BS”D

Parshas Korach – Korach, Kerach VeKkoreach.

A Guten Erev Shabbos. This week’s Parsha is parshas Korach. Its maybe one of the most troubling of all of the parshas in all of the Torah. Not because of what happened to Korach or the destruction that he brought on people around him, not because of his arrogance, but because of how close he was to H’. Really, unprepared a person can be to diagnose what occurs to people who go after their own kavbod. On the outside he loks likea gadol ha dor, an absolute leader, destined for leadership. What I would like to call this parsha is ‘Korach, Kerach VeKkoreach’. These things are very close and he had a choice, it was within his power, to choose whatever he felt he wanted, one way or another he was destined for greatness, it just depended on the way that he achieved it. Greatness through fame and honour or through infamy and disgrace. That is within our power and our hands.

I’d like to start this weeks parsha off with a little story. There was a man who was desperate for money. He wwent out into the street and he saw a delivery person coming to his neighbourhood with a delivery truck with what looked like valuable treasures, which he was taking to peoples houses. He decieded to rob him of everything he had. He saw a box of silver tresures and at just the right moment, ran over to the delivery man and snatched the parcel. He bolted and people made chase. He ran arounf the block until he lost them and then returned home to open the gold and silver treasures he had stolen from the poor delivery man. As he pulled away the gift wrapping he saw an unusual letter. He looked and incredibly it had his name on it and his address. He opened it up and sure enough it was a present of gold and silver, a fabulous fortune. He got cold shivers. What a great irony that written on the box of treasures he had just stolen was his name and address. Just then there was a knock on the door. He thought, maybe the delivery man had come to apologise. He opened up and to his amazement there were some policeman. They said, “Sir, please come with us.” He said “ What for”. They said, “well, the evidence is before you. This postman was delivering very valuable tresures. There was a scream and we took chase after you. Sure enough, here are the treasures, a king’s ransom, on the table. You are now going to have to go to jail”. He said, “No , you don’t understand, it has my name on the letter, it was for me”. They said” that is all good and well, sir. Of course after you signed for it and recived it, it was for you. But what you did is that you stole by intercepting something that H’ had decided to leave with you at the right time. You grabbed it before its time and so you are a thief. You are going to jail.”

So now we are starting to get a feel for the parsha. In this sedra, in contrast to all opther parshas, where the people complained of a specific problem such as a lack of water, food, the need for H to guide the nation, to take Moshe as an intermediary in the right time and the right place, after what they thought was 41 days they panicked and went astray after what was lurking in their hearts. All these other parshas we could argue in a way that maybe, maybe, they had a taine, a valid claim – the bitter waters, they needed water, they did it in the wrong way. They should have pleaded with H rather than demanded. The slav – they should have pleaded with H – nutritionally we are in trouble, do we need animal protein, we haven’t had protein in months now, and we haven’t gone to the bathroom – is this related? Do you want us to eat the man for the rest of eternity, happily, but if you know that we are damaging ourselves, please help us. Rather than demanding through taive (desire), gaive (pride) and kavod (seeking honour) craving after the fleshpots of Egypt, that’s what brought them to their graves. In this parsha it is an outright evil rebellion, of the highest degree. It was a treason of a general in an army. Nothing less. A trusted general who deserts and takes his troops with him to annihilate the King, to go against the absolute ratzon of the King what is coming to him? What are his just deserts? At least a firing squad.

