The Sons of Korach Were Saved from Gehinnom by Entertaining Thoughts of Teshuvah They Memorialized the Encounter between Yehudah the Ba’al Teshuvah and Yosef HaTzaddik
Rabbi Pinches Friedman
Parshas Vayigash 5785
Translation by Dr. Baruch Fox
In this week’s parsha, parshas Vayigash, it is fitting that we focus on the vehement confrontation of Yehudah and Yosef. The passuk reads (Bereishis 44, 18): "ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר בי אדוני ידבר נא עבדך דבר באזני אדוני ואל יחר אפך בעבדך כי כמוך כפרעה"—Yehudah approached him and said, “If you please, my lord, may your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears and do not be angry with your servant—for you are like Pharaoh.”
Rashi comments on these last words: If you antagonize me, I will kill you and your master (Pharaoh). Later on, however, Yaakov Avinu sends Yehudah to meet up with Yosef amicably, as it is written (ibid. 46, 28): "ואת יהודה שלח לפניו אל יוסף להורות לפניו גושנה"—and he sent Yehudah ahead of him to Yosef, to instruct ahead of him in Goshen. Chazal depict this encounter in glorious terms in the Midrash Tanchuma (Vayigash 6):
It draws a comparison from the passuk (Iyov 25, 2): "המשל ופחד עמו עושה שלום במרומיו"—dominion and fear are with Him; He makes peace in His high places. “Dominion” refers to the malach Michael, while “fear” refers to Gavriel. Though Michael was fashioned from water, and Gabriel was formed out of fire, when they stood in the presence of the Shechinah they did not harm one another . . . Rabbi Shimon said that though the entire firmament is composed of water and the malachim are of fire . . . the water does not extinguish the fire, and the fire does evaporate the water. Similarly, though Yosef and Yehudah, the lion and the ox, had previously gored each other, now he (Yaakov) sent him (Yehudah) to join the other (Yosef ), as it states: “He sent Yehudah before him.”
It is curious that HKB”H arranged for these two encounters to be under very different circumstances. Previously, they were confrontational and antagonistic, and now they are meeting to work together amicably. The Midrash concludes by saying that this is the inference of the passuk cited from Iyov: “He makes peace in His high places.” In other words, HKB”H made shalom between these two kingly brothers both on earth and in the heavens. We will endeavor to explain what the vehement confrontation was about and what the ultimate shalom entailed.
The Sons of Korach Recited This Psalm when HKB”H Saved Them from the Fire of Gehinnom
We will begin to shed some light on the subject by introducing a passage from the Midrash (B.R. 93, 2) expounding on the passuk (Tehillim 48, 5): "כי הנה המלכים נועדו עברו יחדיו, המה ראו כן תמהו נבהלו נחפזו, רעדה אחזתם שם חיל כיולדה." “For behold, the kings assembled; they came together. They saw and were indeed astounded; they were confounded and fled in haste. Trembling gripped them there, convulsions like the travail of a woman in childbirth.”
“The kings assembled” refers to Yehudah and Yosef. “They came together”—they each filled with rage against the other. “They saw and they were indeed astounded”—the spectators (the other brothers) were bewildered (Bereishis 43, 22). “They were confounded and fled in haste”—his brothers were unable to respond to him, because they were in shock (ibid. 45, 3). “Trembling gripped them there”—this refers to the shevatim who said: “Kings are debating one another, what concern is it of ours, it is fitting for a king to confront a king.”
This “mizmor” is one of the eleven psalms in sefer Tehillim sung by the sons of Korach. Hence, it begins with the words: "שיר מזמור לבני קרח"—a song, a psalm, by the sons of Korach. This concurs with the following Gemara (B.B. 14b): "דוד המלך כתב ספר תהלים על ידי עשרה זקנים, על ידי אדם הראשון, על ידי מלכי צדק, ועל ידי אברהם, ועל ידי משה, ועל ידי הימן, ועל ידי ידותון, ועל ידי שלשה בני קרח". David HaMelech wrote sefer Tehillim in collaboration with ten elders: with Adam HaRishon, with Malki Tzedek (Shem the son of Noach), with Avraham, with Moshe, with Heiman, with Yeduthun, with Assaf and with the three sons of Korach.
