וַיֵּ֨רְד֜וּ הֵ֣ם וְכָל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר לָהֶ֛ם חַיִּ֖ים שְׁאֹ֑לָה וַתְּכַ֤ס עֲלֵיהֶם֙ הָאָ֔רֶץ וַיֹּאבְד֖וּ מִתּ֥וֹךְ הַקָּהָֽל׃
Ils descendirent, eux et tous les leurs, vivants dans la tombe; la terre se referma sur eux, et ils disparurent du milieu de l’assemblée.
English Explanation of Mishnah Sanhedrin
The congregation of Korah is not destined to ascend [from the earth], as it says, “And the earth closed upon them” in this world, “and they perished from among the congregation” (Numbers 16:33) in the world to come, according to the words of Rabbi Akiba. Rabbi Eliezer says: “Concerning them it is said, ‘The Lord kills and makes alive: He brings down to Sheol, and brings up” (I Samuel 2:6). According to Rabbi Akiva, the congregation of Korach who were swallowed up by the Earth in punishment for rebelling against Moses and Aaron will never be brought back up. Rabbi Eliezer disagrees. Based on a verse in I Samuel he points out that God has the power not only to send down to Sheol but He may bring up as well.
Tosafot Yom Tov
[*THE MOUTH OF THE EARTH. Rav explains that this was to swallow Korach and his followers; so also Rambam. This is difficult, for the verse there says “if G-d will create a creation” (Numbers 16:30), and according to the tradition of the Sages here, which is from scholar to scholar all the way back to Moses, it had already been created.
The Talmud in Sanhedrin 110a explains the verse as follows: Rava expounded: what is the meaning of the verse “if G-d will create a creation [Heb. im beriah yivra], and the earth open up its mouth”? Moses said to G-d, “if [Heb. im]” Gehinnom “has been created [Heb. beriah]”, very well. If not, “let G-d create [it] [Heb. yivra]”. In what sense? If this actually means “create”, why, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Rather, the request was to bring the opening of Gehinnom closer. But according to this, the word im is used for a rhetorical question,212According to the Talmud’s final reading, the verse says, “Is Gehinnom close? [No.] Then G-d will bring the opening here.” which is also a forced reading. I therefore propose an alternative, for which purpose I will first raise three points.
The first is that Moses’ request uses the word ufatz'tah,“the earth shall open [Heb. ufatz'tah] its mouth” (Numbers 16:30), but in describing the execution of that request the verse says vatiftach, “and [the earth] opened” (Numbers 16:32). And even if the verses had not used this word in describing the execution, one wonders why Moses wouldn’t use the verb patach, which is a more common word than the verb patzah. The second is that the verse says “they descended alive to Sheol [Heb. sheolah]” (Numbers 16:33), using sheolah213The word is in the accusative case with locative sense. In other words, the suffix -ah means “to”: “to Sheol”. The Torah does not always attach the -ah suffix even when speaking of motion towards. instead of sheol. Rashi, writing on the verse “the wicked shall return to She’ol [Heb. lisheolah]” in Psalms 9:18, says: R. Abba bar Zavdi says: to the lowest level of Sheol. Although we cannot deny the testimony of the verses, when the verse relates that it became known that they descended to the lowest level of sheol, wouldn’t it have been proper to relate how exactly that became known? We must therefore investigate where the verse tells us this. The third is that the verse says that the entire nation “fled at the sound [of their voices] [Heb. lekolam]” (Numbers 16:34). People who hear others cry out “oy and avoy!”214The equivalent of English “Oh, no!” do not usualy flee, they come nearer to the sound of the voices to determine the reason for their screaming. Rashi writes that lekolam means “at the sound that came from their being swallowed,” and Mizrachi explains that this is the sound of the splitting itself, which was like the sound of thunder, which throws people into a panic and causes them to flee. But this was not the sound of their cries at the moment they were swallowed up, for that sound is not the kind of sound that causes people to flee. On the contrary, it would cause people to gather round and come to hear their cries at that moment and see the great wonder, the like of which had not occurred from the six days of creation until then—these are his words.