So we see that those who are closer to H have a much greater achrayus. A much greater responsibility because they know the ratzon H’. A person who has learnt Torah all his life, it is not OK for him to behave like a person who does not know the halacha. That he should go to places that are forbidden. That he should be involved in business deals that are shaddy, or at the very best questionable. He has to conduct himself in a way that is exemplary, that is a light unto his own nation and also a light unto other nations. How much greater is the hillul H if a religious person tragically descends to his yetzer hora. As a person’s yetzer tov grows, so does his yetzer hora. A person at the highest level of avodas H, a bacon double cheeseburger doesn’t really tempt him, like it would another person sitting on the beach, if somebody comes past with burgers, and he couldn’t care less what it is, just that it smells good. With all these things, acocording to the way a man goes, H leads him. If he wants to choose the path of life and good, H will definitely protect him. If lurking in his heart is all kinds of evil, H will put out on a platter, a golden platter, the opportuinity to pursue the evil and if in his heart of hearts it is too much for him, like Yosef with Potifar’s wife, there was no way after giving all the excuses in the world, why he couldn’t be with her, her husband was the chief executioner, Pharaoh wouldn’t allow it, the whole Egyptian nation would be absolutely outraged, she said, all of these thigns, forget about it, I want to be with you. Sof sof he said it, I can’t be with you because H would not allow it. It was not an act of chessed but one of evilness, but with his back against the wall, he said H would not allow it. Nothing less and nothing more. So in this Sidra, it was an outright rebellion of the most evil kind. An attempt to overthrow Moshe Rabbeinu and Aaron as the leaders of the nation. If these leaders had acquired their positions through brute force or through elections and democracy then to eradicate them from their leadership by brute force or democracy would be perfectly legitimate. They were not appointed. They were anointed. This was the ratzon H not the ratzon atem. It was not man telling H what to do but man listening to what H wanted. The best for Yisrael. In essence, we could use the medical idea of a fulminent aids virus that has invaded the body. The body couldn’t identify it as something foreign because it looks too religious. We have to understand what Korach looked like. When they knocked on the tent of On ben Peles we have to understand what a shocking thing happened. On’s wife had spoken to him and said to him, why do you have to get up so early tomorrow morning? He said well, there is going to be a revolution. There is going to be a changing of the guards. She said how so? Well, according to Korach Moshe Rabbeinu is usurping his power. He needs to be replaced. We’ve secretly got a team of peope together and we are going to replace him with a new leadership. Who is that new leadership? Obviously Korach. She replied Moshe Rabbeinu has proved his track record with the 10 plagues in Egypt, the miracle of the man, and everything you see in the desert, krias yam suf, matan torah, everything has been to Moshe rabbeinu exactly as H wanted. Lets see, you feel like a servant to Moshe. If Korach were to replace him, you would be a servant to Korach. What are you going for? Be a servant to H! He said, no its too late, they are coming first thing in the morning, at sunrise. They will be at the tent and we are going ahead as planned. There is no turning back now. So it says in the Gemoro, ishas chochma binta beisa, a wise woman builds her home. She doesn’t buy bricks and stone. She navigates her husband to make sure that the dangers that he could fall into, all those traps aout there, that she discusses it wisely with him, and tries to rescue him, from all the terrible dangers that he dousn’t see himse;lf. She may go and ask daas Torah. What to do in such as situation. She may discuss it with some sage or relative that she trusts. The wife of On Ben Pele knew immediately that Korach was a fraud. That this was joiing up with the treasonous armies that H would not allow. She didn’t want to lose her husband or her place in shamayim, that we see Korach’s wife lost and the wives of the 250 evil treasonous people of the assembly, the leaders that joined up with Korach, that thye their families, their homes, their possessions, their children, everything, when the earth split open, was swallowed up with them. H destroyed everything, not a remnant remained with the nation of Israel. She had a felling about this. She said, you know if you are going, lets have a little wine together. She poured him some wine. She had a tiny bit. She poured him a lot more so that he passed outt unconscious from the wine. In the morning when they came past he was inconscious. They came to the tent, knocked on the door and said, we’ve come to get your husband. We have an urgent mission. She came to the door knowig that certain values were unheard of. She came with her hair uncovered. This was an act of incredible busha, disgrace of unknown proportions. Like somenbody today coming to the door completely naked. So we have to see how far we have descended from people even as evil as Korach and his wicked men. So when they came to he door and saw the wife of On ben Pele without her head cover answering the door, they said Oy Vey, there is no way we could take such a Shkutzer along. Such as disgusting man that his wife doesn’t cover her hair. There is no way in the world that thye could risk it. Their whole rebellion would disintegratge through this one man and his wife who was behaving in such a reckless, untznius way. It would bring disgrace on the evil rebellion that hey had in mind. We cannot imagine. This wise woman went thorugh a moment of disgrace to save her husband’s life, her family andher eternity. She did something very risky but for the sake of saving the family, she did it.

