Even False Lashon Hara is Believed:
Rashi says: “He took himself to one side to dissociate himself from the congregation, to contest the (appointment of Aharon to the) kehunah. This is what Onkelos means when he translates it ‘and he separated himself.’ He separated himself from the congregation to persist in a dispute.”
Yalkut Mei’am Loaiz quotes a Medrash (Yalkut Shimoni 750) that relates that Korach gathered a large crowd around him and spoke mocking words to them. He fabricated a story that he used to disparage Moshe. The completely false story he told was, “In my neighborhood, there lives a poor widow who had two orphaned daughters. All she owned were two small fields from which she supported her family. One year, when she started to plow her field, Moshe told her: Make sure not to plow with an ox and donkey together because Hashem forbade this. When it came time to plant, Moshe told her: Make sure not to plant kilayim because this is forbidden. When it was time to harvest the crops, Moshe told her: Remember to leave leket, shikchah and peah. When it was time to bring the crops into storage, Moshe said to her: You must give terumah and maaser.
“The widow silently accepted this all and did whatever Moshe said but when she saw how little she had left for herself, she decided that it wasn’t worth it to have a field, so she sold it and bought two sheep with the money. She planned on supporting her family from the wool.
“When the sheep gave birth, Aharon came and took the bechor, saying that Hashem commanded for it to be given to the kohen. When it was time to shear the sheep, Aharon returned and took the reishis hagez, again saying that Hashem commanded for this to be given to him.
“The widow now decided that she couldn’t handle this either, so she slaughtered the sheep to each. After she slaughtered them, Aharon returned and said that he was entitled to the zaroah, leichayim and keiva. The widow saw that even now she couldn’t get away from him, so she just donated it all to hekdesh. Now Aharon came and took it all, as he said Hashem promised this to the kohen as well. The widow and her two daughters were now left with nothing.”
Korach concluded by saying, “This is the type of thing Moshe and his brother do. They claim that Hashem commanded it, but they really make it up on their own.”
The Yalkut Mei’am Loaiz adds some words of mussar. He writes that we see from here how powerful lashon hara is. Even when those hearing the lashon hara know that it is a lie, it still affects them. This story could not possibly be true, as there were no fields to plow or plant in the desert. Furthermore, the commandment to give matnas kehunah had not gone into effect yet. Furthermore, no one worried about parnassah in the desert, as everyone was sustained by the mann. Thus, there were no poor, hungry widows and orphans. It was very clear that Korach was lying, but his lashon hara was still believed and made an impression.
A Tzadik Benefits From Having Antagonists:
Rav Menachem Mendel of Rimanov zy”a (Sefer Menachem Tzion) explains why the story of Korach is placed next to the Parshah of the 24 matanos given to kohanim (which are listed at the end of Parshas Korach) by saying that this is meant to teach us that not only can those who fight against tzadik not harm him, they even provide benefit for him. We see this from the fact that not only couldn’t Korach and his followers hurt Aharon, they also caused him to receive more matnas kehuna.
The Fire of Machlokes:
The Maharsham of Brezhan zt”l related the following story:
Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson zt”l, author of Shoel U’Meishiv, once traveled to the vacation city o Skola to benefit from the fresh air during the summer. This city was home to several hundred Jewish families and the custom in their bais medrash was to daven Nusach Sefard. During the summer months, many residents of Lemberg would come to Skola and rent rooms rom them, which provided them with a nice income.
One leil Shabbos, the chazan recited “V’Yatzmach Pirkunei”, as is customary for Nusach Sefard. The men from Lemberg, who davened Nusach Ashkenz, protested, but the Shoel U’Meishiv motioned for them to quiet down.
When the chazan began to recite “Kagavna”, the Lemberg residents again tried to protest, and they began to loudly recite “Bameh Madlikim”. The local residents yelled at them, “This is our shul! You are just our guests!” But the Lembergers screamed back at them, “You make a lot of money off of us and we donate a lot for the bais knesses. We have a right to dictate shul policy!”
Again, the Shoel U’Meishiv silenced them and said, “Tadir v’she’eino tadir, tadir kodem. (The regulars take precedence.)”
After davening, the Shoel U’Meishiv invited everyone to his house and said that he wanted to tell them something. He said, “My dear brothers, you all went to daven and pour your hearts out to Hashem, and the Satan couldn’t handle it. He wanted to disturb your prayers. So what did he do? He persuaded the men of Lember to say ‘Bameh Madlikin.’ However, he translated the words to mean: How do we light the fire of machlokes. And he persuaded the men of Skola to say ‘Kagavna.” But he translated the word to mean: We are like them. We also engage in machlokes like they do.
“My brothers, of course that wasn’t what the authors of the tefillos had in mind. But what can we do? We are in golus and we are entrapped by the yeitzer hara. Therefore, we need to beseech Hashem to have mercy and send Moshiach so that we wont have to say ‘V’yatzmach Pekurnei’ anymore. And then we will do whatever Moshiach does. I he says ‘Kagavna’, we will do like him. If he says ‘Bameh Madlikin’, we will do the same in a fiery way. We will light the fire of ahavas Yisroel.”
