When considering the story of Korach’s rebellion, we see that he was motivated by envy of Aaron’s position. Aaron was the High Priest, and Korach was only a Levite. Korach wanted to be High Priest. The Rebbe explains Korach’s rebellion in the context of the future redemption. In the Messianic era the Levites will be elevated to the higher status of priests. Korach wanted to benefit from this already, in his own time, and he sought to achieve that status. This desire is essentially good. Korach erred, though, by assembling his followers to rebel against Moses. He thought that by doing so he could, as it were, force the redemption. He did not realize that it could not happen until the refinement of the world would be completed.
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