Now we start to get a sensitivity towards the dynamics of what was going on there. It wasn;t that Korach was a lowly man. He was actually destined for great things. Typical of a would be dictator, he had to attract a popular following to succeed. Korach posed as a champion of the rights of the people. He tried to bring disgrace and loshon hora on the good name of Moshe Rabbeinu. Ibn Ezra and the Ramban agree that the REbbellion happened about a year aftger the Exodus. The Ibn Ezra says that the rebellion ahappened right after the inauguration of the Mishkan when aaron and his sons were designated to replace the first born as those that would perform the avodas H in the Beis Hamikdash. This made Korach crazy. He was a first born and a Levi. It was easy to find 150 men of the assembly who were also first born. Dasan, Aviram and On were from the tribne of REuven, which had its own reasons to resent the lost privileges of the first born. They were from the tribe of Yosef which also had its right to being firstborn, Moshiach ben Yosef. They were angry at being relegated to being servants of the Cohanim. Instead of receiving the 10%, they had to give 10% of what they got. According to this view, the MIshcan was erected on the first of Nissan, the first of the first of months, in the second year after the Exodus. According to Ramban, the Torah does not always follow chronological order (Pesachim 6b) but generally one assumes it does follow chronologicval order unless one has reason to assume otherwise. The Ramban says that this incident took place right after the incident of the spies. Why? Because the people were for the first time resentful of the ddecree that everyone over the age of 20 had been given a death sentence – forty years in the midbar before death. Korach’sTheir resentment began much earlier, when Aaron became Cohen Gadol. Their cousin Elzafan Ben Uziel was made in charge of the Kohas family, making him superior and giving him auithority over Korach which Korach felt was not fair. KOrach did not want to criticize Moshe at that time, when the whole nation was so inspired and loved their leader. They would not have tolerated anyone who came to challenge or rival Moshe Rabbeinu. After the diusgrace and tragedy of the spies in the desert, the entire generation was given the death sentence, without being able to see the land. Korach took advantage of the national discontent.

It was a short step for him to deny the legitimacy of the commandmenrts and to mock them. If Moshe could be suspected of appointing his brother as Cohen Gadol, in anact of gross nepotism, why shouldn’t he be accused of fabricating commadments that have no foundation in logic. Therefore how could it possibly have been commanded. This was the start of the erosion and the revolution, so to speak, according to Rav Hirsch. When Korach challenged the MItzva of Tzitzis, the Midrash relates, he went up to Moshe in front of everybody and asked the following Shayla, for the public, not for Moshe. He wasn;t interested in the answer. He said, if a person is dressed in a garment made of teheles, the blue wool, does the same garment require the single teheles thread on the corner? If the tzitzis is supposed to remind us of the ocean, the fear of the dangers that lurk in the unknown ocean, the ocean is just a tiny reflection of shamayim, the heavens. When a person gets to yiras hear about shamayim, and from there they can get to Yiras H’, so then if a person has a full garment of techeles, and those days the garments were generally white. They didn’t dye their garments, which is why Yosef’s was so unique. That is why when Korach was asking the question, it was outrageous; what different does the tiny chord make? Moshe obviously responded yes – the tzitzis is necessary. Through such questions Korach hoped to persuade the people that the laws were illogical and could not have been from H, they were obviously man made, to try to confuse the masses. The nest question he asked, was if a room has to have a mezuzah, as it says in Shema, what about a room filled with Sifrei Torah? Each has Shema. What if there are books with Shema, and mezuzas open – such as in a sofer’s room, thousands of mezuzas. Does that need a mazuza? To which Moshe Rabbeinu obviously answered yes. The mitzvah is to have it on your door posts. Korach tried to persuade the nation that the mitzvas were illogical and in so doing tried to make Kerach with his koach, to freeze the emuna of the nation, not unlike Amalek. He was using the halacha as a sword to try to destroy it. So, they got in his way.

