Commentary for Deuteronomy 11:6
וַאֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֜ה לְדָתָ֣ן וְלַאֲבִירָ֗ם בְּנֵ֣י אֱלִיאָב֮ בֶּן־רְאוּבֵן֒ אֲשֶׁ֨ר פָּצְתָ֤ה הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֶת־פִּ֔יהָ וַתִּבְלָעֵ֥ם וְאֶת־בָּתֵּיהֶ֖ם וְאֶת־אָהֳלֵיהֶ֑ם וְאֵ֤ת כָּל־הַיְקוּם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּרַגְלֵיהֶ֔ם בְּקֶ֖רֶב כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
and what He did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living substance that followed them, in the midst of all Israel;
Rashi on Deuteronomy
בקרב כל ישראל [AND THE EARTH SWALLOWED THEM UP] IN THE MIDST OF ALL ISRAEL — Wherever one of them fled the earth was riven beneath him and swallowed him up. This is the view of R. Judah. Rabbi Nehemiah said to him: But is it not already stated, (Numbers 16:32) “And the earth opened its mouth”, and it does not state “its mouths”? Whereupon he (R. Judah) asked him: “But how, then, can I explain the words: “in the midst of all Israel” (if there was but one spot at which they were swallowed up, as you suggest Scripture states by the word פיה, “its mouth”)? He replied to him: you can reconcile the two texts by assuming that the earth became a declivity, — something like a funnel, — and wherever it was that one of them happened to be, he rolled down until he reached the place where the fissure was (cf. Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 752).
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Ramban on Deuteronomy
He mentions and what He did unto Dathan and A biram,298Verse 6. but did not mention of Korach and his company that a fire came forth from before the Eternal and consumed them, because it is a prohibition of the Torah for a stranger [non-priest] to approach [the Sanctuary] to burn incense,299See Ramban to Numbers 17:5 (Vol. IV, pp. 185-186). such a transgressor being punished in all future generations, as happened also to King Uzziah;300II Chronicles 26:19. therefore he did not enumerate it among the signs in the wilderness.
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
כל היקום..בקרב כל ישראל, "every substance…in the midst of all Israel." This means that the earth swallowed even the substances belonging to Datan and Aviram which were not in the vicinity of their owners wherever they happened to be at that moment. Bamidbar Rabbah 18,13 claims that even a needle was included in this statement.
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