Musar for Numbers 17:31

“And not be like Korach and like his community” (Numbers 17:5). And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 110a), “Anyone who perpetuates a dispute violates a negative commandment, as it is stated ‘and not be like Korach and like his community.’” But it is permissible to say evil speech about disputatious people, as it is stated (I Kings 1:26), “But he did not invite me your servant, or the priest Zadok, etc.”

One must also take care not to be among the abettors of machloketh so that he not be punished among them when their appointed time comes, as Chazal have stated (Makkoth 5b): "Scripture has punished the abettors of transgressors as the transgressors themselves." And in Midrash Parshath Korach we find: "Come and see how severe is machloketh. For if one abets machloketh, the Holy One Blessed be He destroys his remembrance, as it is written (Numbers 16:35): 'And a fire went forth from the L-rd and consumed the hundred and fifty men, the presenters of the incense.'" And, in Sanhedrin 110a: "Rav said: 'All who persist in machloketh transgress a negative commandment, viz. (Numbers 17:5): "And he shall not be like Korach and like his congregation."' R. Assi said: 'He deserves to contract tzara'ath.'" (And see above, Chapter VI, what is written in the name of Sefer Hakaneh, that sometimes the Holy One Blessed be He transforms the punishment of tzara'ath to poverty, so that he becomes dependent upon others.)

As we find with the sons of Korach, that because they were not drawn after their father, even though this caused him great shame, they escaped his fate. As we find in Yalkut Parshath Korach: "This is as Scripture writes (Psalms 1:1): 'Happy is the man' — the sons of Korach; 'who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked' — who did not walk in the counsel of their father, as it is written (Numbers 16:26): 'Depart now from the tents of these wicked men'; 'and in the way of sinners they did not stand,' as it is written (Numbers 17:3): 'the censers of these sinners.'" And, in Yalkut: "What merit was there 'in the hands' of the sons of Korach that they were rescued [from his punishment]? When they were sitting with Korach, their father, they saw Moses and lowered their faces to the ground, saying: "If we stand up for Moses our teacher, we will be spurning our father, whom we have been commanded to honor. And if we do not stand, it is written (Vayikra 19:32): 'Before the hoary head shall you rise' — Better that we stand before Moses our teacher, even though we are thereby spurning our father.'" At that time, they moved their hearts to repentance. About them David said (Psalms 45:2): 'My heart has stirred with a good thing.'" From this we learn that if one is not drawn after his father's counsel in his machloketh, he will not be ensnared in his net.

We learned (Arachin 15a) that for the sin of lashon hara one is afflicted with plague-spots. And the Gemara asks: "But did R. Anani bar Sasson not say that the robe atones for lashon hara? …Let that which produces a sound [(the bells on the robe)] atone for the sound of the voice [i.e., lashon hara]?" And it answers: "There is no contradiction: In one instance, his deeds avail; in the other, his deeds do not avail. If his deeds avail, plague-spots come upon him; if his deeds do not avail, the robe atones." And the Gemara asks: "But did not R. Shimon say in the name of R. Yehoshua ben Levi that lashon hara is atoned for by the incense? For R. Chanina taught: We learned that the incense atones, it being written (Bamidbar 17:12): 'And he [Aaron] put on the incense and he atoned for the people.' And the school of R. Yishmael taught: 'For what does the incense atone? For lashon hara. Let what is done in secrecy [(the offering of the incense on the silver altar)] come and atone for an act [lashon hara] committed in secrecy.'" And the Gemara answers: "There is no contradiction: Here [(the incense atones)] when it [the lashon hara] is spoken secretly; there, [(the robe atones)] when it is spoken in public." What emerges from this is that when his deeds avail, he is afflicted with leprosy, even if it were spoken secretly, and when they do not avail, a distinction must be made, viz.: If it were spoken secretly, the incense, (which was also offered secretly, all men having to remove themselves) atoned; and if it were spoken in public, the robe atones [(the sound of its bells being heard when he left the sanctuary)].

A further difficulty is that Israel said to Moses and Aaron the day after Korach and his rebels had died "you have caused the death of the people of G–d." How could they accuse Moses and Aaron of such a thing, seeing they had witnessed G–d perform a special miracle?