There is an amazing Midrash which is even more shocking. Korach wasn;t interested in a quiet one on one, to get guidance from Moshe, rather than a public debacle. If Moshe wasn’t sure, he could ask the Urim Ve Tumim. His gameplan was to bring disgrace on Moshe an Aaron, the leaders that H had chosen. In Medrash Tehillim – Socher Tov, Tehilla 1, posuk 15 “happy is the man who doesn’t go in the way of the wicked”, these are the children of Korach, “and in the dwelling of themockers he doesn’t sit” Mockers – this is Korach, who mocked Moshe Rabbeinu and Aaron, the Cohen Gadol. What did Korach do? He gathered all the congregation to Moshe and Aaron and started saying words of challenge. He asked the following shayla. There is a widow who lives in my neighbourhood. She had 2 orp[han daughters and one field. She started to plow with her ox and donkey and Moshe told her not to. She felt overwhelmed and di it herself. Then she went to sow the field and Moshe said it is forbidden to sow Killaim. She then came to harvest and to make piles of wheat. Moshe said you have to leave lekach, shichecha and peah. She was overwhelmed. What would be left for her? She brought the wheat to be ground and Moshe said give maaseh rishon and maaseh sheini and not only that but also truma. She justified the din and said that this was too much for her and that there would be nothing left. So she sold the field and bought 2 sheep. She hoped to get pleasure and omfort from their wool. When they gave birth, Moshe said give the firstborn to me. It came time to sheer the sheep. Aaron came and said give me the first of your shearings. She said Ican’t handle it, so she decided to slaughter the sheep. Aaron came and said give me the shoulder, jaw and maw. She said after I slaughtered the sheep, I am still not free? I will make them a herem. Aaron then said these are then all mine, leaving the woman and her daughters with nothing, according to the way Korach told the story. He said this is what will befall all of us. This was the poison that Korach used the Torah, – not as a tree of life as H gave it to us, but as a tree of death, as a poison to poison the hearts of those people that gave him attention, that in any way allowed him to say such viscious lashon hora, or motzi shem ra. These were the greatest leaders the world would see.

At that time, he gathered the men of renowned against osheand Aharon and said to them, you have gone too far, all of these people are holy, and H is amongst us, why do you praise yourself, over the congregation of H? Why do you take the kavod? Why do you thnk you are the King nepotistically laying claim for your family to all the best positions, the cream of the crop. That you are taking everything of am yisrael and leaving nothing for the nation. How can you usurp what is for H’. Moshe fell on his face, al panav. He spoke for the last time to Korach, realizing words would no longer help. In the morning H will make known who is His choice, and theholy one to H, and H will draw him closer. Take for yourselves fire pans, put fir in them and incense. Then tomorrow morning H will make known whom He has chosen. It is too much for you, sons of Levi, what you are doing now. Moses said to Korach, go now, offspring of Levi – is it not enough H has chosen you to perform the service of the Mishcan, for H, and to stand before he assembly to guide them and minister for them. He drew you near, and all your brethren, the offspring of Levi with you, yet you seek the Kehuna, priesthood too? Moshe summoned Dasan and Aviram and you note, On ben Pele wasn;t there. His wife had saved him. They said, we shall not go up. Is it not enough that you have brought us … listen to the absolute vicious wickedness, truning blessings into cureses and curses inbto blessings. Is it not enough you have brought us from a land of milk and honey to this slavery and is not enough that you have dominated us, but you want to dominate us further. You took us out of a land of milk and honey. H described Eretz Yisrael as the land of Milk and Honey. To claim that the land of the slavery and destruction was the land of Milk and Honey. They would have perished had they stayed in Egypt and for sure lost their way in the darkness, because theyhad already lost their way. They used the words of H against H’. You have chosen death. Surely a person that uses Torah as his own sword uses it as a sword against his maker. So many people out there have everything except Torah. A shocking example beyond imagination – is a group who call themselves Gaiva, arrogance, Pride. Not unlike the Titanic, whose captain said, this ship is so mighty that even H could not sink it. The rest is history. He and the rest of the crew and passengers with few exceptions on that voyage were on a voyage to the bottom of the ocean. As we see right now, next week, the tragedy, heaven forbid, is in the planning. A group f people who call themselves Gay Pride, gaiva, as it says in Pirkei Avos, three things remove a man very quickly from this world, KOrach had a full house, a full deck, Gaiva, Taiva and Kavod. He saw the world as his entire domain. That this world was his fish pond. The word politics comes from Polean – Napolean – which we understand from French history was the leader who took the power forth. Even though he was a tiny man, the Gemnora in Maseches megilla, explores the word poleon, which means a game of Royalty. In the cities, the metropolis, Mater Poleon, is where the mother of politics rears her children in these metropolises. They take over the city and make sure everybody pays royalties them. Pay copyright to them. They sit at the top of the pyramid and enslave the nation, in a way that is emotionally addictive. If enybody attacks the nation, they will run forward to protect, but the only thing they want to protect is their own kise hakavod, not that of H. The only kise hakavod the politicians are interested in is not the Kise Hakavod of H but kise hahashmal. One after the other they are sittig on an electric chair. How many leaders have been assassinated or eliminated, politically or physically? We see tremendous turmoil in the world today through people fighting for their own kavod and using other people’s lives as their chips. In their political power plays and struggles for their own kavod. The only way to counter this is to give huge scoops of praise, like icecream, to H’s briyus, H’s creations, and to your parents, it’s a d’Oraisa mitzvah. Through that you will get to the kavod of H’. Then you will realize how important it is to honour your fellow Jew. Ahavta lereacha kamocha. Although you really love yourself, your should give your fellow jew love and respect. If you were in his shoes, how would you like to be treated? If you were in a car that has broken down, help him. If he is financially stretched, do your best to help him. Do what you can. Give a smile to a beggar at the door. It is an act of chessed, when you give him the tinniest agarot that you can, if you smile to him, that means that you feel his pain. If you give him a smile, it means that you are not only

