Chasidut sur Les Nombres 16:36
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 15,1. “Korach, son of Yitzhar, son of Kehat, son of Levi, and Datan and Aviram took, etc;”
[At this point there appears to me to be a major error in our editions when the author claims that Nachmanides wrote that the spies had been aware that the Israelites would not enter the Holy Land. According to my understanding of Nachmanides on 15,1 he refers to the people having been aware of this decree, seeing that the spies were dead already. Ed.]
Nachmanides writes that seeing that the (spies) people knew that the members of their generation would not enter the Holy Land, the Israelites’ love of Moses had already been undermined so that the people would be more receptive to criticism of him. This is also the reason why this episode was written in the Torah immediately following the story of the spies. There had been several instances since the sin of the golden calf when many people had died without Moses having been able to prevent this, so that Korach felt that an attempt at insurrection could meet with broad support.
Basically speaking, the generation of the Israelites who had left Egypt as adults was of a spiritual level that enabled them to perform the commandments by merely using their power of speech, i.e. prayer alone. The next generation was of a lower spiritual level, requiring action in addition to prayer.
[Presumably the difference of the spiritual level of these two generations was due to the older generation having been addressed by G’d directly at the revelation on Mount Sinai. Ed.] The author cites as proof of this distinction the fact that Joshua when battling the 31 kings of the land of Canaan, had to perform some action with the javelin signaling to the ambush (Joshua 8,19) in order to secure victory. Moses, on the other hand, did not have to perform such actions, but accomplished his task by utterances emanating from his mouth alone. If you were to argue that Joshua conquered Jericho relying only on דבור, the power of speech, as pointed out in the Jerusalem Talmud Moed katan chapter 2 halachah 4, the reason for this was that Jericho was captured on the Sabbath, and the Ari’zal has pointed out already that the intellectual capacity of the Rabbi on a weekday is attained by his disciple on the Sabbath. Similarly, the relationship between Moses’ intellectual capacity and that of Joshua was like that of the teacher compared to the student. Moses had been able to accomplish everything he set out to do by relying exclusively on the power of the word. [Perhaps Moses’ failing to speak to the rock when commanded to and striking it instead, represented this desecration of G’d’s name in public that G’d accused both him and Aaron of. Ed.]
Both at Ai as well as during subsequent battles, Joshua had to employ other parts of his body in addition to the power of speech.
The Torah Moses presented to the Jewish people reflected the power of the word used by G’d when He created the universe; however, in common with other forms of energy emanating from G’d’s essence which had to be “screened” in order that their impact would not prove harmful instead of beneficial, even in our world of the עשיה, where matter appears as if it is “real,” this is so only because what we see with our three-dimensionally oriented eyes has already undergone such a process of being screened before we see it. According to our author this has been alluded to when the prophet Isaiah 44,6 quoted G’d saying: אני ראשון ואני אחרון, “I am no different at the end from the way I was at the beginning.” [The usual translation, is, of course: “I am first and I am last,” but I changed it to fit the author’s interpretation. Ed.]
G’d meant that if He employed “screens” to protect us from His outpouring of Divine energy at the beginning of creation, He did the same when He came to the final stage of His creative activity, i.e. earth and man. The form that these “screens” take in our material world is the attributes through which we try to understand the nature of the Creator, His מידות.
When Korach had realized that the generation of which he was a part would not be granted residence in the land of Canaan, he no longer accepted Moses’ Torah as something to be understood as having been “screened” by G’d before He entrusted it to us in the format that we are familiar with.
When G’d punished Korach by making the earth open its “mouth” to swallow him and his followers alive, He actually paid him back מידה כנגד מידה, “tit for tat,” seeing that Korach had refused to believe that the earth as we see it is not the “real thing;” he was taught at the last moment of his life how wrong he had been, and that the earth had hidden dimensions he had never dreamed of.
