Part II. Korach’s Garden
Korach: A Tragic Personality
And so we’ll take one example, from this week’s parsha. Everybody remembers what happened to Korach, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed him and he went lost forever.
It’s a tragic story and we’ll take the time to study it in some detail because that’s the reason the Torah took the trouble to write about it at length. It’s expected to be a model for us in our daily lives so that we should see now how dangerous it is to have a mind that is not cultivated with the utmost care.
Korach: A Great Personality
Now don’t misunderstand me; Korach was a great man. First of all, nobody who wasn’t good was able to leave Mitzrayim. Remember in the haggadah of Pesach we say to the rasha, ָל‡ ¿‚ ƒנ הָיָה ‡ֹל ,ָׁ ם̆ הָיָהּוּלƒ‡ – had he been there, he wouldn’t have been redeemed. It’s a principle that those who weren’t worthy did not leave Mitzrayim. And so if Korach left Mitzrayim you can be sure he deserved it. Korach went through what everybody else experienced. He passed through the Yam Suf with everyone else and as he walked he sang Az Yashir. He was a Levite, so I imagine he had a beautiful voice and that he was singing as loud as anyone else.
But not only was Korach worthy of leaving Mitzrayim and experiencing all the nissim of the midbar but he stood at Har Sinai with the whole Klal Yisrael and accepted the Torah. הָהָר „∆‚נ∆ ≈ל‡ׂרָ¿̆ƒי ָׁ ם̆ חַ ןּƒוַי – And the nation encamped in front of Har Sinai (Shemos 19:2). It doesn’t say, vayachanu, and they encamped. It says vayichan, loshon yachid – and he encamped – which means the whole nation spoke up k’ish echad. It means that Korach and his congregation also stood at the foot of Har Sinai and together with everyone else they shouted naaseh v’nishma with the greatest enthusiasm.
The Tragedy
So you can be certain that Korach was a good frum Jew. And so it’s a big question – what happened? How could such a great personality fall so far?
The answer is that he allowed brambles to grow in his mind. It was a result of being a choreish ra. Korach was plowing wickedness; he began to think wrong about others. He planted in his mind seeds of being dan lekaf chov and those little seeds grew into big trees, trees of poisonous fruit.
You remember that glorious day of the hakamas hamishkan, when the Sanctuary was finally erected in this world and the Am Yisroel would now claim the exclusive glory of having Hashem reside among them? There were very few days – we could even say no day ever – in the history of the world when there was so much rejoicing.
And then suddenly a tragedy took place. ָ ם̇וֹ‡ כַל‡ֹּ̇וַ ׁ≈ םּ̆הַ נ≈י¿פƒּלƒמ ׁ̆≈‡ ‡≈ˆ≈ּ̇וַ – A fire went forth from Hashem and it consumed Nadav and Avihu, the two sons of Aharon who had entered the Sanctuary to officiate as the newly appointed kohanim, ׁ≈ םּ̆הַ נ≈י¿פƒלּו ָ̇מֻּוַי, and they perished there before Hashem (ibid. 10:2).
Making Sense of Tragedy
Now, the whole nation when they saw that tragedy, they were overwhelmed with shock and sadness. On the happiest day such an event should occur?! It was unimaginable! And Korach was there too along with everyone else; he was standing there, watching, and he was troubled too: “How could such a thing happen that the two sons of Aharon should die in the Mishkan by the Hand of Hashem?! Such nice young men, tzaddikim, should fall dead in the middle of such a great celebration?!”
Now Korach understood that Hashem doesn’t do things for no reason – particularly a tragedy as great as this – and so he began to suspect Moshe Rabbeinu. Korach was thinking, “Maybe it’s because they shouldn’t have been there in the first place! It’s what I thought all along – it’s true they were great men but were they the only ones worthy of being chosen? Was it yashrus that Moshe should appoint his brother and his brother’s sons as the kohanim? Why should they be chosen instead of me and my sons? I’m also a Levi, after all.”
One of The Best
Now Korach wouldn’t have said that if he had been a nobody or an ordinary Levi. The truth is that Korach was one of the best Levi’im; he was a lamdan and a tzaddik and he had very good sons too, just like Aharon. ≈חַּˆנַ¿לַמ מו ֹר¿זƒמ ֹרַ ח ̃ נ≈י¿בƒל – The children of Korach have beautiful tefillos in the sefer Tehillim. Hakadosh Baruch Hu put His spirit into them and they sang beautiful songs to Hashem; they were glorious prototypes of the Levi’im who sang shirei kodesh to Hashem. You see later (Bamidbar 26:11) thatּו ̇מ≈ ‡ֹל ֹרַ ח ̃ נ≈י¿בּו – they didn’t die in what happened to Korach, because they were tzaddikim gemurim. And their father was certainly somebody – a man is not zocheh to such children unless he himself has worked in his lifetime to acquire certain great attributes of character.
“So if I have such good sons,” Korach had thought all along, “why weren’t we chosen by Moshe?” And so already at the time that Aharon’s children were appointed, a seed of suspicion began to grow in his mind; seeds of dan lekaf chov were planted in Korach’s head and he began to suspect that maybe Aharon didn’t have the right to be a kohen.