Honouring him but also caring for yourself. You can turn a mitzvah into an awesome kibud H, Taiva is a man’s lusting. When a man lusts after something, he can’t stop himself. He becomes a slave, so to speak, of his own cravings, be it food, drugs, other pleasures, so that he starts to believe that if it feels good, it is good and there is no barrier between him and pleasure. There is no barrier of marriage or morals. Winning is not the only thing, it is everything, he is happy with mountains of money and that is his golden calf. That way he will be buried in the pyramid that he built for himself. Taiva, Gaiva and Kavod are the 3 things that can remove a man quickly from the world. What happens if a man doesn’t want the kavod? The kavod will run after him. A person who is a pseudo anav, who acts as though he is modest, but is really only modest on the outside, acts as though he is running away from the kavod but in his heart he says, kavod, come, I need you. That kind of person, the kavod will ovetake hima n he will eventually be running after it. As we see in the tragedy of Korach, Originally he was a gadol of infinite proportions. Lets investigate his name? Says the Rosh, what occurred to him to challenge the leadearship of Moshe and Aaron? His name was ben yitzhar, - which means opil as we know from the Shema. When a person opurs a drop of oil into another liquid it will always naturally go to the top. So Korach figured it was his natural right to be at the top, and that was where he was meant to be from creation. He understood something, but in a tragic way. The name of a parent does have a meaning for the future, but it as different to his understanding. This is how Daas Zekeini / Balei Tosafos explain – Korach is spelt Koreach, he made a bald patch on his head a galach, It says in the commandments don’t make a bald patch to worship idolatory. We see how many nations make a bald patch at the back of their head. He had no embarrassment about his nakedness. His head was naked. So was his body, that he was without any humility or embarrassment about what he did. He made a bald patch, arrogance amongst the leaders and their families, that they showed no sensitivity, and there was no communication with their families, as we see by Dasan and Aviram. Korach also means in gematria, shoded which means to destroy- he destroyed the yok of H, the Yoke of Torah, the yoke of Mitzvos. Ben Yitzhar, yitzhar – the middle of the day, the world had been ignited and was on fire. Ben Kehas, the son who blunted the teeth of those who bore him. Hakeh es shinav, as it says in the Haggada. Ben Levi, who was made an escort, but tragically, this escort was taking him to Gehenom. Korach did not just err in understanding his name and what is was given to him for. Not at all. Korach may have been right, that he had the potential to be one of the giants of Klal Yisrael. He had the potential and had ddedicated his life. He misread what the kavod was there for. Had he not gone after kavod, he was basically right. He had to acknoweledge it for H in his heart. When a Gadol comes into the room, everyone stands up, not for him but for the wealth of the torah that he accomplshies. When Korach saw he was destined for greatness, he opted to obtain it by hook or by crook. Like the person in the story at the begiinnig with his gold and silver, who couldn’t wait until the moment it would be halachically right. Just like a person who has relations before marriage . It could have been good, it could have been given infinite blessings. By ignoring niddah etc the chances of that marriage lasting are tragically 1 in 5. Within 2 years 80% of marriages end in divorce. Others never get married, thinking they can save millions, Ultimately, this is a tragedy of eternity, because children is what we stand on in shamayim. They are the raglayim we stand on, their zechus of doing mitzvos in this world. Just think of the zchus of Rashi today, because when a person who learns from another person, that teacher becomes his father. Just think of the zchus of Rashi. Unless a person learns he cannot understand what he is learning, chumash, Tenach, Gemora. Without Rashi where would we be today? In the first Rashi in Chumash, Rashi says that he learnt all his Torah from his father Yitzhak. Kibud Av Ve’Em – not only his Av in this world but also the next.