He then added, “What I just told you is ‘chasidishe Torah’. I said it that way because that is the minhag hamakom, as the residents of this town are chasidim. I will now tell you a halacha l’maisoh. The residents of Lemberg may say ‘Bameh Madlikin’ quietly while they are in Skola. So too, if any residents of Skola come to Lemberg, they can say ‘Kagavna’ quietly. I’ll tell you the truth. I personally say ‘Bameh Madlikin’.”
He concluded, “If anyone from Lemberg says ‘Kagavna’ while they are Skola, and if anyone from Skola says ‘Bameh Madlikin’ while they are in Lemberg, I will accept the punishment upon myself.”
Machlokes Makes a “Hole in the Wallet”:
It is related that a dispute once broke out regarding whom to appoint as shochet of the city of Radin. The Chofetz Chaim zt”l called for a gathering of all the residents and he rebuked them for engaging in discord. He told them, “Someone who engages in machlokes is comparable to a wallet that is full of coins but has a small hole in it. Of course, all the coins will end up falling through the little hole and getting lost. So too, even if a person possesses lots of Torah and mitzvos, if he also is involved with machlokes, it will all fall out through this little hole and he will be left with nothing.”
Constant Complaints Against a Tzadik:
The pasuk in Tehillin (106:16) states: “They angered Moshe in the camp, Aharon, the holy man of Hashem.” The Ropshitzer Rebbe zy”a explains that this is the way of those who engage in machlokes. Whatever a tzadik does, they will find fault in him. If he separates himself from the public and learns alone day and night, they will say that “the Rebbe sits by himself all day and does nothing for the people.” If he is involved with the public and tries to take care of everyone’s needs, they will say that “he is out and about all day. When does he learn or serve Hashem?”
Accordingly, the pasuk is saying that they complained about Moshe “in the camp”, meaning that they found fault in the fact that he was not amongst the people enough. And they complained about Aharon “the holy one of Hashem”, meaning they found fault in him for interacting with people and trying to increase peace and personal relationships by saying that he should be spending more time secluded with his avodas Hashem.
Jews Need a Leader:
The Gemara (Nedarim 39B) states: “The pasuk states (Chabakuk 3:11): ‘The sun and moon stood in Zevul (the heaven called ‘Zevul’, which is the fourth of the seven heavens).’ This teaches us that the sun and moon went up to Zevul and said: Master of the World, if You act justly for the son of Amram, we will provide light. If You do not, we will not provide light.”
Why did the sun and moon get involved in a dispute that had nothing to do with them? The Meor Vashemesh answers that, as the Gemara says (Chulin 60B), when Hashem created the world, the sun and moon were equal in size. The moon complained to Hashem and said that “two kings cannot use one crown.” Hashem then told the moon to decrease its size. This seems to indicate that Hashem agreed to the moon’s claim that there cannot be two equal “kings”. Rather, one must be bigger than the other.
When Korach said that “the entire assemblage is holy” and they do not need a leader, the sun and moon came forward to say that they are proof that this isn’t true. The reason one of them is bigger than the other is that everyone cannot be equals. This proves that Klal Yisroel needs leaders who are bigger and higher than the public.
Always Seeking Peace:
Rashi states: “From here we derive that one should not persist (‘ain machzikim’) in a dispute, because Moshe sought them out to conciliate them with peaceful words.”
The Chasam Sofer zt”l asks why it is necessary to speak this out. Of course we know that one shouldn’t persist in a machlokes! He answers that, in truth, Moshe was not required to attempt to make peace with Dasan and Aviram. They had already caused strife with him three times. They first started up with him in Mitzrayim, when they informed on him for killing the Mitzri. The second time was after Moshe and Aharon met with Pharaoh and they accused him of making things worse for the nation. This was now the third time.
Once someone does something three times, he becomes a “muchzak”. Thus, they were muchzak in causing machlokes, and one would think this would mean that there was no point in trying to make peace with them. Therefore, Rashi says that although the rule of chazakah applies to other areas of halacha, we learn from here that it does not apply to making shalom. When it comes to machlokes, we say “ain machzikim”, the rule of muchzak does not apply, and one should always try to make peace.
Korach’s Complaint Against Moshe:
Korach was complaining that Moshe had not brought them to Eretz Yisroel. Why was he bringing this up now? What connection did it have to the current machlokes?
We can answer this question with the following story:
The Sefas Emes zy”a had a chasid who was both a talmid chochom and a wealthy man. This chasid would travel often to Ger to consult with the Rebbe regarding every area of life. After the Sefas Emes’s petirah, he became a chasid of his son and successor, the Imrei Emes zy”a.
One day, an opportunity presented itself for him to purchase a forest. He asked the Imrei Emes for his advice, and the Rebbe advised him to go for it. He bought the forest but the deal failed and he lost all the money he invested. After this occurred, he said to himself: This never happened with the old Rebbe. His advice never failed me. But the very first time I ask this new Rebbe for advice, I lose a fortune. What kind of Rebbe is he?
From then on, he stopped going to the Imrei Emes.
