Shalom Friends;
This week, our Parshat HaShevua, Korach is being sponsored by R’ Dr. Pinchas and P’nina Klahr of Ramat Beit Shemesh and dedicated In honor of their grandson Matisyahu Natan, son Yaakov Shalom and Miriam Klahr for good health and good things for the family and kol Klal Yisrael. To the Klahr family, many thanks for your sponsorship and for your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
skype: mark.burt3
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As this vort on Parshat Korach is being written, this author has been going through a medical crisis and is scheduled for a pre-op meeting on Sunday (21 May) at Sha’arei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem. The date of the laser procedure is, as yet, unknown.
In the aftermath of the ten miraglim who bypassed their leader and went right to the people to voice their loshen hara about Eretz Yisrael, i.e. “we were like grasshoppers in our eyes, and so we were in their eyes!” [meaning “the Nephillim, the sons of the giant from among the Nephillim”] (Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 13, posuk 33). It would seem that Korach, Dasan and Aviram and the “offspring of Reuven [referring to Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 16, posuk 1] viewed the opportunity as open season to attack and attempt to diminish the leadership of Moshe Rabbeinu and Aaron HaKohen, thus thrusting Am Yisrael into further crisis and mational chaos.
Rabbi Shmuel Goldin provides context regarding Korach and his camp in his sefer “Unlocking The Torah Text,” Sefer Bamidbar (pages 149-151) :
Two dramatic confrontations recorded in the Midrash suggest what may well be the most significant element to Korach’s rebellion.
The Midrash relates that Korach, accompanied by two hundred and fifty communal leaders dressed in robes of pure techeilet (a shade of blue associated with the Mitzvah of Tzitzit) approaches and challenges Moshe: “Does a four-cornered, completely blue garment require tzitzit or is it exempt?” [Regarding Sefer Bamidbar, Parshat Shelach, Perek 15, posuk 38 where Hashem said to Moshe to “Speak to the B’nei Yisrael” regarding “Tzitzit on the corners of their garments… and they shall place upon the tzitzit of each corner a thread of turquoise wool.”]
When Moshe replies that such a garment does indeed require tzitzit, the rebels mockingly retort: “One blue thread fulfills the tzitzit requirement on any four-cornered garment, yet a garment that is totally blue is not, by dint of its basic color, automatically exempt?” (Rabbi Goldin citing Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar, 18:2, as quoted by Rashi, Bamidbar 16:1 — The Sapirstein Edition, The Torah with Rashi’s Commentary, pages 191-192)
Korach then challenges Moshe a second time: “Does a house filled with holy texts require a Mezzuza on its doorpost?”
When, …again, Moshe answers in the affirmative, Korach mocks: “The two scriptural sections found in a Mezzuza fulfill a home’s requirement, yet the two hundred and seventy scriptural sections of the entire Torah text do not. These [illogical] precepts could not have been divinely commanded to you, Moshe: clearly you fabricated them yourself.” (Rabbi Goldin citing Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar, 18:2)
Once raised by the Midrash, …in a powerful exposition by Rabbi Joseph Soloveichik, the Rav maintains that Korach’s rebellion is best perceived as “a ‘common sense’ rebellion against Torah authority” — an attack on Torah law based on man’s limited logic.
The Rav explains that Korach’s error lies in his failure to appreciate the two levels of intelligence involved in the application of Torah law. While the path of Halacha is partly guided by da’at, basic intelligence and practical judgement, it’s primary determinant is chochma, specialized knowledge and scholarship. The primacy of chochma in the determination of law, says the Rav, rises out of another basic truth. While inner religious experience is a critical component of Judaism’s religious practice, the concrete act of a Mitzvah’s performance is primary. The Divinely inspired Mitzvot have intrinsic value, independent of their effect upon those who perform them. The development of these Mitzvot, therefore cannot be left to the subjective common sense of “everyman.” Only those possessing chochma — trained in the intricacies of Torah Halachic thought and scholarship — can determine the path of the law.
Rabbi Goldin goes through Moshe’s reaction and declaration of the supernatural trial on the morrow, (ibid, page 160) :
The Torah describes Moshe’s immediate reaction to the rebellion led by Korach, Dasan and Aviram and On:
And Moshe fell on his face. And he spoke to Korach and his entire assembly, saying: “Come morning and Hashem will make known who is His own…
“This you shall do: Take yourselves censers — Korach and his entire assembly — and put fire in them and place incense upon them, before Hashem tomorrow. And it will be the man that Hashem will choose, he is the holy one. You presume too much, children of Levi.” (Rabbi Goldin rendered to English Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 16, posukim 4-7)
Later in the narrative, …after receiving instructions from Hashem to separate the onlookers from Korach’s camp, Moshe proclaims to the watching nation:
“With this you shall know that the Lord sent me to perform all of these deeds; that it was not from my heart. If these [the rebels] die like all men and the destiny of all men is appointed for them, the Lord has not sent me.