This has all been hinted at when the Torah listed as Korach’s antecedents, i.e. Yitzhar-alluding to brightness, light, Kehat- and Levi. The word יקהת alludes to “unity” as we know from Genesis 49,10 where Yaakov blessed Yehudah by saying that the other tribes would rally around him. The word לוי derived from ילוה, when his mother Leah, at his birth, expressed her hope that this son would be the cause of her husband spending more time with her; (Genesis 29,34) When looking at the three names together, they suggest that Korach only believed in the world of the power of speech, the world that we know as the three-dimensional world, and could not believe that behind what we see with our physical eyes there is hidden another dimension, one which makes it far easier to relate to the home of the Creator and the army of angels with whom He has surrounded Himself. [some of these words are mine. When someone insists on believing that the world we see is all there is in the universe, so that physical death is the end of all life, he has made the beginning of life equally irrelevant. Ed.]
The words of Isaiah 44,6 are therefore most important if we wish to understand G’d’s actions in creating different sections in His universe.
[At this point there appears to me to be a major error in our editions when the author claims that Nachmanides wrote that the spies had been aware that the Israelites would not enter the Holy Land. According to my understanding of Nachmanides on 15,1 he refers to the people having been aware of this decree, seeing that the spies were dead already. Ed.]
Nachmanides writes that seeing that the (spies) people knew that the members of their generation would not enter the Holy Land, the Israelites’ love of Moses had already been undermined so that the people would be more receptive to criticism of him. This is also the reason why this episode was written in the Torah immediately following the story of the spies. There had been several instances since the sin of the golden calf when many people had died without Moses having been able to prevent this, so that Korach felt that an attempt at insurrection could meet with broad support.
Basically speaking, the generation of the Israelites who had left Egypt as adults was of a spiritual level that enabled them to perform the commandments by merely using their power of speech, i.e. prayer alone. The next generation was of a lower spiritual level, requiring action in addition to prayer.
[Presumably the difference of the spiritual level of these two generations was due to the older generation having been addressed by G’d directly at the revelation on Mount Sinai. Ed.] The author cites as proof of this distinction the fact that Joshua when battling the 31 kings of the land of Canaan, had to perform some action with the javelin signaling to the ambush (Joshua 8,19) in order to secure victory. Moses, on the other hand, did not have to perform such actions, but accomplished his task by utterances emanating from his mouth alone. If you were to argue that Joshua conquered Jericho relying only on דבור, the power of speech, as pointed out in the Jerusalem Talmud Moed katan chapter 2 halachah 4, the reason for this was that Jericho was captured on the Sabbath, and the Ari’zal has pointed out already that the intellectual capacity of the Rabbi on a weekday is attained by his disciple on the Sabbath. Similarly, the relationship between Moses’ intellectual capacity and that of Joshua was like that of the teacher compared to the student. Moses had been able to accomplish everything he set out to do by relying exclusively on the power of the word. [Perhaps Moses’ failing to speak to the rock when commanded to and striking it instead, represented this desecration of G’d’s name in public that G’d accused both him and Aaron of. Ed.]
Both at Ai as well as during subsequent battles, Joshua had to employ other parts of his body in addition to the power of speech.
The Torah Moses presented to the Jewish people reflected the power of the word used by G’d when He created the universe; however, in common with other forms of energy emanating from G’d’s essence which had to be “screened” in order that their impact would not prove harmful instead of beneficial, even in our world of the עשיה, where matter appears as if it is “real,” this is so only because what we see with our three-dimensionally oriented eyes has already undergone such a process of being screened before we see it. According to our author this has been alluded to when the prophet Isaiah 44,6 quoted G’d saying: אני ראשון ואני אחרון, “I am no different at the end from the way I was at the beginning.” [The usual translation, is, of course: “I am first and I am last,” but I changed it to fit the author’s interpretation. Ed.]
G’d meant that if He employed “screens” to protect us from His outpouring of Divine energy at the beginning of creation, He did the same when He came to the final stage of His creative activity, i.e. earth and man. The form that these “screens” take in our material world is the attributes through which we try to understand the nature of the Creator, His מידות.
When Korach had realized that the generation of which he was a part would not be granted residence in the land of Canaan, he no longer accepted Moses’ Torah as something to be understood as having been “screened” by G’d before He entrusted it to us in the format that we are familiar with.
