ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שמות 19:22

“And Korah took” - This matter that was in the wilderness of Sinai, when the firstborns were replaced and the Levites were separated,
For the Israelites thought that Moshe our Leader did it according to his own thought, to give greatness to his brother, and also to the sons of Kehat for they are close to him, and all of the Levites that they are his family.
And the Levites conspired against him because they were given to Aaron and his sons.
Datan and Aviram conspired because the firstborn privilege was removed from Reuven their father and given to Yosef; perhaps they suspected that [Moshe did that] for the sake of Yehoshua his servant [who was from Yosef].
Also Korah was a first born, for thus was written.
>And those Heads of the Congregation (edah) were firstborns and they were bringing the olah offerings.
And the proof for this explanation is the miracle of the staff (Bamidbar 17:16-26) that all of Israel saw that Hashem chose the tribe of Levi in place of the firstborns, and therefore it is written (Bamidbar 17:25) “their mutterings ceased,” for the mutterings were about this.
Also Moshe said that “it is not from my own mind” (Bamidbar 26:28), because they suspected that it was from his own mind that he did it.
And further proof is “Hashem did not send me” - for this task - because all the Israelites already believed in him [in general]. Another total proof is “all the congregation are holy” and this is a hint to the firstborns that they are holy, because it is written (shemot 13:2) “sanctify to Me every first born” and they are the priests (Kohanim) that approach Hashem and they are the essence of the whole congregation.

It is also possible to interpret “in their drawing near before the Lord,” according to the fact that they were especially close to the Lord, therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, was exacting with them to judge them even for a small error, as it is written (Psalms 53), And around Him it is very tempestuous. For whoever is closer to the king must be more careful with the king’s honor. And so Moses said, This is what the Lord spoke, saying: “Through those near to Me I will be sanctified” (Leviticus 10:3). And if we can say that there is no chronological order in the Torah, and this section was told to Moses before he said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke, saying: “Through those near to Me I will be sanctified,” then it is reasonable to understand that he said this regarding what the Holy One, blessed be He, told him in these four words: when they drew near before the Lord, and died. And [regarding] what Rashi explained, that “this warning was stricter than the first,” etc., perhaps his intention was that it had already been said (Exodus 19:22), Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them, and there too they were warned about this, but no punishment was mentioned there except lest He break out against them. Therefore, it was necessary to warn him a second time and tell him that he should not die in the way his sons died. But if the entire verse from after the death until and died is Scripture’s statement to us, I do not know from where Moses learned to warn him not to die as his sons died, for the Holy One, blessed be He, did not mention anything to Moses about the death of Aaron’s sons. According to our explanation, it is well-resolved that Moses learned this from the fact that the Lord informed him of the reason for the death of Aaron’s sons, and the commandment to Aaron is adjacent to it, which is certainly to warn him more than the first time.

‘B’MIDBAR SINAI’ (IN THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI). After having explained the laws of the offerings in the third book, He now began to set forth in this book the commandments which they [the children of Israel] were told with reference to the Tent of Meeting. Now He had already given a warning for all times about [the prohibition of] impurity relating to the Sanctuary and its holy things.¹Leviticus 5:2-3. See Ramban there (Vol. III pp. 52-54). Here He defined the boundaries of the Tabernacle whilst it was in the wilderness, just as He had set bounds for Mount Sinai when the [Divine] Glory was there,²Exodus 19:12. Ramban here, in stressing the parallels between the Tent of Meeting and Mount Sinai, is developing the idea that he mentions in Exodus at the beginning of Seder Terumah, that the Tent of Meeting was, as it were, a continuation of Mount Sinai. See Vol. II p. 435. and He commanded that the common man that draweth nigh shall be put to death,³Further, 1:51. just as He had said there, no hand shall touch him [i.e., the mountain], but he shall surely be stoned.⁴Exodus 19:13. He also commanded [here], And they shall not go in to see the holy things as they are being covered, lest they die⁵Further, 4:20. just as He warned there [at Sinai], lest they break through unto the Eternal to gaze, and many of them perish.⁶Exodus 19:21. He commanded here. And ye shall keep the charge of the holy things and the charge of the altar, [that there be wrath no more upon the children of Israel],⁷Further, 18:5. just as He said there, And let the priests also, that come near to the Eternal, sanctify themselves, lest the Eternal break forth upon them;⁸Exodus 19:22. and let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Eternal, lest He break forth upon them.⁹Ibid., Verse 24. Thus He commanded [here] how the Tabernacle and its vessels are to be guarded, and how they [the people] are to pitch round about it and how the people are to stand afar off, and how the priests that come near the Eternal⁸Exodus 19:22. are to treat it [the Tabernacle] when it is resting and when it is being carried [during the journeyings], and how they are to guard it. Now these are all [signs of] distinction and honor for the Sanctuary, just as the Rabbis of blessed memory have said,¹⁰Sifre Zuta Korach 18:4. “A King’s palace¹¹“And it is known that the term ‘palace’ is a reference to the Sanctuary” (“The Commandments,” Vol. I, p. 31). — It is possible, on first thought, to explain Ramban’s expression “and how they are to pitch round about it” that the pronoun “they” refers to all the Levites, and in that case the continuing expression “and how the people are to stand afar off” would thus complete the thought by contrast: the Levites are to encamp round about the Tabernacle, while the people are to stand afar off. But see in Chapter 2, Verse 2, that Scripture speaks clearly of the children of Israel encamping round about the Tabernacle. Hence the words of Ramban are to be understood as follows: the people are to pitch round about the Tabernacle, and when they approach it they are to stand afar off. This interpretation is fully borne out in the following chapters of this book of the Torah. that has guards over it cannot be compared to a palace that has no such guards.”

ועלית אתה ואהרן עמך והכהנים AND THOU SHALT COME UP, THOU AND AARON WITH THEE AND THE PRIESTS — One might think that they (the priests) shall also be with thee! Therefore it states “and thou shalt come up”. Consequently you must now admit that this is what God spake to him: thou hast a designated place for thyself, and Aaron a designated place for himself and they a designated place for themselves — Moses approached closer than Aaron and Aaron closer than the priests — but let the people under no circumstances break down their position to go up to the Lord (Mekhilta).