A Person Must Indeed Have Lofty Dreams – Just That He Has to Do It in The Right Way

IN DEFENSE OF KORACH

R' Nosson Wachtfogel Zatzal has a Gevaldige Shmuess about how a person has to strive for greatness, and how justified Korach was in having such great ambitions. Of course, he was wrong about how he went about it. However, we have a lesson on how a person has to have lofty dreams - as long as he does it in the right way.

Story from the Gemara

Il’fa and Rabbi Yochanan were learning Torah together, but they were suffering from great poverty…. so they started thinking about leaving the Bais Medrash to earn a Parnasa. One day, they were eating bread together, and they happened to be sitting next to a shaky wall. Two Malachim came over, and Rabbi Yochanan overheard one Malach saying to the other: Let’s topple this wall over them and do away with them, since they are forsaking eternal life [Torah] and instead pursuing temporary livelihood [business]. The other Malach responded: Leave them, since one of them will continue learning Torah and will become great.

Rabbi Yochanan who heard this exchange asked Il’fa: Did you hear something? Il'fa replied: No. Rabbi Yochanan thought to himself: If I heard this, it was surely meant for me. So Rabbi Yochanan went back to his learning, and eventually became a Rosh Yeshiva and a Gadol B’yisroel. But Il’fa though, although he was actually greater in learning than Rabbi Yochanan, went into business and he wasn’t Zoche.