I have already given a reason for the importance and nature of the incense offering earlier. Rekanati comments on this as follows: "Incense is an allusion to the attribute of Justice, as we know from Deut. 33,10: ישימו קטורה באפיך וכליל על מזבחך, 'They place incense (on the Golden Altar) when You are angry, and total offferings on Your (copper) Altar.' Aaron did this and succeeded in arresting the plague that was consuming the lives of the Israelites (Numbers 17,12-14). We know from Psalms 45,14 that Aaron offered that incense on the Golden Altar: ממשבצות זהב לבושה. To assure the effectiveness of such an offering of incense he had to concentrate on the Ineffable Name while doing so, wishing the incense to become ריח ניחוח, a fragrance pleasing to G–d. We also have a tradition based on Proverbs 27,9: "Oil and incense gladdens the heart." This is because the incense offering as a rule, does not represent an effort to achieve forgiveness for some sin committed, but is an expression of man trying to place a crown on the head of its rightful owner, G–d in this instance. It is an attempt to insure that G–d relates to us in a constantly happy frame of mind. The emanation מלכות is regarded as the heart, לב, of heaven. The Torah writes in Exodus 30,8: "When Aaron lights up the lamps he shall burn it, an incense offering before the Lord." It is interesting that the offering up of the incense offering is made dependent on the performance of the lighting-up ceremony of the candlestick. This is in order to achieve the mystical union with the emanations representing the בנין. We have pointed out in our commentary on פרשת תרומה that the candlestick with its seven lamps symbolised the process of creation, or בנין. At the same time it symbolised the original light which illuminated the universe during the first seven days of its existence, as I demonstrated when I described how everything in connection with the construction of the Tabernacle was a re-enactment of the work of creation. Aaron was the rehabilitation of Adam. All existence is bound up with this תקון, rehabilitation. The incense offering is the clearest indication that the rehabilitation has indeed been completed. The lighting of the candlestick symbolises that the rehabilitation will endure, i.e. that the universe will endure, that the seven days of creation have been found justified.

עלה ראש הפסגה ושא עיניך ימה וצפונה ותימנה ומזרחה. In this verse (4,27) G–d begins to explain to Moses that he had erred when he thought that his being allowed to defeat Sichon and Og was proof that He had rescinded His decree against his leading the Jewish people in their conquest of the West bank of the Jordan. G–d wanted to show Moses with his own eyes that the lands of Sichon and Og were not part of the Holy land, i.e. the area of 400 by 400 Parsot that are traditionally considered the area of ארץ ישראל (Rashi Numbers 17,8). Moses could encompass a tremendous area with his eyes. This is why the Torah uses the extra word בעיניך. When someone is told to raise his eyes and see, it is clear that he is meant to use his eyes to see with. The Torah wanted us to know that Moses' eyes were special. Only he was able to see the whole extent of the land of Israel with his physical eyes, unassisted by something supernatural. He could convince himself that the 400 square Parsot made up the land west of the Jordan, without including any part of the lands formerly owned by Sichon and Og. The מלחמת מצוה, the "holy war" to conquer those 400 square Parsot across the river Jordan, was a task wholly reserved for Joshua. G–d's decree had not been rescinded. G–d added that He would actually have allowed Joshua also to lead in the conquest of the lands of Sichon and Og although they did not belong to ארץ ישראל proper, had it not been for the need to strengthen Joshua by visual example, as described in 4,28. Once Joshua had witnessed how Moses had successfully defeated the mighty kings Sichon and Og and conquered their lands he would be able to summon the courage to lead the people of Israel in their battles with the 31 kings on the West bank of the Jordan. This is why the Torah had mentioned at the end of the last פרשה, (3,21) that Moses had commanded Joshua not to be afraid since he had seen with his own eyes what the Lord had done to those two kings.

Let us now explain our Parshah. There were three distinct groups of people involved in the quarrel. The central contender was Korach. He was the scoffer about whom the Psalmist had said that one should not sit in the company of scoffers, as we have explained earlier. Datan and Aviram were wicked people, as we know from Moses saying in Numbers 16,25/26: "Moses went to Datan and Aviram followed by the elders of Israel. He said to the congregation: "Please depart from around the tents of these wicked people, etc." Concerning Datan and Aviram, the Psalmist had said in the same verse: "Hail to whoever has not followed the counsel of the wicked people." The third group were the two hundred and fifty men who sinned against their souls, as we know from 17,3: "and take the censers of these people who have sinned against their souls, etc." Concerning those people our Psalm said "hail to whoever did not stand on the path of the sinful ones." The scoffer Korach, used matters connected with the soil as his subjects. Later, he made fun of Torah legislation involving sheep, etc., as mentioned in the Midrash quoted earlier. In all this he paralleled the behaviour of Cain, who had first brought a gift of פרי האדמה, the fruit of the earth. Abel, on the other hand, had brought an offering from the firstborn of his sheep. Cain had brought flax, Abel had brought wool. We know that there was a great deal of difference between the offering of Cain and the offering of Abel; G–d refused to accept the offering of Cain. This is why a mixture of wool and flax (linen), is considered כלאים, and is forbidden to be worn together in Jewish law (Leviticus 19,19). I have elaborated on this elsewhere.

