BS"D
VORACIOUS VOICE:
PARSHAT KORACH
Shira Smiles shiur 2022/5782
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
The
authority and leadership of Moshe and Aharon is again being challenged, this
time by their cousin Korach. Korach himself was a leader among the people, and
his Levite family had the honor and distinction of transporting the most holy
of the vessels of the Tabernacle. Yet Korach was not satisfied, and he desired
the position of high priest, a position Hashem had delegated to Aharon. Korach
accused Moshe of nepotism. After all, he argued, "The entire assembly is
holy... why do you [Moshe and Aharon] raise yourselves above the entire
congregation?"
In
addition to a test of whose incense offering Hashem accept and by so doing
would prove that it was Hashem and not Moshe who chose Aharon to be the high
priest, Moshe asked Hashem to provide an additional sign that this entire
insurrection was sinful. Moshe suggested that "Hashem will create a
phenomenon, and the earth will open its mouth and swallow them... They and all
that was theirs descended alive to the pit... All Israel that was around them
fled lekolam/from (to) their sound..."
Besides
the overriding question of how this punishment would fit the crime, we are also
challenged by the idea of the earth "opening its mouth," and by Bnei
Yisroel fleeing a voice. What was the mouth, and what sound did Bnei Yisroel
flee to or from?
In
the Gemarra Baba Basra Rabbi Bar Bar Chen relates an interesting
phenomenon. He tells that an Arab approached him and took him to a spot
in the desert where Korach and his assembly had been swallowed up. Every thirty
days, if one puts his ear to the ground, their voices can be heard proclaiming,
"Moshe is true and his Torah is true, and we are guilty." The Kli
Yakar comments that these were the voices Bnei Yisroel heard and ran
toward. These were the voices that could keep them from a similar sin and avoid
a similar fate. Had Korach come to that realization earlier, he and his
assembly could have done teshuvah and would have avoided this fate themselves,
adds Rabbi Levestein. If we can work on strengthening our faith in the Torah and
in Moshe as the faithful giver of the Torah, we will not be prone to
sinning. After all, two of the thirteen Articles of Faith identified by
Rambam deal specifically with this belief.
Rebbetzin
Smiles paints for us the picture of our affirmation of this truth as we dance
with our children on Simchat Torah. The men hoist their children high up on
their shoulders in contrast to the Korach assembly who were swallowed down
below. The men often sing those very same words as they dance, Moshe emes
veTorato emes/Moshe is truth and his Torah is truth.
We
believe that Moshe is the "Father of the nevi'im/prophets." We
all witnessed the revelation at Sinai, and then Hashem bequeathed the Torah to
us by giving it to Moshe Rabbenu so he could teach it to all of Bnei Yisroel.
Every word, every letter, every understanding was already given to Moshe at
Sinai. Anyone who questions this is questioning the Torah itself.
The
mission of the prophets is to arouse Bnei Yisroel to repent, as we say, to
"do teshuvah/to return." The job of the prophet is to return
us to Sinai, to the clarity of that revelation before the sin of the golden
calf, to the purity before the sin, and to the teaching of Moshe Rabbenu, for
it is only through the return to that truth that we merit redemption. Moshe
represents the Torah, the foundation of truth, while the prophets represent the
rebuke to bring us back to that truth, writes Rabbi Moshe Shapiro in Revel
in Emunah. The prophets urge us to return to our inner essence, to see
through the illusions and discard the trappings of the outside world. Torah is
existence itself. At Sinai, all the people saw the sounds as Hashem spoke. One
can see with one's eyes, and yet not perceive, not understand, not integrate
the vision with one's essence. At Sinai we saw the reality that ain od
milvado/nothing exists but Hashem, all else is illusion. All prophecy comes
from this place of truth through Moshe.
In
Worldmask, Rabbi Tatz explains the fundamental difference between Moshe
Rabbenu and the other prophets. When Moshe is first tasked with going to
Pharaoh, Moshe objects, for he is not a man of words. If he then relays his
prophecy to Aharon who will be Moshe's mouthpiece, as Hashem seems to suggest,
then both he and Aharon are subverting the essence of prophecy, for a prophet
must transmit his personal understanding of the message he received from God;
he may not transmit the message of a different prophet. Hashem then clarifies:
Moshe, "You will be an Elokhim/angel to Pharaoh, and Aharon will be your
prophet;" you are not a prophet, you are the prophecy itself, the actual
words of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Torat Moshe is Hashem's actual word. the messages
of the prophets are a medium of transmitting those words. [Think of reading an
original work versus reading even an accurate translation. There is always some
distortion and interpretation. CKS]
Korach
drew people to him by proclaiming that he, and they, all want to serve Hashem
as Moshe and Aharon did. His jealousy blinded him to the fact that we each have
our unique place in Hashem's service, a job no one else can fulfill. Fulfilling
this personal mission should make us proud and elevated, writes Rabbi Reiss in Meirosh
Tzurim.
Many
people were influenced by Korach, but when Korach was swallowed up by the
earth, writes Rabbi Zeichick, they heard their own inner voices telling them
the truth. They fled from this voice, realizing that, "There but for the
grace of God go I," look at how close I came to being among those lost
souls. Bnei Yisroel used what they witnessed and were inspired to inner
reflection.
Several
commentators take a completely different view of the voices Bnei Yisroel heard.