I now say that although Mizrachi says that the sound of the splitting was like thunder, I can claim that the sound was the sound of words, words which made known that they had descended alive to Sheol, i.e. to the lowest level of Sheol. The earth emitting the sound of clear words saying that they had descended alive to the lowest level of Sheol, i.e. that they had suffered that much, would have been a great sign. And this is what Moses requested when he said “let it open” using ufatz'tah. For had he simply requested that it open in order to swallow them he should have said ufat'chah, which is the word used in the description of the event itself. He used ufatz'tah, which is the word Jephthah uses when he says patziti pi lashem, “I have opened my mouth to G-d”, in Judges 11:35, and the word used in patzu sefatai, “my lips opened” in Psalms 66:14, both of which refer to speech.
This, then, is how to parse Moses’ request. Im beriah yivra Hashem ufatz'tah ha'adamah—the word beriah appears without an implied prepositional bet,215We should read the word beriah, “creation”, as if it were baberiah, “through the creation”. as in the verse ki sheshet yamim asah Hashem, “in six days G-d made” (Exodus 20:10), where the word sheshet is understood as if it were b'sheshet216Reading the verse as is gives “for six days G-d made”; the verse should be read as if the word sheshet, “six”, were besheshet, “in six”, giving “for in six days G-d made”., and the verse un'shalmah parim sefateinu, “and we shall make up for bulls with our lips” (Hosea 14:3), where the word sefateinu is understood as if it were bisfateinu217Reading the verse as is gives “we shall make up for bulls our lips”; the verse should be read as if the word sefateinu, “our lips”, were bisfateinu, “with our lips”, giving “we shall make up for bulls with our lips”.. We can now read the verse: im baberiah, “if in the created thing”, i.e. Gehinnom, which was created during the six days of creation, yivra, “he shall create”, i.e. bring its opening here as the Sages say, and through bringing the opening here ufatz'tah ha'adamah et piha, “the earth shall open its mouth” to bring forth the sound of a voice speaking words made by lips relating what happens within all the way down to the lowest level of Sheol, [“then shall you know that these people have provoked G-d”218Tosafot Yom Tov does not supply the end of the verse.].
Afterwards, during the execution, the verse says vatiftach ha’aretz et piha, “the earth opened its mouth”, i.e. merely an opening of the mouth but no speech, for the opening was only in order to swallow them. In addition, however, it happened that everybody “fled at their sound”, which is the sound that emerged upon their being swallowed, a voice speaking words relating that they had descended alive to the lowest level of Sheol.
I have somewhat of a proof to my approach, for the tanna in speaking of the donkey says “the mouth of the donkey” and not that the donkey itself was created at dusk. Now all mouths, in and of themselves, are equivalent; there is no need for that mouth to have been created at dusk unless “mouth” in the context of the donkey means “speech”, which indeed was created at dusk. If so, “the mouth of the earth” also refers to speech, [not]219The Hebrew text is missing the obvious negative. simply an opening of the mouth. Also, the “mouth of the well”, according to the other opinion that Rav mentions in his commentary, means that the well sang. This is what seems best to me, and in my eyes it is truly well said.]
The Talmud in Sanhedrin 110a explains the verse as follows: Rava expounded: what is the meaning of the verse “if G-d will create a creation [Heb. im beriah yivra], and the earth open up its mouth”? Moses said to G-d, “if [Heb. im]” Gehinnom “has been created [Heb. beriah]”, very well. If not, “let G-d create [it] [Heb. yivra]”. In what sense? If this actually means “create”, why, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Rather, the request was to bring the opening of Gehinnom closer. But according to this, the word im is used for a rhetorical question,212According to the Talmud’s final reading, the verse says, “Is Gehinnom close? [No.] Then G-d will bring the opening here.” which is also a forced reading. I therefore propose an alternative, for which purpose I will first raise three points.
