The whole congregation are all holy, and Hashem is in their midst, so why do you lord it over the congregation of Hashem? (Bemidbar 17:5)
The Crown of Crowns
We are going to talk about Korach, but first, some background.
Pirkei Avos speaks of kesarim, crowns. But it’s not clear how many there are.
There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood and the crown of kingship, and the crown of a good name goes on top of them. 1 Pirkei Avos 4:13.
So how many crowns are there, three or four? First it says three, but then it mentions another one, the crown of shem tov, a good name.
The common explanation is that the crown of a good name is not really a crown on its own. It rather adorns the other three crowns. There is a crown of Torah that is adorned by also having a good name, and there is a crown of Torah that is not adorned by a good name. There is a crown of malchus with a good name, and one without. This is what it means that the crown of a good name “goes on top of them.” It adorns the other three crowns.
I am not so sure this is really the simple meaning of the statement in Pirkei Avos. I think it means that there really are four crowns. But the crown of a good name is so high that it is not counted along with the other three. It is on a completely different madreigah.
What is this keser shem tov, this crown of a good name?
A name is better than good oil. 2 Koheles 7:1.
The Midrash tells us in what ways a good name is better than good oil:
Good oil goes down, while a good name goes up. Good oil is temporary, while a good name is forever. Good oil runs out, while a good name does not run out. Good oil costs money, while a good name is for free. Good oil is only for the living, while a good name is for the living and for the dead. Good oil is for the wealthy, while a good name is for the poor and the wealthy. [The scent of] good oil goes from the side room to the main room, while a good name goes all around the world. Good oil dissipates when it falls on water, and a good name does not dissipate when it falls on water. Good oil burns up when it falls into fire, while a good name does not burn up when it falls into fire. 3 Koheles Rabbah 7:1.
Now let’s take it a step further. The Midrash goes on to apply the idea in a different way:
Said R. Yehudah son of R. Simon: We see that people of good oil went into the place of the living, and came out burnt, whereas people of good name went into the place of the dead, and came out alive. Nadav and Avihu went into the place of the living, and died. Chananyah, Mishael and Azariah went into a fiery furnace, and came out alive. For this it says, “A name is better than good oil.”
Now we see that “good oil” is not just a physical object. It refers also to Nadav and Avihu, who were the greatest people alive at the time of Moshe Rabbeinu. They represented the peak of Torah. But it was Torah without a good name, and therefore it had the qualities mentioned in the first part of the Midrash. It goes down, it runs out, it dissipates in water, etc. Whereas Torah with a good name is exactly the opposite. It does not go down, it does not get burnt up, etc.
The Self-Made Name
What’s really the point here? What’s so important about a name?
A name defines a person’s essence. Adam Harishon’s wisdom surpassed that of the angels because he was able to give names to all the animals.
This is a very great wisdom, because naming something is defining its essence.
There is a certain level in avodas Hashem where a person finds his ruchniyus inside himself. It is internal. The classic example is Avraham Avinu, who “learned Torah from himself.” 4 Ibid. There is also a level where a person learns Torah, but his Torah is not from himself, it is not from his innate person.
When a person “has a good name,” this means the virtue, the madreigah he attained, is his. It comes from himself. But “good oil” means his madreigah, however high it may be, came to him from an external source. In such a case, it has the qualities of physical oil. It goes down, it runs out, etc.
The difference between Avraham Avinu and Noach was that Noach needed external support from Hashem, as it says את האלקים התהלך נח – “Noach walked with G-d.” 5 Bereishis Rabbah 17:4. 6 Ibid 96:3. 7 Bereishis 6:9.
Now, there is nothing wrong with “walking with G-d.” It’s actually a very high madreigah. If only we were on that madreigah. But it’s still not the high level that Avraham Avinu attained. About Avraham it says הֵיְהֶי וַנָפְ לְךֵּלַהְתִ היםִמָת – Walk before Me, and be perfected.” This implies that he walked on his own.
Now we come to a very interesting explanation of the well-known pasuk ויקרא בשם ה' – “And He called him by Hashem’s Name.” 9 Shemos 34:5. The Ibn Ezra explains that the one calling the name is Hashem Himself. Why? Because only Hashem can call a name. “Don’t be surprised that Hashem is calling the name, because He alone knows and is knowledge and is known. This is a very deep matter.” 10 Ibn Ezra, Shemos 34:5.
This expresses Hashem’s perfection, because “name” represents essence, it implies self-sufficiency, it means non-dependence on external sources. As the Ibn Ezra said, “This is a very deep matter.”