When G’d punished Korach by making the earth open its “mouth” to swallow him and his followers alive, He actually paid him back מידה כנגד מידה, “tit for tat,” seeing that Korach had refused to believe that the earth as we see it is not the “real thing;” he was taught at the last moment of his life how wrong he had been, and that the earth had hidden dimensions he had never dreamed of.
This has all been hinted at when the Torah listed as Korach’s antecedents, i.e. Yitzhar-alluding to brightness, light, Kehat- and Levi. The word יקהת alludes to “unity” as we know from Genesis 49,10 where Yaakov blessed Yehudah by saying that the other tribes would rally around him. The word לוי derived from ילוה, when his mother Leah, at his birth, expressed her hope that this son would be the cause of her husband spending more time with her; (Genesis 29,34) When looking at the three names together, they suggest that Korach only believed in the world of the power of speech, the world that we know as the three-dimensional world, and could not believe that behind what we see with our physical eyes there is hidden another dimension, one which makes it far easier to relate to the home of the Creator and the army of angels with whom He has surrounded Himself. [some of these words are mine. When someone insists on believing that the world we see is all there is in the universe, so that physical death is the end of all life, he has made the beginning of life equally irrelevant. Ed.]
The words of Isaiah 44,6 are therefore most important if we wish to understand G’d’s actions in creating different sections in His universe.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 16,5. Come morning, the Lord will make known who is His and who is holy, whom He has granted access to Himself. Him whom He will choose He will bring close to Him."
We need to understand why, in the first half of the words Moses (G’d) speaks of “whom He had brought close to Himself” in the past tense, whereas immediately afterwards, “He will bring close to Himself” he changes to future tense. This verse contains an allusion to the proper manner in which to serve Hashem.
The subject is discussed in Rosh Hashanah, chapter 2, mishnah 7 where the mishnahreports that after the court had examined the witnesses who reported having seen the new moon and their testimony had been validated, the court proclaimed: מקודש, “the new month has been sanctified.” The people present then repeated the declaration of the court saying twice: מקודש מקודש. Why did the head of the court say the word מקודש only once, whereas the people were required to say it twice?
We have a general rule that when someone wishes to engage in service of the Lord, he has to distance himself first from any sins he had been guilty of, i.e. take his leave from a lifestyle that opposes G’d will, before he can be enrolled in the class of people actively serving the Lord, i.e. by performing His will. This will be a process that intensifies gradually. During every step of the way, the person who has left behind him a sinful lifestyle must be on his guard to serve the Lord by studying Torah, praying, and by sanctifying His name in various ways through his dealings with his fellow man, causing Him continuous pleasure when observing him. When keeping this in mind we can interpret the text of the Mishnah as follows: when the head of the court proclaimed the word מקודש, he thereby indicated that the separation from a negative lifestyle had been accomplished. When the people responded by saying the same word twice, they indicated that they were on the way to serving the Lord, reminding themselves at each stage how they were supposed to do this, i.e. that they needed both to keep distance from sin, and at the same time to maintain their awe of the Almighty, never to become too familiar with Him in the sense that they would permit themselves the kind of familiarities one does when in the company of mortal human beings. Moses refers to this when saying: ואת הקדוש, meaning that once one has attained this level of holiness one must remember with Whom one consorts. This person described as הקדוש in the verse above, is one who had already attained a certain level of sanctity, קדושה by his own efforts, and was no longer in need of being led by the hand all the time. (as Rashi explains in Parshat Noach on the words: את האלוקים התהלך נח, “Noach walked with G’d.”) (Genesis 6,9) When describing Avraham’s level of proximity to G’d the Torah (wrote Genesis 17,15) התהלך לפני, “strive to walk ahead of Me!”
When Moses (G’d) added ואת אשר יבחר בו, “and Whom He will select,” he indicated that the person concerned would require further support from the Almighty to lead him to his desired destination in his relations with G’d. The words יקריב אותו are the assurance by G’d that He would help that person along his chosen path to enable him to serve Him with a sincere heart.
We need to understand why, in the first half of the words Moses (G’d) speaks of “whom He had brought close to Himself” in the past tense, whereas immediately afterwards, “He will bring close to Himself” he changes to future tense. This verse contains an allusion to the proper manner in which to serve Hashem.
