KORACH'S MISTAKE Rabbi Elimelech Biderman
Ketores, the mixture of incense offered twice daily in the Mishkan and later in the more permanent Mikdash, plays a prominent role in Parashas Korach. It is both the means of proving the chosenness of Aharon, simultaneously leading to the death of Korach and his followers, (Korach 16:17, 35) as well as the tool for stopping the plague befalling the Jewish people when they accused Moshe and Aharon of killing Korach and his allies (17:11-12). This contradictory nature of the ketores as a vehicle of execution and as a method of salvation requires elucidation.
Much has been written about this topic. Here we will try to present part of the famous treatment of Parashas Korach presented by Rav Y. D. Soloveitchik zt"l.
The Torah is the greatest expression of Divine love. In the language of the Gemara (Shabbos 105a), the first word of the Divine, national revelation, "Anochi", "A-N-Ch-I," can be interpreted as an acrostic, "ana nafshi k'savis y'havis", I have given over myself, kiv'yachol, in the Torah. The Divine dictates in the Torah, when studied and performed precisely as commanded, connect us intensely to their Author. Rav Soloveitchik presented the central duality of mitzvah performance on the one hand coupled with the "great romance" inherent with that performance.
Korach's "common-sense rebellion" sought to skip the precise mitzvah performance and aim straight for the "great romance". If the t'cheiles is supposed to remind us of Divine majesty, would not an entirely blue garment serve this purpose better? Why the need for the "detail" of the blue string? (See Rashi to 16:1.) Moshe's response implied, "Yes, there is a 'great romance' inherent within mitzvah performance. But, in order to achieve that, the precise 'mitzvah act' must be primary, not secondary."
Based on Rav Soloveitchik's approach, perhaps we can suggest a reason that the ketores was so prominent in crushing the Korach rebellion and in stopping the plague. For it represents the enormous love of HKB"H for K'lal Yisrael and vice versa. This love stopped the plague. This same representation of this love, which Korach attempted to pervert and invert, destroyed him.
Rav Soloveitchik further explained that the menora, with its illumination, its precise form and design, represents exact mitzvah performance, dikdukei mitzvos; the ketores, whose