Focusing of the clause, "The earth opened its mouth," these
commentators assert that the earth itself spoke, like the mouth of Bilaam's ass
and the mouth of the well, all created at the twilight of creation. The ground
itself was silent. The new creation was the mouth that now spoke.
Traditionally,
every one of Hashem's creations has a voice and sings praises to the Creator. Perek
Shira categorizes the specific verse that each creation sings to its Maker.
Interestingly, every creature sings only one verse. However, the ground/earth
has two distinct verses: לה' הארץ ומלואה תבל ןיושבי בה /Hashem's
is the earth and its fullness, the inhabited land and those who dwell in it
(Tehillim 24:1) and additionally, מכנף הארץ זמרות שמענו
צבי לצדיק/From the corner of the earth we have heard songs, "Glory
for the righteous..." (Isaiah 24:16) In Be'er Hachaim, he
explains why two verses were necessary rather than the usual one verse. After
Cain killed Abel and covered the body with earth, the earth lost its power to
sing full voiced because it was complicit in hiding the crime. It sang only
from the "corners" of the earth. Now when it obeyed Moshe's request
to swallow these sinners, that mistake was rectified, and the earth again
opened its mouth in full voice. It was the power of this new song, from
which the people fled.
We
can also ask why the sons of Korach were saved in the opening of gehonom,
rather than in their tents. Be’er Hachayim continues, citing Rabbi
Schneur Kotler, that this site was a reflection of Korach's argument. Korach
felt the only place to serve Hashem would be in the Mishkan/Tabernacle.
Since all of Bnei Yisroel is holy, all should be able to serve in this holy
place. What he failed to realize (or chose not to realize) was that we each
have our own place and points of service. Those in a king's palace, for
example, cannot serve the king confidently unless there are soldiers guarding
the perimeter of the kingdom. All the roles are equally important. As Rav
Shternbach points out, the women serving Hashem at home must appreciate their
roles, that Hashem created them according to His will, and without their
service, the men, mandated to pray in the synagogue, would be unable to attend
their services. [This year our synagogue was finally privileged to honor our
Rebbetzin, Rochi Kelemer. Without her devoted service to Rabbi Kelemer
zt"l, to her family, and to the West Hempstead community, Rabbi Kelemer
would not have been able to serve our community every hour of the day or night,
and would not have achieved the renown he is known for in so many diverse groups
of the Jewish world and beyond. She has served without fanfare, away from the
public eye, from her home, but with a deep realization of the importance of her
service. CKS]
In
the Tehillim attributed to the sons of Korach who did teshuvah and did not
perish (Tehillim 48), the sons teach this lesson. It is true that
Hashem's glory can be found in His palace. But it is not limited to one holy
place. It moves out and reaches to kitzvei ha'aretz/the ends of the
earth. And from this pit in the earth, the sons of Korach's voice sing
out the Truth of Hashem's Torah. We all have the opportunity to connect to
Hashem from any point in the orb of the earth.
Each
of us has our personalized service and our unique voice. Some are low and some
are high, but a song requires all different notes. Both as a nation and as
individuals, our lives are sometimes on a high note and sometimes on a low
note, and it takes all these notes to create the song of our lives and the
symphony of our existence. Do not aspire to be what you are not, writes Rabbi
Wolfson, for if we are all one note, we have no melody. Be happy to contribute
your personal note to this song.
The
Shvilei Pinchas brings an intriguing kabbalistic interpretation to this
chapter. He writes that it was not only the earth that would now be vindicated
by swallowing Korach, but the interactions of Cain and Abel were also being
reenacted here. According to the Arizal, Moshe Rabbenu was a reincarnation of
Abel while Korach was a reincarnation of Cain. As Cain was jealous of Abel in
the beginning of time, so was Korach now jealous of of Moshe. Hashem declared
Cain's punishment to be that he would be a wanderer in the land. While that
came too pass during Cain's life, it would now become reality again with
Korach's punishment of being a "wanderer" ba'aretz/in
the earth.
Hashem
further gave Cain a sign on his forehead to keep him safe from assassins.
According to our tradition, the sign was the letter "ו/vov".
The Arizal explains that the four statements that define character in Pirkei
Avot each represent one letter of the four lettered Divine Name. The mishnah
that defines who is wealthy describes him as one who is content b'chelko/with
his lot. This mishnah corresponds to the letter "vov"
of Hashem's four lettered name. Therefore, this letter was the sign Hashem put
on Cain's forehead as a lesson to counter his jealousy.
Even
the decree to wander the earth was to teach Cain to be content with his lot.
The earth, although everyone treads on it, is still content. She recognizes her
mission as necessary to provide nourishment for all God's creatures in spite of
its lowly appearance. But Cain could not find contentment anywhere, wandering
from place to place without putting down roots anywhere on earth.
Korach
too found no contentment in his lot, always craving more as did his predecessor
Cain, and so he too was destined to learn from within the earth the lesson he
could not learn while on the earth. It is at this moment, the earth
opened up its mouth, and gave over this profound lesson to the people.
One should be satisfied with their lot, for our time on earth is limited.
We
are each charged with the same mandate, to find our unique task in Hashem's
service, to appreciate it, and to lift up our individual voice in joining the
chorus of all God's creatures. Wherever we are and whatever our mission, we
must constantly acknowledge that Moshe is truth and his Torah is truth. We must
be content that our service contributes meaningfully to the creation of a true
world symphony.