A while later, the Imrei Emes traveled to the vacation town of Marienbad. Many chasidim were there at the time, including this man. He decided that even though he no longer considered the Imrei Emes to be “his Rebbe”, he still was “a Rebbe”, and it was appropriate for him to pay him a visit.
When he went in to see the Imrei Emes, the Rebbe told him as follows: “The Medrash (Bamidbor Rabbah 18:8) says that Korach was a wise man and asks why he engaged in such foolishness. It answers that he foresaw that a chain of greatness was destined to come from him. Shmuel Hanavi was going to descend from him, who was equal to Moshe and Aharon.
“We may ask how this answers the question. Is that a reason to sow discord against Moshe Rabenu? The answer is that Korach saw how Moshe’s advice to send meraglim to scout the land failed. He then decided that it was permitted to oppose him because he felt that a Rebbe who gives bad advice is not a real Rebbe.”
The Rebbe’s son, the Bais Yisroel of Ger zy”a, related this story and added, “It is wrong to think that my father’s advice to purchase the forest was bad. In truth, this advice saved the lives of this man and his entire family. Since he now had huge debts to repay, he had to flee with his family to Eretz Yisroel, and they all survived the Holocaust.”
Do Not Argue With the Mara D’Asra:
From the wording of the pasuk, it sounds as if Korach and his assemblage were going to die in any case, even if they were correct that Hashem did not appoint Moshe, and the only question was if they would die normally or through a new creation. If they would have been correct, why would they have to die?
The Munkatcher Rebbe zy”a (Sefer Divrei Torah, Mahadura 2, Ois 38) quotes the Sanzer Rov zy”a as saying that this teaches us that even if a Mara D’Asra is wrong about something, since he is the Rov and he is a talmid chochom and yarei shomayim who is trying to do good things for his city, one should not fight against him. Anyone who does is deserving of severe punishment. The only difference whether the one who fights with a Rov is right or wrong is that if the Rov is wrong, his antagonist will die a natural death, whereas if the Rov’s opponent is wrong, he will die a misah meshunah.
Strength to do Teshuva:
Sefer Maraglios Hayam (on Maseches Sanhedrin, Daf 109, Ois 7) relates that he spent Shabbos Parshas Korach, in the year 5673, with Rav Yissochor Dov of Belz zy”a. During the Rov’s drasha on Shabbos, he asked why Korach and his men had to be swallowed up alive by the earth. It is understandable that they had to die a horrible death as a means of proving that everything Moshe did was at Hashem’s command, but why did Moshe daven for them to be swallowed up by the ground?
He answered in the name of his father, Rav Yehoshua of Belz zy”a, that Moshe was worried about their neshamos and wanted them to receive a tikkun in this world. He asked for them to be swallowed by the earth while still alive, rather than to drop dead suddenly, so that they would have a few more seconds to do teshuva.
Rav Yissochor Dov added that Moshe’s prayer worked. The Gemara (Bava Basra 74A) states that for 30 full days, Korach and his followers cried out “Moshe is true and his Torah is true and we were wrong.” We see that they did do teshuva.
The Nesi’im Knew Hashem Didn’t Choose Them:
From the time that the Ruzhiner Rebbe zy”a came to live in Sadiger, he stopped holding a public tish for shalosh seudos. Instead, he spent this time secluded in his room. Sefer Knesses Yisroel relates that Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel of Magalitza zy”a once came to Sadiger for Shabbos. Since he did lead a shalosh seudos tish, he led one in his host’s home, and a number of chasidim gathered to participate.
When Rav Chaim Yechiel saw the crowd, he said to them, “It says in this week’s Parshah that Hashem commanded the Nesi’im to place their staffs in the Ohel Moed, with Aharon’s staff amongst them. The next day, Aharon’s staff had blossomed. Moshe took all the stick from the Ohel Moed and each man took hold of his stick.
“We may ask why it is necessary to tell us that each Nasi took his stick. Aharon took his so everyone could see that it had blossomed, but what difference does it make that everyone else took theirs?
The answer is that the Torah is teaching us how humble the Nesi’im were. It is saying that everyone hurried to take their staffs to show the public that theirs had not blossomed, so that they should recognize that only Aharon’s had, meaning that he was chosen by Hashem. They all proclaimed: Hashem did not choose me! He only chose Aharon!”
Rav Chaim Yechiel concluded, “You see from here what it truly means to possess the middos of anavah and emes.”
The Apta Rov’s Stick:
During the times of the Apta Rov zy”a, there lived a Jew who sadly converted to Christianity and eventually achieved prominence and was appointed a government minister. A meeting of all the ministers was once held shortly before Pesach, and they were discussing the theory believed by most gentiles of the time that Jews sprinkled the blood of a Christian child into their matzohs. This man spoke up and said, “You all know that I hate the Jews but I also hate falsehood. I can tell you for a fact that they do not put blood into their matzohs.”
They accepted his words and decided not to accuse the Jews of this crime.
Since the man now possessed a zechus, his heart was stirred towards teshuva and he wanted to return to his people. He went to the Apta Rov and asked him how he could repent. However, the Rov sent him away, saying that there was no way he could atone for his sins.
The man did not give up. He returned every day, begging the Rov for help. This went on until one day when the Rov yelled at...