Chazal teach us that the sons of Korach chanted their songs and composed these “mizmorim,” while they were sitting in Gehinnom, on an elevated perch set aside for them by HKB”H to spare them from the fire of Gehinnom. Here is the pertinent passuk (Bamidbar 26, 10): "ותפתח הארץ את פיה ותבלע אותם ואת קרח במות העדה באכול האש את חמשים ומאתים איש ויהיו לנס, ובני קרח לא מתו"—then the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and Korach with the death of the assembly, when the fire consumed two hundred and fifty men; and they became a sign. But the sons of Korach did not die. Rashi comments: They were originally involved in the plan, but at the time of the dispute, they contemplated teshuvah in their hearts. Therefore, a high place was set aside for them in Gehinnom, and they resided there. Rashi’s source is the following Gemara (Sanhedrin 110a): "ובני קרח לא מתו, תנא משום רבינו אמרו, מקום נתבצר להם בגיהנם וישבו עליו ואמרו שירה". “But the sons of Korach did not die.” A Tanna taught: They said in the name of our teacher (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi): A place was set up high for them in Gehinnom, and they sat on it and recited songs.
Rashi explains the matter in greater depth in his commentary on the first psalm presented by David HaMelech in sefer Tehillim from the sons of Korach (Tehillim 42, 1): "למנצח משכיל לבני קרח"—to Him Who grants victory, an instruction from the sons of Korach. Rashi explains: Korach’s sons—Assir, Elkanah and Aviassaf—were originally part of their father’s plan. At the moment of the dispute, they left. When the entire area surrounding them was swallowed, and the earth opened its mouth, they remained in the mouth of the earth, as it states: “But the sons of Korach did not die.” There they chanted songs; there they composed these “mizmorim.” They rose from there, and they were imbued with “ruach hakodesh.” They prophesied about the exiles, the destruction of the Temple and the dynasty of the house of David.
This Psalm Was Uttered by the Leviim on Monday to Rescue Those in Gehinnom Who Had Deliberations of Teshuvah
Apropos this subject, we find an intriguing teaching in the Zohar hakadosh (Acharei 56b). The song that the leviim uttered on the second day of the week with the wine libation that accompanied the Tamid offering was this mizmor sung by the sons of Korach. This is supported by the Mishnah (Tamid 33b): "השיר שהיו הלויים אומרים במקדש... בשני היו אומרים גדול ה' ומהולל מאד בעיר אלקינו הר קדשו". Here is a list of the psalms that the leviim would recite in the Mikdash . . . On the second day they would recite (ibid. 48): “A song; a psalm of the sons of Korach. Great is the Lord and highly to be praised in the city of God, on His sacred mountain.”
The Zohar hakadosh explains why the leviim chose to recite this psalm specifically on the second day of the week. It is because the sons of Korach, who were leviim, uttered this song when they were swallowed by the earth and delivered to Gehinnom together with Korach’s entire assembly. However, HKB”H spared them from the fire of Gehinnom because they had deliberations of teshuvah. Now we have learned in the Gemara (Pesachim54a): "מפני מה לא נאמר כי טוב בשני בשבת, מפני שנברא בו אור של גיהנם"—why does it not say “that it was good” in relation to the creation of the second day of the week? Because the fire of Gehinnom was created on it.
Therefore, the sons of Korach, whom HKB”H saved from the fire of Gehinnom, recited this psalm on the second day of the week, the day on which Gehinnom was created, to save others from the fire of Gehinnom with this song. The Ramak, in his commentary Ohr Yakar on the Zohar hakadosh, purports that the leviim subdued the klipos that prevail in Gehinnom with this mizmor.
Notwithstanding, it is incumbent upon us to resolve the following conundrum: As explained, the sons of Korach sang this song to thank HKB”H for saving them miraculously. But what prompted them to mention the confrontation of the two kings, Yehudah and Yosef, in Mitzrayim in this psalm: "כי הנה המלכים נועדו"—“For behold, the kings assembled” refers to Yehudah and Yosef ? At first glance, there is no connection between this historic confrontation and their miraculous salvation.
