Transcript
We have the privilege of reading פרשת קרח Parshas Korach. So as is our custom, let's go through an overview of the פרשה parsha, then we'll delve into some פסוקים psukim that we're going to see in detail inside. The פרשה parsha begins, ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, and these are the פסוקים psukim we're going to analyze, that קרח Korach took. Of course, the great question is that goes on and never identifies what exactly קרח Korach took, which as we'll see what bothered רש\"י Rashi and others. We'll see that in a moment. So we're familiar that the story, the really the bulk and one can argue the entire פרשה parsha deals with this rebellion of of קרח Korach. קרח Korach determines, he decides that he's not satisfied with his limited role as a לוי Levi. He is jealous, one can argue, but certainly he would like a greater leadership role. Like to displace אהרן Aharon, displace משה Moshe himself. Really אהרן Aharon is the one who he challenges. And, and קרח Korach doesn't just stand up for this rebellion alone, but he enlists 250 other men. And we'll talk more about who those men were in a moment also. When this happened, we'll see as a מחלוקת machlokes אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra and רמב\"ן Ramban, that the story happened as it appears in our חומש Chumash chronologically, or maybe it happened earlier and it's just placed here. We will uh, we'll see. So קרח Korach rises up and challenges, משה Moshe hears the challenge and reacts very harshly, וישמע משה ויפול על פניו vayishma Moshe vayipol al panav. Then קרח Korach speaks to all the people and he tells them, in the morning we'll find out what God wants. And משה Moshe instructs them, משה Moshe tells them, קרח Korach rather, in the morning השם Hashem will will reveal who his choice is, and here's how to do it. We're going to do it through the קטורת ketores, through the pans of the incense. Everyone should take it and offer, we'll see which offering השם Hashem accepts. משה Moshe summons דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram, sons of אליאב Eliyav, and they say we're not going up. It's not enough. Here you see continued articulation of the argument. Is it not enough that you brought us out, המעט כי העליתנו מארץ זבת חלב ודבש להמיתנו במדבר Ha'ma'at ki alisonu mei'eretz zavas chalav u'dvash l'hamiseinu ba'midbar? You took us out of the land flowing with milk and honey to cause us to die in the wilderness. And of course you understand the literary irony here. They are referring to a land filled with milk and honey. What land are they referring to? Egypt. They're referring to Egypt. That's not the land filled with milk and honey, that's not the land that's promised to be filled with milk and honey. But you see the distortion. When a rebellion arises, when a person sets their mind to to negative overload, then their judgment is impaired. Their interpretation, their analysis is impaired. Their memory is impaired. So have a totally warped, distorted sense that promise of ארץ זבת חלב ודבש eretz zavas chalav u'dvash, they're applying to to Egypt. אף לא אל ארץ זבת חלב ודבש הביאתנו Af lo el eretz zavas chalav u'dvash havi'osanu. You didn't even bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey. Right? We're just in no man's land. You took us out of a land filled with milk and honey and you've not brought us to such a land. So they use exactly the same words. This is a common theme. Yeah, absolutely. So משה Moshe gets very distressed, משה Moshe gets very upset, and tells קרח Korach, you and your entire assembly, אתה וכל עדתך atah v'chol adascha, היו לפני השם heyu lifnei Hashem, come before השם Hashem. אתה והם ואהרן מחר Atah v'hem v'Aharon machar, you, your accomplices, and Aharon. וקחו איש מחתתו U'kchu ish machtaso, on page 824 now in the Artscroll. Let everyone take their firepan, place incense on them, bring them to השם Hashem, and so on. They each took their firepan, and and God then responds. השם Hashem spoke to משה Moshe, separate yourself from them. Right, השם Hashem tells them, הבדלו מתוך העדה הזאת ואכלה אתם כרגע Hibadlu mi'toch ha'eidah ha'zos v'achaleh osam k'raga. Separate yourself, and I'm going to swallow them up. And indeed that's what happens. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu creates an incredible miracle, the ground opens, and the ground swallows them up. I may speak about on שבת Shabbos, but you know this phenomenon that we thought was unimaginable, sinkholes. I never heard about it till a year or two ago. In Florida, there's been this phenomenon of the ground all of a sudden just opening up. There was a man who was sleeping in his bed who disappeared. His family heard a yell, they went into his room, he was gone. The ground under his bed opened up, the bed fell, that's it. Never heard from again. Really? Another one just happened? Between פרשת קרח Parshas Korach, okay. These sinkholes. So, and by the way, this is consistent, you know there's a big discussion between the רמב\"ם Rambam, the רמב\"ן Ramban, miracles, the whole nature of miracles. The position of the רמב\"ם Rambam in particular is that every miracle needs to be able to be explained naturally. Because the most important ingredient in life to make life meaningful is free will, is בחירה חפשית bechira chafshis. And the moment that we have miracles which are the overt, explicit reversal of nature or God transcending nature or nature, the rules of nature being suspended, then our בחירה חפשית bechira chafshis, our very free will is suspended. Because if you see God's open hand, if you see God in front of you explicitly through miracles, then there's no room to deny. And if there's no