evildoers deflect blame and project their evil onto others then
turn around to proclaim themselves innocent victims of the evil
that they have perpetrated.
16:19
Another ploy enlisted by Korach to garner support for his
rebellion was assuming the role of public advocate. Not for
his glory or personal advancement was he attacking the
establishment. No! It was for the good of society! How can we
let these ambitious upstarts take all the power for themselves?
We should be more democratic and egalitarian-let everyone have
a chance to attain prominence. I have no vested interests here.
Thus, all the people were swayed into joining Korach's camp.
16:22
Once again, Moshe rises to intervene on behalf of the very people
who have turned against him. He realizes their weaknesses and
blind spots and refuses to hold them ultimately responsible
for their failures. Ignoring the actual attack that is being
made by them, he sees through the external display of
insurrection by the masses and perceives the root cause as coming
from without and not from within. Thus his pleading to Hashem
reflects Moshe's uncanny ability to distinguish between real
evil and evil's negative influences which need to be addressed
and punished in different ways. On such a distinction is space
created for restitution and forgiveness. We should learn to
make similar allowances when judging other's negative behavior
toward us.
16:24a
Such a display of unabashed unyielding defiance in the face
of doom is surely a sign of incurable unredeemable evil. To
not flinch at the oncoming of complete dissolution is an
indication that they already feel that they no longer have
anything to lose. Intuitively, they are aware that they have
stepped out of existence and are merely waiting for the effects
of their actions to run its inevitable course.
16:24b
This Rashi presents a major theological difficulty. Besides
the terrifying event that transpired, counting children and
infants among the victims of the tragedy, Rashi maintains that
these children actually did die for no cause other than being
caught up in the middle of a fatal 'machlokes'. They were without
any sin or guilt. No Torah court-earthly or Heavenly-would have
condemned these pure souls to such a fate. Yet this was a
miraculous punishment-an 'act of God' executed by direct Divine
intervention! Wouldn't we expect that a Heaven-sent calamity
would automatically distinguish between sinful adults and their
innocent children?
The Maharal in his commentary Gur Aryeh on this Rashi says
chillingly that "A Law of Machlokes" was set up as an integral
part of creation to have its consequences affect all who come
in contact --even unwittingly-- with its negative power.(Similar
to the law of gravity set up at creation, when you drive your
whole family in a car and steer it off the cliff, the effects
of gravity will not be suspended by God in order to spare the
innocent passengers. And it is the driver that will shoulder
all the responsibility.) Certain spiritual mechanisms were set
up by God from the beginning to react to our actions in specific
ways, and special intervention (like repentance and the presence
of certain merits) is then required to mitigate those reactions.
One can reasonably speculate that an understanding of inner
workings of these mechanisms is the core of the Kabbalistic
study of Creation (which also explains why the study is so
dangerous). Let the driver beware.
16:28
Here Moshe lays bare the real gripe that Korach has concealed
to his followers until now. Nowhere did he mention any
disagreement over the appointment of his cousin as the political
head of the Ke'has family. Korach (who happened to also be a
Ke'has member) ostensibly was indignant over the rise of Moshe
and Aaron as lording over the entire Nation. And he was fighting
their cause--not his own, right? Moshe now justifies the absolute
nature of the punishment by exposing their motives for what
they really were: personal. And they were thus subjecting
themselves to the terrible 'Law of Machlokes'.
16:30
The Midrash spells out that Moshe appealed to the punishment
that was set up from 'the six days of creation' for this specific
sin of 'Machlokes'. But had it not been set up, it would be
necessary anyway to reaffirm the sincerity and honesty
of Moshe as conduit of the Divine will. But we need to make
a subtle distinction. The Rambam in Chapter 8 of Laws of
Foundations of Torah lists this miracle of the opening of the
earth as an event that was needed because of extraordinary
circumstances that surrounded it. It wasn’t produced like some
parlor trick to convince the Jewish People of the veracity of
Moshe's PROPHECY. The point here was to illustrate that Moshe
wasn't taking advantage of his genuine status as prophet
(verified at Sinai by God Himself) to impose his own selfish
agenda in God's name. From here we see the need to be selective
in choosing leaders who are not only talented, brilliant,
capable, charismatic, etc., but also men of sterling character
and impeccable honesty. Our mission as the bearers of God's
name in the world demands nothing less from who guide and advise
us.
