민수기 16:25의 Musar

In order to explain somewhat the quality of peace, I shall adduce some of the apothegms of Chazal on this subject. This is from Ma'aloth Hamiddoth: "Know, my sons, that peace is among the highest qualities, it being one of the names of the Holy One Blessed be He, as it is written (Judges 6:24): And he called it [(the altar) 'the L-rd-Shalom.'" Wherever peace is found, fear of Heaven is found. Where there is no peace, there is no fear of Heaven. Great is peace before the Blessed One, our sages of blessed memory saying in the aggadah (Yevamoth 65b, Bava Metzia 87a): "Great is peace, even Scripture prevaricating to maintain peace between Abraham and Sarah. For whereas she said (Bereshith 18:12): 'And my lord [Abraham] is old,' G-d transmitted this to Abraham as (Ibid. 13): 'And I [Sarah] am old.'" Similarly (Ibid. 40:16-17): "and they had it reported to Joseph: 'Your father commanded before he died: "So shall you say to Joseph: 'Forgive, I pray you, the offense of your brothers and their sin, for they accorded you evil.'" Now nowhere do we find Jacob commanding any such thing at all, for he entertained no apprehension whatever of Joseph's conduct. My sons, come and see how great is the power of peace, for the Holy One Blessed be He said that even foes should be approached with peace as it is written (Devarim 20:10): "When you draw close to a city to wage war against it, call out to it for peace." Great is peace, for it consummates the priestly benediction, as it is written (Numbers 6:26): "And He shall repose peace upon you." Great is peace, for it is the consummation of prayer, as it is written (Psalms 29:11): "The L-rd will give His people strength; the L-rd will bless His people with peace." And what is more, in the day of Israel's consolation, the first report shall be of peace, as it is written (Isaiah 52:7): "How comely upon the mountains are the feet of the herald, announcing peace!" My sons, come and see how great is the power of peace, for the Holy One Blessed be He said that even foes should be approached with peace, as it is written (Devarim 20:10): "When you draw near to a city to wage war against it, call out to it for peace." It was stated of R. Yochanan b. Zakkai that no one ever preceded him in greeting, not even a gentile in the marketplace. And our sages of blessed memory have stated (Avoth 4:15): "Extend greeting to all men." What is meant by greeting "all men"? Even if you see that he is ill disposed towards you, extend greeting to him; for if you do so, you will cause him to love you. What is more, even if he will not condescend to make peace with you, the Holy One Blessed be He will deliver him into your hand and humble him beneath you, as it is written (Devarim 20:1): "And if it [the city] does not make peace with you, but wages war against you, then you shall besiege it, and the L-rd your G-d will deliver it into your hand…" And so we find with David, may peace be upon him, that he pursued peace with Saul, as it is written (Psalms 120:7): "I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." Not only was Saul not appeased, but he pursued David to do him injury, and the Holy One Blessed be He delivered him into David's hand in the cave and in the encampment. And even so, it never entered David's heart to do him wrong. For one must love peace and pursue peace, as it is written (Ibid. 34:15): "Seek peace and pursue it." Seek it with your friend and pursue it with your enemy. Seek it in your place and pursue it in other places. Seek it with your body and pursue it with your money. [Sometimes one must be liberal with his money to seize upon the "stronghold of peace."] Seek it for yourself and pursue it for others. Seek it today and pursue it tomorrow. And do not despair, saying: "I will never achieve peace," but pursue it until you do achieve it. And what is the pursuit of peace? Thus have our sages of blessed memory said (Sanhedrin 110a): "This is speaking peace at a time of dispute and sacrificing one's honor for the general good, as was done by Moses, as it is written (Numbers 16:25): 'And Moses arose and he went to Dathan and Aviram…,'" and suspending one's affairs to make peace between a man and his wife, a man and his neighbor, and a teacher and his student — even to the extent of arranging a meal for two to make peace between them.

And all this, when he is powerless to protest and to quiet the quarrel. But if the son finds favor with his father and is able to quiet the quarrel and keeps silent, he is punished because of this. As we find in Tanna d'bei Eliyahu 21: "And a man should not look on when he sees his parents engaging in idle talk [(i.e., lashon hara and the like, and, how much more so, machloketh, which subsumes all)], and remain silent. And if he does, both he and they do not live out their days and years. And, likewise, it is a mitzvah for every man to make peace between the sides. And this [(making peace)] is one of those things whose fruits a man eats in this world, with the principal remaining for the world to come, as we find in Peah 1. And even if he sees that the din is not in accordance with one party and that they deserve to be punished for the machloketh, but he is able [to suppress it], even so, he should make every effort to make peace between the sides. And he should not be lax in doing so even if he is the most eminent man in Israel, as we find (Numbers 16:25): "And Moses arose and went to Dathan and Aviram [to make peace]." And Chazal have said (Sanhedrin 110a): "From here we derive that it is forbidden to persist in machloketh." And in the Midrash we find: "Because Moses went to the [tent] entrance of Dathan and Aviram, he merited rescuing four tzaddikim from the entrance of Gehinnom: the three sons of Korach and On ben Peleth." And it is written (Psalms 34:15): "Seek peace and pursue it," concerning which Chazal have said: "Seek it for your loved one and pursue it with your foe. Seek it in your place and pursue it in other places. Seek it with your body and pursue it with your possessions. Seek it for yourself and pursue it for others. Seek it today and pursue it tomorrow." The intent of the Midrash in "and pursue it tomorrow" is: Let one not despair of making peace, but let him pursue it today and also tomorrow and also the day after until he attains it. For even the stoutest of cart ropes, if it is constantly worn down, will weaken and snap in the end. Here, too. Even if one does not succeed the first or second time, let him not abandon this holy trait [of pursuing peace]. And even if his efforts do not succeed at all with the parties to the machloketh themselves, the trait of "triumphing" having overpowered them and their eyes having been blinded to the truth, still, this will deter the "outsiders," who are not parties in the machloketh, but who have been drawn into it by the evil counsel of the parties involved, and will save them from bitter punishment, as in the instance of Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him.

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.