The subject is discussed in Rosh Hashanah, chapter 2, mishnah 7 where the mishnahreports that after the court had examined the witnesses who reported having seen the new moon and their testimony had been validated, the court proclaimed: מקודש, “the new month has been sanctified.” The people present then repeated the declaration of the court saying twice: מקודש מקודש. Why did the head of the court say the word מקודש only once, whereas the people were required to say it twice?
We have a general rule that when someone wishes to engage in service of the Lord, he has to distance himself first from any sins he had been guilty of, i.e. take his leave from a lifestyle that opposes G’d will, before he can be enrolled in the class of people actively serving the Lord, i.e. by performing His will. This will be a process that intensifies gradually. During every step of the way, the person who has left behind him a sinful lifestyle must be on his guard to serve the Lord by studying Torah, praying, and by sanctifying His name in various ways through his dealings with his fellow man, causing Him continuous pleasure when observing him. When keeping this in mind we can interpret the text of the Mishnah as follows: when the head of the court proclaimed the word מקודש, he thereby indicated that the separation from a negative lifestyle had been accomplished. When the people responded by saying the same word twice, they indicated that they were on the way to serving the Lord, reminding themselves at each stage how they were supposed to do this, i.e. that they needed both to keep distance from sin, and at the same time to maintain their awe of the Almighty, never to become too familiar with Him in the sense that they would permit themselves the kind of familiarities one does when in the company of mortal human beings. Moses refers to this when saying: ואת הקדוש, meaning that once one has attained this level of holiness one must remember with Whom one consorts. This person described as הקדוש in the verse above, is one who had already attained a certain level of sanctity, קדושה by his own efforts, and was no longer in need of being led by the hand all the time. (as Rashi explains in Parshat Noach on the words: את האלוקים התהלך נח, “Noach walked with G’d.”) (Genesis 6,9) When describing Avraham’s level of proximity to G’d the Torah (wrote Genesis 17,15) התהלך לפני, “strive to walk ahead of Me!”
When Moses (G’d) added ואת אשר יבחר בו, “and Whom He will select,” he indicated that the person concerned would require further support from the Almighty to lead him to his desired destination in his relations with G’d. The words יקריב אותו are the assurance by G’d that He would help that person along his chosen path to enable him to serve Him with a sincere heart.
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Kedushat Levi
The reason why Datan and Aviram added a complaint against Moses that Korach had not mentioned, when they said: “you also did not bring us to a land of milk and honey,” (Numbers 16,13) was that Korach was a member of the tribe of Levi that had not been condemned to die in the desert. Korach therefore could not have leveled this accusation at Moses. [According to a view expressed in Baba batra 121. Ed.]
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Mevo HaShearim
Chapter 6404In Chapter 6, R. Shapiro distinguishes between the Zohar and the sacred works of Kabbalah which came after it. The nature and level of the Zohar’s revelation and text is sui generis, as explained below.
As we said above, pre-Beshtian Kabbalah ‘bent’ the world of Atzilut down to the Atzilut within a person, that is to his Hokhmah, while the revelation of the Besht had an effect on the vessels and the bodies, [in the sense of] “and all of the community are holy.”405Numbers 16:3. The citation is from Korah and his associates, in their rebellious charge against Moses. Some hasidic masters were sympathetic to this position of Korah, and perhaps R. Shapiro here alludes to this position. Through this, the Kabbalah and all its sacred systems inhered not only Above but also within the Israelite. [In all this,] we have not spoken of the essence of Kabbalah, which is above our grasp—for what am I and my lowly life to speak about and explain such sacred matters? We have merely spoken of our understanding in explicating these matters, as it says in the Zohar on the verse ‘and her husband is known in the gates [shearim],”406Proverbs 31:23. “each according to how his heart surmises [mishaer]…”407See Zohar I: 103b. Now we wish to clarify why we have primarily spoken of those kabbalistic works authored by the holy angels of God besides the Zohar. [In what follows, we delineate] the difference, as we understand it, between the Zohar and the sacred works of Kabbalah which came after it.
