A machlokes, dispute, requires two antagonists. One cannot quarrel with oneself. This is why the machlokes Korach debacle is referred to as Machlokes Korach v’chol adaso. The dispute was one-sided: Korach and his entire faction. Moshe Rabbeinu ignored them, refraining from stooping to their level and engaging in machlokes. This idea is reflected in an exposition by Horav Aryeh Levine, zl on the pasuk in Tehillim 38:14: V’ani k’cheresh, lo eshma, u’kileim lo yiftach piv, “But I, like a deaf man hear not, and, as one who is mute, opens not his mouth.” In a subtle shift in the wording, Dovid Hamelech switches from first person, eshma, to third person yiftach instead of eftach. The lesson to be derived is profound: If I ignore what the other person says, he cannot continue to argue because he has no one with whom to quarrel. By not responding, one neutralizes the dispute.
Alternatively, two types of ilmim, mute people, exist. Some cannot speak well, and, thus, produce unclear, broken syllables. Others are completely silent. Dovid Hamelech said, “I am like a mute, not one who utters fragmented sounds, but one who is completely silent.” This is a powerful lesson. Many assert that they ignore the accuser who wants to pick a fight. Do they maintain true silence, or do they mutter and make facial motions which are a form of response?