“But if the Lord will create a new phenomenon, and the ground will open it’s mouth and swallow them up with all that is theirs, and they will descend alive into the pit, then you will know that these men have provoked the Lord.” (Rabbi Goldin rendered to English Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 16, posukim 28-30)
Now, Rabbi Goldin raises questions regarding the morrow’s test, and provides commentaries’ discussions regarding Moshe’s
unilateral [adjective: undertaken or done by or on behalf of one side, party, or faction only; not mutual: a unilateral decision; unilateral disarmament] trial vs his agitators (ibid, pages 161-162) :
A careful reading of the text reveals a powerfully puzzling question that we could easily miss.
How could Moshe devise a supernatural test without prior consultation with Hashem? All other paranormal miracles in the Torah are Divinely ordained. What gives Moshe the right, in this one instance, to respond to Korach’s rebellion by first constructing a supernatural trial and only then apparently requesting/demanding Hashem’s participation?
A number of commentaries, including Saadia Gaon and the Rashbam… claim that Moshe’s seemingly independent actions are not independent at all.
Upon hearing the rebel’s accusations, Moshe “falls on his face.” This response, these scholars maintain, is an attempt on Moshe’s part to communicate with Hashem through prayer for prophetic vision.During his supplications, Moshe receives Divine instructions as to how to respond to the challenges before him. These steps…, are determined by Hashem, not by Moshe. (Rabbi Goldin citing Saadia Gaon on Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 16, posuk 4; Rashbam, ibid)
Other authorities, however, including Rashi, mirror an earlier Midrashic tradition that interprets Moshe’s reaction to the insurrection differently. Moshe falls on his face, …not in prayer, but in shame and despair. Confronted with B’nei Yisrael’s repeated rebellions, Moshe now finds himself incapable of interceding on their behalf. (Rabbi Goldin citing Rashi on Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 16, posuk 4; Midrash Tanchuma, Sefer Bamidbar, Korach 4)
According to these authorities, …our original questions remain. If Hashem does not communicate with Moshe at the outset of the rebellion, how does Moshe know what to do? Is it possible that Moshe, on his own, devises the test by which Korach and his followers will be tried and then requests/demands Hashem’s acquiescence? If so, by what right does he do so?
Perhaps the answer lies in the overarching threat presented by Korach’s rebellion… This insurrection is not only a grab for personal power on the part of the rebels, but a fundamental challenge to Moshe’s overall halachic influence. Left unchecked, Korach’s efforts would undermine the very concept of rabbinic authority at its infancy, dealing a death blow to the halachic process and to the ability of the nation of the Jews to survive across the ages.
Central to the concept of rabbinic authority and to the Halachic process as a whole is the revolutionary partnership forged between Hashem and man in the development of the law. Within the context of this partnership, Hashem effectively cedes the determination of the law to man through his authorization of the Rabbis to interpret and apply the Divine Decrees.
Moshe recognizes… that with Korach’s rebellion, the Halachic Hashem-man partnership already stands at a critical crossroads — almost before it begins. He concludes that, to protect the integrity of the Halachic process, he must not only prove himself to be the Divinely selected progenitor of Rabbinic authority, but he must also openly demonstrate the Divinely mandated underpinnings [any supporting structure or system] of that authority. Moshe therefore turns to Hashem and takes a calculated risk.
Rabbi Goldin concludes (ibid, page 163) :
Moshe, risking everything on a bold experiment that he feels must succeed, publically “pushes Hashem’s hand” in response to Korach’s rebellion. Hashem’s positive response, in the face of open challenge, reinforces the partnership lying at the core of the halachic process and ensures the stability of Halachic law at it’s inception.
Post-Script: Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 17, posuk 34 rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Chumash and a note on the posuk from (ibid, page 827) :
“All Israel that was around them fled at their sound, for they said, ‘Lest the earth swallow us!'”
“At their sound” [in Hebrew: L’kolum], i.e., The cries of those who were swallowed up. (Artscroll Stone Chumash citing Rashbam) They [Korach and his assembly] screamed from the deep, “Hashem is righteous, His verdict is true, and the words of His servant Moshe are true. We are evil because we rebelled against him.” (Artscroll Stone Chumash citing Targum Yonasan) According to Mizrachi’s interpretation of Rashi, the sound was that of the earth opening and closing upon the rebels.
For sure, there are lessons to be learned and internalized in today’s governance in Israel.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them, that the thrice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes and the oft-destroyed Yeshiva buildings in Homesh be rebuilt, all at total government expense; due to alt-leftist-agendized, supreme court legalized Yassamnik gunpoint. Baruch Hashem that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard is now in his third year at home in Eretz Yisrael and has embarked on a new chapter in his life. May Esther Yocheved bat Yechiel Avraham have an aliyah in Shemayim and may her spirit and memory continue to lift Jonathan to at least 120 years. May the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem — as with the return in April, 2019, via Russia, of the remains of Zachariah Baumel, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of nine years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. And may we soon and finally see the total end to the Communist Chinese corona virus pandemic and all like viruses. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nei Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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