R. Yerucham of Mir wrote on this subject and commented that we should try to emulate this trait. Just as Hashem talks with Himself and about Himself, He is singular and unique, and is involved only with Himself and from Himself, so a person should always talk with himself and to himself. R. Yerucham concluded by saying, “This matter is truly very deep and awesome.”
If a person wants to know where he is really holding, what kind of a person he is, how much his tzelem Elokim is expressing itself, then he needs to find his Yiddishkeit and his Torah when he is alone, with no one but himself there. Then he talks with himself, to himself, like Hashem does, so to speak.
This is shem tov, a good name. It means that a person finds his own life, his own hasmadah, his own tefilah. He finds everything in and of himself.
By contrast, there is a person of “good oil.” This is a wonderful madreigah. But if such a person were to be asked, “What is your name?” he would not mention his personal name. He would say something like, “I am a bachur from such-and-such a yeshivah.” In other words, that’s how he identifies. His ruchniyus is not in and of himself. It is from his environment. However, that’s not what a “name” is. A name is a person’s own self.
If someone like that would find himself all on his own, without any supportive environment or defining framework, he might be embarrassed to discover the sorry madreigah he is truly on.
This is why “a good name is better than good oil.”
The Korach Mistake
This is what Korach got wrong.
He argued that “the entire congregation is holy and Hashem is in their midst.” It did not make sense to him that there should be only one leader of the Jewish people, Moshe Rabbeinu, through whom everyone else will receive the Torah. Why should there be only one Kohen Gadol and one Navi?
Korach wanted everyone to be spiritually great. He wanted everyone to be equal. But that’s not the way it works.
In a certain way, he was right. The crown of Torah is indeed intended for every Jew.
The crown of Torah is sitting and waiting, available to all Jews, as it says תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב – “Moshe commanded us Torah, which is a heritage for [all] the congregation of Yaakov.” 11 Devarim 33:4.
Whoever who wishes can come and take it. 12 Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Talmud Torah 3:1.
But Korach could not accept the fact that there is a shaliach tzibbur for everyone. He wanted the whole congregation to do it, because they are all equally holy.
Korach didn’t know that when Hashem gave the Torah through Moshe Rabbeinu, the Torah retained the same kedushah and clarity that it had when it was spoken from Hashem’s mouth.
Aharon and his sons were happy and joyous to hear words of Torah and receive them from the mouth of Moshe as they would be to hear them from the mouth of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. 13 Yalkut Shimoni, Tzav 519.
This idea is explained at length in Sefer Nefesh Hachayim. It is actually one of the deepest points in the whole sefer.
The kedushah of the Torah is even greater and more awesome than that of the spiritual worlds above. Although the lofty worlds above have very great kedushah, when they devolve and descend, they go down in tremendous steps. Indeed, each world is stamped with the form of all the patterns of the world above it, in the same likeness and image, as is known. Nevertheless, its level of kedushah and light bears no comparison to that of the world above it.
The holy Torah, too, descended and devolved, level after level, from its upper holy root and source, and it transversed countless stages from one world to another and from one level to another. Nevertheless, it retains its original kedushah just like in its original holy root and source. Even in this world, it is just as it originally was above. It is completely holy and one may not treat it as mundane, chas v’shalom... because it always retains its original kedushah.
This is also what Chazal meant when they said in the Zohar that Hakadosh Baruch Hu and the Torah are one. Although the worlds descend and devolve level after level, and change greatly in the degree of their kedushah, all this is true only from our side. But from Hashem’s side, there is no difference and change of places, chas v’shalom.
This is as it is written: אני ה’ לא שניתי – “I, Hashem, have not changed.” 14 Malachi 3:6. His kedushah doesn’t change. And so it is with the holy Torah. Even though it descended and devolved over a course of many tremendous steps, it has not changed in its kedushah at all. It retains its original kedushah even in this lowest of worlds, just as it was when it was with Hashem in its source and root. No difference and change in place affects this at all. 15 Nefesh Hachayim 4:27.
So we see that the Torah of Moshe Rabbeinu has the very same level of kedushah it possessed when it was spoken from Hashem’s mouth.
Korach didn’t know this. He didn’t realize that when we learn Torah, it’s straight from Hashem. ה' יתן חכמה מפיו דעת ותבונה כי – “Hashem gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” 16 Mishlei 2:6.
Each person, when he learns Torah from his rebbe, it is exactly like learning it straight from the mouth of Hashem, with no difference.
Korach thought that Torah has its full kedushah and clarity only if you learn it directly from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But when you receive Torah from Moshe, it passed through a conduit of flesh and blood, and it’s not the same thing anymore.
But we know that Torah never changes.