And now, when he witnessed what happened at the chanukas hamishkan, all of those brambles of suspicion that had taken root in his mind began to release their poisonous fruit. “Now you see that I was right. Hakadosh Baruch Hu showed His displeasure – they weren’t really fit for it. It was Moshe Rabbeinu who gave the kehuna to his brother’s family, not Hashem.”
A Favor for Moshe
Now Korach knew just like we do, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu had said to Moshe, “Take your brother Aharon and hakreiv, bring him near.” Korach knew that it was the Word of Hashem but he began to reason like this: This, I'm repeating what I heard from my rebbi zichrono levrachah.
Korach was thinking, “Moshe Rabbeinu did so many good things for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He served Him so loyally, he organized the Bnei Yisrael, he took them out of Mitzrayim, he brought them together to Matan Torah – He lived completely for Hashem and Hakadosh Baruch Hu felt a certain indebtedness, a hakaras hatov, to Moshe Rabbeinu.
And so when Moshe Rabbeinu put in a good word for his brother, “Can you make my brother, Aharon, the kohen gadol, and his sons should be the kohanim?” Hakadosh Baruch Hu wouldn’t refuse. ׂ∆ ה̆יַﬠֲ ָ יו‡ר≈¿י וֹןˆ ¿ר – Hashem does the will of those who fear Him (Tehillim 145:19). Like we say, tzaddik gozer v’Hakadosh Baruch Hu mekayem – when a tzaddik wills something so Hakadosh Baruch Hu fulfills his will. That's a principle, that independent of what Hakadosh Baruch Hu would have done anyhow, one of His considerations is to fulfill the will of the tzaddikim.
That’s what Korach reasoned: “It's only because Hakadosh Baruch Hu yielded to Moshe’s will. But who said that it was best for the Am Yisroel? Why didn’t he put in a good word for me? Am I worse than his brother? Could be I’m even better for the job than his brother. If only Moshe Rabbeinu would have been perfect without any flaws in character, without any desire at all to domineer the people, if he would have been completely humble, then he wouldn't have desired such a situation. And therefore because of him, we suffered this great tragedy on what was supposed to be the happiest day in our history.”
Self Obliteration
Now the truth is that it wasn’t so. Moshe Rabbeinu said, “What do you want of me? I didn’t say anything to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. הַָּ̇‡ לָכ≈ן – You, Korach,ָך¿ָ̇„ﬠֲ כָל¿ו – and all of your congregation, יםƒ„הַנֹּﬠָ – that are gathered together, ׁ≈ םּ̆הַ ﬠַל – you're gathered against Hashem. Not against me. מַה ַהֲרֹן‡ ¿ו ﬠָלָיוּינוּƒַ ל̇ יּƒכ ‡ּהו – What is Aharon that you should complain against him? (Bamidbar 16:11). ‡ּהו מַה ַהֲרֹן‡ – Aharon doesn't have any desires. He didn't want anything in the world; he didn't even have the slightest inkling of being chosen. Mah hu! Mah means nothing at all. Nachnu mah, Moshe Rabbeinu said, “Who are we? We're nothing. Aharon and I are nothing at all. It's only Hashem.”
It's like in the Kelmer Talmud Torah, how the mussar shmuess was given. People were sitting there listening, and the old rosh yeshivah who was saying the shmuess sat in the back seat. He spoke from a place in the back so that you didn't see anybody. All you heard was the voice. He effaced himself entirely as if he didn't exist. A man is sitting in the back seat and he's talking. Everybody is sitting and looking to the front and listening. That’s how our leaders used to be.
Now, it’s true that Moshe had tremendous power, but he had the ability to submerge his personality so entirely that nothing of his own desire stood in the way. That’s how great leaders are. They can nullify their personality. They erase all their desires in order there shouldn't be any mechitzos that intervene between Hashem and the people.
The Unhappy Ending
But Korach wouldn't listen to that. It was hard for him to believe such a thing because he had already plowed the seeds of evil for so long. Korach wasn't a brute, a ruffian who could be misled so easily by partisan rivalry; he was a great man. Nobody could gain a following in such a noble place like the camp in the midbar – people who had listened daily to Moshe Rabeinu, people who had listened to Hakadosh Baruch Hu and received the Torah – unless he was worthy of such a following. And so he was worthy! But even so, that's what happens in the mind that isn’t cultivated with the utmost care.
Korach had already plowed and sowed and tended to these shoots of dan lekaf chov and now they sprouted forth poisonous fruit: “What do you mean you're nothing? Do you mean to say you can erase from yourselves all the tendencies that human beings have? Don’t you have at least a little bit of love for yourself? It's just because of you! You twisted it so that Hashem should choose your brother. You were able to finagle it out of Hashem, so to speak.”
And it was those seeds in Korach’s mind that eventually led to his downfall. ָּ יהƒפ ̇∆‡ ıָר∆‡הָ חַּ̇¿פּƒ̇וַ – Because Korach opened his big mouth, the earth opened its big mouth and swallowed him into Gehenom forever. He was a good man, Korach; a very good man. But רָ ע ≈ׁ י̆¿חֹרּעו¿̇ƒי ‡ֹלו הֲ – Won't they go lost, those who plow wrong thoughts into the field of the mind? As good as you are, if you’re too lazy to cultivate the orchard of good thoughts about others, then those seeds produce weeds and brambles and something bad is sure to happen.