As we said above, pre-Beshtian Kabbalah ‘bent’ the world of Atzilut down to the Atzilut within a person, that is to his Hokhmah, while the revelation of the Besht had an effect on the vessels and the bodies, [in the sense of] “and all of the community are holy.”405Numbers 16:3. The citation is from Korah and his associates, in their rebellious charge against Moses. Some hasidic masters were sympathetic to this position of Korah, and perhaps R. Shapiro here alludes to this position. Through this, the Kabbalah and all its sacred systems inhered not only Above but also within the Israelite. [In all this,] we have not spoken of the essence of Kabbalah, which is above our grasp—for what am I and my lowly life to speak about and explain such sacred matters? We have merely spoken of our understanding in explicating these matters, as it says in the Zohar on the verse ‘and her husband is known in the gates [shearim],”406Proverbs 31:23. “each according to how his heart surmises [mishaer]…”407See Zohar I: 103b. Now we wish to clarify why we have primarily spoken of those kabbalistic works authored by the holy angels of God besides the Zohar. [In what follows, we delineate] the difference, as we understand it, between the Zohar and the sacred works of Kabbalah which came after it.
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 16,15. “I have not taken a single donkey of theirs nor I have I knowingly wronged anyone of them.” [The author considers the plain meaning of this verse as unnecessary, the mere suggestion that Moses had taken advantage of any Israelite being too obnoxious to warrant mention. Ed.]
The general rule is that that Moses constantly tried to spiritually uplift the people of Israel and to thereby bring them closer to him. He states here that this endeavour of his included every single one of the Israelites. He did not elevate a single Israelite at the expense of others whom he did not elevate. Similarly, when trying to be close to the people, he did not favour any Israelite at the expense of another Israelite about whom he supposedly cared less. According to our author, the word הרעותי in this verse is presumed to be derived from רעי, “my friend.”
The general rule is that that Moses constantly tried to spiritually uplift the people of Israel and to thereby bring them closer to him. He states here that this endeavour of his included every single one of the Israelites. He did not elevate a single Israelite at the expense of others whom he did not elevate. Similarly, when trying to be close to the people, he did not favour any Israelite at the expense of another Israelite about whom he supposedly cared less. According to our author, the word הרעותי in this verse is presumed to be derived from רעי, “my friend.”
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 16,28. “none of it was of my own devising.” These words of Moses help us understand 17,8 where the survivors accuse Moses and Aaron as having engineered the death of “G’d’s people.” We have a rule that the tzaddik, by means of his prayers, can bring about events that had not previously been decreed by G’d to happen. On the other hand, perhaps more frequently, the tzaddik’s prayer is the catalyst that sets in motion the execution of a Divine decree whose time had not previously been ripe for execution. In this instance, the Israelites who had watched Korach and the other rebels descend to their death, suspected Moses of having been the instigators of the death of these people through their prayers. In our verse, Moses wants to make clear that what is going to happen is not something that he had either instigated or hoped for. G’d Himself, without any contribution by himself or Aaron, had both decreed and executed it.
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Kedushat Levi
We will now proceed to explain the verse (21,18) באר חפרוה שרים, “a well that has been dug by chieftains.” According to the sages in B’rachot 34, when the son of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai took sick, his father asked Rabbi Chanina son of Dotha to pray for his recovery. Thereupon Rabbi Chanina ben Dotha placed his head between his knees, and after a short while Rabbi Yochanan’s son recovered. Thereupon Rabbi Yochanan said that if he had prayed in this fashion for a whole day it would have been quite ineffective. His wife, overhearing what her husband said, could not believe her ears, knowing that her husband was the leading scholar of his generation. Rabbi Yochanan explained to her that this did not mean that Rabbi Chanina was a person of greater stature than he was. What it meant was that when Rabbi Chanina prayed his attitude to the Almighty was that of a servant pleading with his master; whereas when he, Rabbi Yochanan prayed, he did so as a chieftain due to his position in the community, and his inability to humble himself sufficiently when asking G’d for a favour interfered with the acceptance of his prayer.