The first is that Moses’ request uses the word ufatz'tah,“the earth shall open [Heb. ufatz'tah] its mouth” (Numbers 16:30), but in describing the execution of that request the verse says vatiftach, “and [the earth] opened” (Numbers 16:32). And even if the verses had not used this word in describing the execution, one wonders why Moses wouldn’t use the verb patach, which is a more common word than the verb patzah. The second is that the verse says “they descended alive to Sheol [Heb. sheolah]” (Numbers 16:33), using sheolah213The word is in the accusative case with locative sense. In other words, the suffix -ah means “to”: “to Sheol”. The Torah does not always attach the -ah suffix even when speaking of motion towards. instead of sheol. Rashi, writing on the verse “the wicked shall return to She’ol [Heb. lisheolah]” in Psalms 9:18, says: R. Abba bar Zavdi says: to the lowest level of Sheol. Although we cannot deny the testimony of the verses, when the verse relates that it became known that they descended to the lowest level of sheol, wouldn’t it have been proper to relate how exactly that became known? We must therefore investigate where the verse tells us this. The third is that the verse says that the entire nation “fled at the sound [of their voices] [Heb. lekolam]” (Numbers 16:34). People who hear others cry out “oy and avoy!”214The equivalent of English “Oh, no!” do not usualy flee, they come nearer to the sound of the voices to determine the reason for their screaming. Rashi writes that lekolam means “at the sound that came from their being swallowed,” and Mizrachi explains that this is the sound of the splitting itself, which was like the sound of thunder, which throws people into a panic and causes them to flee. But this was not the sound of their cries at the moment they were swallowed up, for that sound is not the kind of sound that causes people to flee. On the contrary, it would cause people to gather round and come to hear their cries at that moment and see the great wonder, the like of which had not occurred from the six days of creation until then—these are his words.
I now say that although Mizrachi says that the sound of the splitting was like thunder, I can claim that the sound was the sound of words, words which made known that they had descended alive to Sheol, i.e. to the lowest level of Sheol. The earth emitting the sound of clear words saying that they had descended alive to the lowest level of Sheol, i.e. that they had suffered that much, would have been a great sign. And this is what Moses requested when he said “let it open” using ufatz'tah. For had he simply requested that it open in order to swallow them he should have said ufat'chah, which is the word used in the description of the event itself. He used ufatz'tah, which is the word Jephthah uses when he says patziti pi lashem, “I have opened my mouth to G-d”, in Judges 11:35, and the word used in patzu sefatai, “my lips opened” in Psalms 66:14, both of which refer to speech.
This, then, is how to parse Moses’ request. Im beriah yivra Hashem ufatz'tah ha'adamah—the word beriah appears without an implied prepositional bet,215We should read the word beriah, “creation”, as if it were baberiah, “through the creation”. as in the verse ki sheshet yamim asah Hashem, “in six days G-d made” (Exodus 20:10), where the word sheshet is understood as if it were b'sheshet216Reading the verse as is gives “for six days G-d made”; the verse should be read as if the word sheshet, “six”, were besheshet, “in six”, giving “for in six days G-d made”., and the verse un'shalmah parim sefateinu, “and we shall make up for bulls with our lips” (Hosea 14:3), where the word sefateinu is understood as if it were bisfateinu217Reading the verse as is gives “we shall make up for bulls our lips”; the verse should be read as if the word sefateinu, “our lips”, were bisfateinu, “with our lips”, giving “we shall make up for bulls with our lips”.. We can now read the verse: im baberiah, “if in the created thing”, i.e. Gehinnom, which was created during the six days of creation, yivra, “he shall create”, i.e. bring its opening here as the Sages say, and through bringing the opening here ufatz'tah ha'adamah et piha, “the earth shall open its mouth” to bring forth the sound of a voice speaking words made by lips relating what happens within all the way down to the lowest level of Sheol, [“then shall you know that these people have provoked G-d”218Tosafot Yom Tov does not supply the end of the verse.].
Afterwards, during the execution, the verse says vatiftach ha’aretz et piha, “the earth opened its mouth”, i.e. merely an opening of the mouth but no speech, for the opening was only in order to swallow them. In addition, however, it happened that everybody “fled at their sound”, which is the sound that emerged upon their being swallowed, a voice speaking words relating that they had descended alive to the lowest level of Sheol.
I have somewhat of a proof to my approach, for the tanna in speaking of the donkey says “the mouth of the donkey” and not that the donkey itself was created at dusk. Now all mouths, in and of themselves, are equivalent; there is no need for that mouth to have been created at dusk unless “mouth” in the context of the donkey means “speech”, which indeed was created at dusk. If so, “the mouth of the earth” also refers to speech, [not]219The Hebrew text is missing the obvious negative. simply an opening of the mouth. Also, the “mouth of the well”, according to the other opinion that Rav mentions in his commentary, means that the well sang. This is what seems best to me, and in my eyes it is truly well said.]
Rashbam
אבדנו, a reference to 15,33 when the people swallowed by the earth during Korach’s uprising had been described by the Torah as ויאבדו, “they became lost.” The people now felt that a similar fate might befall them on any day if the Tabernacle was so inaccessible to them.