Sombody who runs after kavod, his kavod runs a little bit faster. As he runs faster, the kavod eludes him. Ironically, it was his own reaction to what he saw in his own name that rendered his prediction unobtainable. What we see is that when a person takes the kavod of Torah for themselves, rapidly they go astray, they start to do things that are not according to the Torah, they follow false Messiahs, which they are still fighting over, instead of the peace H decreed for when we become one nation, lev ehad beguf ehad, observing the Torah, bringing out as H felt a necessity, that after the tragic demise and destruction of KOrach, that H will be honoured by those closest to him, as you see by the pans that the people group and put before H. Elazar took the copper pans and beat them as a cover for the mizbeach as a remeberance for Bnei Yiusrael (Bamidbar 17, 3). The MIzpeach was covered with earth. Elazar made it a roof for the first time. This could be explained – when the people will see the new mizbeach, they would be sure to remember the episode of Korach, they would tremble and they would know that anybody else who wants to create such a rebellion, they would be a sin offering to H’. The terrifying tragedy of Korach pursuing his own kavod. H will be sanctified by those who a close to Him, Nadav and Avihu, the 2 sons of Aharon that brought the strange fire to H’, that were not given for the right motives. We must serve H with a pure heart or Has Veshalom share the fate of those who desert H and go after their own kavod. The doubt was still among the nation after all of this, was it true that Moshe was really not nepotistic, and that H had commanded them for all generations, was this in fact the case? So H commanded that each tribe takes a branch, put their name on it, and for the tribe of Levi, it was the Almond. This was put on the mizbeach in the Mishkan overnight. In the morning, the branch with the tribe of Levi’s name had blossomed, sprouted buds and almonds, overnight (Bamidbar 17, 23). The MItzva Tanchuma explains that Aaron’s staff contained both species at the same time. This stayed the same until the time of the first Beis Hamikdash. In Maseches Yuma, 21b and Pesachim, the Gemara alludes to the 5 things missing from the 2^nd Beis Hamkidash, Aaron’s staff with its almonds and its blossomds were mongst the missing items. So we understand a terrifying thing, that in spite of the desire to serve H, those things that H had left in the MIshkan initially, including the Shechina, the Kodesh Kedoshim, the Aaron Hakodesh, the Sefer Torah and Shntei Luchos, which were in theKodesh Kedoshim, were not in the Beis Hamikdash. The first Beis Hamikdash perished because of 3 calsic, sins. Avoda Zora, Giluy Arayos and Shfichus Damim. The Second Beis Hamikdash was missing one thing equivalent to those three things. That one thing that was missing from the second beis Hamidash was veAhavta Lereacha Kamocha, Love your nieghbour as yourself. That is th essence, the foundation, and Korach was missing this one rule. Let me love my neighbour as myself. I would never dare take his kavod away from him, even if it was misplaced, all the moreso if it was from H.

We see that those that cling to H, the Etz Hayim, their mitzvos blossom and their Gan Eden will be like the Almond.

May we all soon experience the true Beis Hamildash on the Har Hamoria, the Mountain where all of H’s Torah will be learnt and transmitted Ki mitzion Tetzei Torah, uDvar H Miyerushalayim, that the Torah will emanate from the Mount Hamoria, that it will come from Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to the world, then we will see the Geula Shleima, Moshiasch Tzidkeinu, the Beis Hamikdash Bimheira Veyameinu and a Good Shabbos to Kol Am Yisroel.