Korach. One of the most profound and tragic stories found in our history. So powerful and potent it is, that in my new sefer, b’ezras Hashem, Eternal Treasure, I have written much about him and the very inspiring lessons we can learn from his life and very heartbreaking death…and I’d like to share today a piece taken from the sefer itself:
Once again, I am taking the liberty of sharing words from my Rav, this time back-to-back, even though this is still not the usual style of these divrei Torah. My Rav, Rav Binyomin Forst, shared in the name of Rav Yosef Tzvi Salant (the Be’er Yosef on Parashas Korach) a most remarkable thing: The Gemara (Sanhedrin 109b) comments that at the beginning of our parashah, which states, “Korach took,” it means that Korach took bad merchandise for himself.
The question is, if R”l, Korach ended up being lost together with all those who joined him, what was it that he really took for himself at all? Secondly, we know from Chazal that Korach saw through Ruach HaKodesh that in the future Shmuel HaNavi would be his descendant, and that is why he thought he must truly be correct in what he was doing.
However, in truth, we know that the reason Shmuel HaNavi actually merited to descend from him was not really in Korach’s merit at all, but rather it was in the merit of Korach’s sons, who were saved from death miraculously, since they did teshuvah. If so, could Korach truly be so wrong in his cheshbon? Did Shmuel HaNavi only come to Korach because of his children alone?
Rav Salant explains this remarkably: Korach clearly saw via Ruach HaKodesh that Shmuel would come from his line. And in truth, explains Rav Salant, it really was because of him and his merit that Shmuel would come from him! Yet there was still a great error in that understanding…because really it was not because of a positive effort that Korach made, but quite the contrary, R”l. Actually, it was due to the very tragic way Korach was killed and the effect that that itself had on the world, which brought about such a Kiddush Shem Shamayim…. It was actually because of that zechus that Korach was zoche to a Shmuel HaNavi!
That is, R’l, it was through Korach and his tragic demise that the Yidden saw so clearly the truth of מֹשֶׁה וְתוֹרָתוֹ אֱמֶׁת! So, in essence, Korach was correct; Shmuel was going to come from him, but not because of the reasons he assumed.
Thus, the tragedy of tragedies really was that Korach took what can be considered very bad merchandise… for Korach could have merited all that good in the most positive way possible… if only he had made himself subservient to Moshe and Aharon with reverence and respect, which would have brought an even greater awareness of מֹשֶׁה וְתוֹרָתוֹ אֱמֶׁת to Klal Yisrael… and that would have and could have been his zechus to merit a Shmuel HaNavi!
But instead, Korach, R”l, fought against Moshe and Aharon; instead of actually taking good merchandise, he took the very bad commodity, for even if it was true that Shmuel HaNavi came from him because he brought the clarity of מֹשֶׁה וְתוֹרָתוֹ אֱמֶׁת to Klal Yisrael, unfortunately, it came from the wrong direction…. Instead of being an eternal achievement, it R”l became an enormous tragedy.
The lessons of the above truly abound, and they are remarkably profound. People are given such opportunities in life — merits that will bring them untold zechus — and yet, because of a misunderstanding of the true perspective of matters — or a lack in middos — they may allow golden chances to slip through their fingers, and instead come back with the wrong merchandise….
May Hashem give us true clarity on every situation in life, so that we will be able to see only and implicitly that which is the will of Hashem…. B’Siyata DiShmaya.