The main point is that the recitation of the portion of the sacrifices is a matter of great importance. This is especially true of the portion of the incense. Thus the Zohar relates (Parashas Vayeira 101a): Rabbi Acha went to the village of Tarsha and stopped at inn. The people of the village whispered to one another, “A great scholar had arrived. Let us go to him.” So they went to Rabbi Acha and revealed to him that their town was in a dreadful situation because for the past seven days a plague had been ravaging them, may the Merciful One protect us, and each day was worse that the one before. Whereupon Rabbi Acha announced, “Tomorrow we will go to the synagogue and seek mercy from the Holy One Blessed is He.” While they were walking, messengers arrived to inform them that two more people had died, while another two were in critical condition. Rabbi Acha responded, “Now is not the time for us to stand idle. Every moment is crucial. Select from among yourselves forty pious and righteous men and divide them into groups of ten. Then let them stand at the four corners of the city; ten shall stand to the east, ten to the south, ten to the west and ten to the north, myself included. And let them recite with great devotion the portions of the incense and the sacrifices.” They did this for three days, even dispatching messengers to the homes of the critically ill instructing them to recite the portion of the incense beginning with the verse, “And Moshe said to Aharon, ‘Take the pan and put upon it incense” (Bamidbar 17:11). The people complied and the plague abated, after which Rabbi Acha said, “Now let us return home, for the decree has been annulled.” Then a voice was heard, saying, “O Pestilence! O Pestilence! Do not come here any more because they know how to nullify you!” This caused Rabbi Acha to become disheartened [over the fact that the town was spared without repenting]. But then he dozed off and in his sleep he heard a voice saying, “Just as you have done here, so shall you do in another city.”

To return to the matter of the two hundred and fifty men: Their sin consisted neither of an act of insurrection, nor of belittling the honor of G–d or of Moses his prophet. On the contrary, they strove to be accorded the kind of honour and glory that is traditionally reserved for the sages once they enter the World to Come. They endeavoured to come close to G–d and died while coming too close to G–d prematurely. Since incense is a symbol of a close relationship with G–d, their censers became sanctified, not like those of Korach whose incense was equivalent to idol worship. We can read this out of the verses which do not tell us that G–d had commanded to take "the censers and convert them into a covering for the altar." The Torah stresses that only "the censers of those who had sinned with their souls," i.e. the two hundred and fifty men, should be used. Of those censers it had been said כי קדשו, "for they had become sanctified" [they had become holy vessels, fit only for usage in a holy setting].

We can now answer another difficulty. When the Jewish people said to Moses and Aaron: "You have killed the people of G–d,” the Torah reports in 17,11, that Moses asked Aaron to "take the censer, place fire and incense on it, walk quickly amongst the people, כי יצא הקצף החל הנגף for the wrath has gone forth, the plague has started" (17,11). Our sages have said that when Moses was in heaven every angel revealed some secret to him. The contribution of the angel of death was that incense can prevail against the spread of the plague. This statement is attributed to Rabbi Joshua ben Levi in Shabbat 89. Rashi also quotes this in his commentary. If Moses was in possession of this secret, why does Rashi have to explain in verse 13, that the meaning of "he stood between the dead and the living and the plague stopped," means that Moses himself had to restrain the angel of death? Rashi there describes an argument in which the angel of death describes himself as G–d's direct messenger, whereas Aaron is described as only Moses' messenger, i.e. an indirect messenger of G–d. Aaron told the angel of death that he was well aware that Moses never does something unless instructed by G–d. He challenged the angel of death to look for confirmation by observing both G–d and Moses at the entrance of the Tabernacle. He invited the angel of death to accompany him to that spot and to ask G–d personally. This is the meaning of the words "Aaron returned to the entrance of the tent to Moses, and the plague had stopped" (17,15). Why would the angel of death kill by means of the plague, when he himself had revealed to Moses how he could be stopped?