Chasidut for Numbers 16:29
אִם־כְּמ֤וֹת כָּל־הָֽאָדָם֙ יְמֻת֣וּן אֵ֔לֶּה וּפְקֻדַּת֙ כָּל־הָ֣אָדָ֔ם יִפָּקֵ֖ד עֲלֵיהֶ֑ם לֹ֥א יְהוָ֖ה שְׁלָחָֽנִי׃
If these men die the common death of all men, and be visited after the visitation of all men, then the LORD hath not sent Me.
Kedushat Levi
These considerations also help us understand why Moses when confronted with the rebellion of Korach, Datan and Aviram and their fellow travelers, prayed that the death, i.e. punishment of the guilty in that rebellion should not be death from natural causes, but through a creative act of G’d, so that it would be clear to everyone for what sin these people were being punished. (Numbers 16,29) It should be clear to the onlookers that the fact that these people descended beneath the earth while still breathing, that their souls would not have had time to return to heaven before being absorbed in the bowels of the earth.
We need to understand why only this type of death could bring home to the people the message that they lost their afterlife. On the face of it, what was so objectionable in Korach’s wanting to perform the same commandments as the ones only allowed for Aaron to perform? Did he not thereby ally himself with tzaddikim, i.e. with the forces of “life?”
According to our sages, Korach’s challenge to Moses had been based on the facetious question if a tallit, made entirely of blue wool would still require tzitzit, fringes, one of each strands was blue. Korach used Moses’ ruling that even such a garment required tzitzit as “proof” that he must have made up this halachah as it contradicted logic, and G’d would not demand something illogical from His people.
The fact is that Korach’s whole orientation in claiming entitlement to be equal to the priests was not based on his wishing to come closer to G’d by performing such tasks, but he wishes to drape himself in a tallit that did not belong to him. He thereby would be performing a “commandment” through first having committed a transgression, i.e. having stolen, misappropriated something belonging to someone else, since Aaron had been specifically appointed by G’d for this task. He would have had to countermand G’d’s orders before being able to perform this mitzvah, something that is forbidden, inadmissible. In other words, Korach wished to simultaneously anchor himself in life and in death. It was fitting therefore that he took the “life” as he had understood it, to his death with him, descending to the bowels of the earth while still alive. When the Torah not only writes: וירדו חיים שאולה, “they descended to the nether regions while still alive,” but adds: ותכס עליהם הארץ ויאבדו מתוך הקהל, “the earth completely covered them and they became permanently lost to the community,” this is the Torah’s way of informing us that these people do not enjoy an afterlife.
We need to understand why only this type of death could bring home to the people the message that they lost their afterlife. On the face of it, what was so objectionable in Korach’s wanting to perform the same commandments as the ones only allowed for Aaron to perform? Did he not thereby ally himself with tzaddikim, i.e. with the forces of “life?”
According to our sages, Korach’s challenge to Moses had been based on the facetious question if a tallit, made entirely of blue wool would still require tzitzit, fringes, one of each strands was blue. Korach used Moses’ ruling that even such a garment required tzitzit as “proof” that he must have made up this halachah as it contradicted logic, and G’d would not demand something illogical from His people.
The fact is that Korach’s whole orientation in claiming entitlement to be equal to the priests was not based on his wishing to come closer to G’d by performing such tasks, but he wishes to drape himself in a tallit that did not belong to him. He thereby would be performing a “commandment” through first having committed a transgression, i.e. having stolen, misappropriated something belonging to someone else, since Aaron had been specifically appointed by G’d for this task. He would have had to countermand G’d’s orders before being able to perform this mitzvah, something that is forbidden, inadmissible. In other words, Korach wished to simultaneously anchor himself in life and in death. It was fitting therefore that he took the “life” as he had understood it, to his death with him, descending to the bowels of the earth while still alive. When the Torah not only writes: וירדו חיים שאולה, “they descended to the nether regions while still alive,” but adds: ותכס עליהם הארץ ויאבדו מתוך הקהל, “the earth completely covered them and they became permanently lost to the community,” this is the Torah’s way of informing us that these people do not enjoy an afterlife.
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