Let us know turn to the daily prayer of Tachanun which is recited while we bow our heads similar to Rabbi Chanina. We have learned from Moses in Numbers 16,4 that when Korach and his group rebelled against him, that Moses threw himself on the earth, face down, as soon as they had finished with their accusations. Clearly, before Moses answered his accusers when he told them in the next verse that they would receive G’d’s answer to their complaints on the following morning, he had prayed to G’d to show the rebels if their case was just. Still, it is strange that Moses had entertained doubts about this so that he had to plead with G’d while prostrating himself.
The Chinuch (Rabbi Aaron halevi) offers some explanation of Moses’ conduct in his commentary by saying that we know that nothing evil originates with G’d Himself. This is an ironclad rule although to us mortals down in our world it may sometimes appears as if the evil that befalls us has originated with G’d Himself. When viewed from a celestial perspective, this so-called “evil,” will eventually be seen to have been for the good of the party or parties who felt themselves struck by it. We must never forget that what appears as harmful to us is meant for our ultimate good. Rabbi Yochanan who had asked Rabbi Chaninah ben Dothan to plead for the life of his son did not do so himself, as he could not free himself of the conviction that if his son were to die it would ultimately prove to have been a blessing in disguise, something that was not manifest at the time. His prayer therefore would be sort of “iffy,” as he could not become sufficiently affected by the element of evil apparent to everyone around him by the fact that his son was suffering, perhaps never to recover. Rabbi Chaninah was able to concentrate in his prayer on the present factual situation which appeared to be an imminent disaster in the lives of his teacher and his teacher’s family. Therefore this aspect of his prayer would be undiluted by ulterior considerations, and it had a better chance of receiving a positive response.
The reason the sages decreed that we are to pray Tachanun by imitating to an extent the position of Rabbi Chaninah’s head between his knees when asking G’d for mercy, is that we should concentrate on the problem as it faces us at the time and not make excuses for G’d at the back of our minds if our prayer is not heard.
This is what the Talmud meant when it quoted Rabbi Yochanan as praying similar to a prominent minister appearing before his king. Such a minister feels that his position of eminence in the king’s kingdom entitles him to special consideration. This, he explained to his wife, would be counterproductive in his case.
Let us know turn to the daily prayer of Tachanun which is recited while we bow our heads similar to Rabbi Chanina. We have learned from Moses in Numbers 16,4 that when Korach and his group rebelled against him, that Moses threw himself on the earth, face down, as soon as they had finished with their accusations. Clearly, before Moses answered his accusers when he told them in the next verse that they would receive G’d’s answer to their complaints on the following morning, he had prayed to G’d to show the rebels if their case was just. Still, it is strange that Moses had entertained doubts about this so that he had to plead with G’d while prostrating himself.
The Chinuch (Rabbi Aaron halevi) offers some explanation of Moses’ conduct in his commentary by saying that we know that nothing evil originates with G’d Himself. This is an ironclad rule although to us mortals down in our world it may sometimes appears as if the evil that befalls us has originated with G’d Himself. When viewed from a celestial perspective, this so-called “evil,” will eventually be seen to have been for the good of the party or parties who felt themselves struck by it. We must never forget that what appears as harmful to us is meant for our ultimate good. Rabbi Yochanan who had asked Rabbi Chaninah ben Dothan to plead for the life of his son did not do so himself, as he could not free himself of the conviction that if his son were to die it would ultimately prove to have been a blessing in disguise, something that was not manifest at the time. His prayer therefore would be sort of “iffy,” as he could not become sufficiently affected by the element of evil apparent to everyone around him by the fact that his son was suffering, perhaps never to recover. Rabbi Chaninah was able to concentrate in his prayer on the present factual situation which appeared to be an imminent disaster in the lives of his teacher and his teacher’s family. Therefore this aspect of his prayer would be undiluted by ulterior considerations, and it had a better chance of receiving a positive response.
The reason the sages decreed that we are to pray Tachanun by imitating to an extent the position of Rabbi Chaninah’s head between his knees when asking G’d for mercy, is that we should concentrate on the problem as it faces us at the time and not make excuses for G’d at the back of our minds if our prayer is not heard.
This is what the Talmud meant when it quoted Rabbi Yochanan as praying similar to a prominent minister appearing before his king. Such a minister feels that his position of eminence in the king’s kingdom entitles him to special consideration. This, he explained to his wife, would be counterproductive in his case.
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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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