room to deny, there's no choice to be made. So in order to be able to make choices, to preserve בחירה חפשית bechira chafshis, God must remain hidden. For God must be hidden, it means that even miracles, why do we call them miracles? Why does the תורה Torah describe them as miracles? Why in our דאווענען davening do we describe them as miracles? Because they are miracles. In other words, the odds, the chances of their happening naturally are infinitesimally small, they're tiny, but they have to still be there. They have to be enough for the skeptic to point to that possibility and say, there's no absolute proof of God. To preserve our free will, there has to remain at least the possibility. So you see, you read the תורה Torah and you say, come on, God performed a miracle, the ground opened up, swallowed people up. What is this, a fairytale? Never heard such a thing. You see there are natural phenomenon. There was an article in the New York Times in the 1980s, you could Google it, that showed that if the the moon, the rotation of the earth, if everything was aligned the correct way, it's possible for the sea to split. It'd be possible for the sea to split because of the winds, people to walk across it with dry land. Every miracle has to be able to be explained, maybe not a likelihood of this explanation, maybe not even a 50/50 chance of this explanation, but at least the possibility of this explanation. So we live in a time of sinkholes. רחמנא ליצלן Rachmana litzlan, a terrible tragedy. and a danger. I'm not saying we should walk around paralyzed with fear, but it's scary. The ground could open someone up. The ground could open up and swallow somebody up. So you see that this miracle God did, that the ground opened up and swallowed קרח Korach and his followers was can be explained at least in in natural means.So what happens next? And here's something that's phenomenal, here's something that's fantastic. What happens next? השם Hashem spoke to משה Moshe and he said, tell אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen, והרם את המחתות מבין השרפה ואת האש ve'hareim es hamachtos mi'bein hasreifah v'es ha'eish, pick up the firepans from the fire, throw away the flame, they have become holy. And משה Moshe intervenes yet again, and here we have one final proof, a new proof of אהרן's Aharon's greatness. And this is the most famous proof, the staffs. Everybody takes a staff. On page 830 now in the Artscroll. Everybody takes a מטה mateh. And by the way, what's the difference between a מטה mateh and a שבט shevet? Very interesting. I think we've discussed that in the past also. מטה Mateh and שבט shevet both mean staff, but they have different connotations. And both words mean staff, and both words mean tribe. Not coincidentally, a מטה mateh and a שבט shevet both mean a community, a congregation, a tribe, and they also can mean different words for a staff. But that's for another time. So משה Moshe instructs them to take it, to place it, and whichever one השם Hashem will allow to blossom, whichever flowers will grow forth from, that will be השם's Hashem's real choice. Of course, it is אהרן Aharon, ויצא פרח ויצץ ציץ ויגמול שקדים vayotzei perach vayatzetz tzitz vayigmol shkeidim. אהרן's Aharon's staff is the one that, is the one that blossomed, and that indeed was השם's Hashem's choice. Which leads to the question. I spoke about this last year in a דרשה drasha. It's not my question, it's a question of Rabbi Hershel Schachter, זכרונו לברכה zichrono livracha, who I spoke about a couple weeks ago in שול shul, Rabbi JJ Schachter's father who passed away. One of the chaplains who liberated Buchenwald. We told the amazing story of his פסח שני Pesach Sheini סדר Seder that he led there. So he asks, and I heard this from Rabbi JJ Schachter, a number of miracles have been performed. God has, the firepans, the ground has opened up and swallowed them up. They're gone. Why is there yet one more test? Isn't it enough? Isn't it a little overkill? Isn't it a little bit rubbing their faces in it, pouring salt in their wounds? Enough already. Why this final test with the staffs where God is going to choose for one to blossom forth with flowers? Why?So his answer is that we should not distinguish ourselves by pushing down others. We don't want to become distinguished and chosen because others fall and we're taller than them. We want to be distinguished and chosen because we've blossomed. So until now the tests and until now the ground opened up and swallowing up קרח Korach is kind of a negative, it's a negative endorsement of the Almighty. It's destructive. The ground has swallowed קרח Korach and his followers. But now with the blossoming of the staffs, it's a positive endorsement of אהרן Aharon and that's the ultimate way we want to be chosen. We want to be distinguished, our leaders should be distinguished, not by stepping on others, not by pushing down others, not by character assassinations of others, but ultimately our leader should be distinguished and chosen for their blossoming forth and because they are, they are indeed, they are indeed worthy.So I think that was a very important message and it's apropos Mali what what I said last שבת Shabbos about the מרגלים Meraglim. That in our פרשה parsha it says וראיתם את הארץ u're'isem es ha'aretz, that in our פרשה parsha, it says that the מרגלים Meraglim were sent to investigate the land. Are they many, are they few, are they strong, are they weak, is the land good? But in דברים Devarim in the first פרק perek in ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, when משה's Moshe's soliloquy repeating to the Jewish people, it doesn't say. What does it say? What's the reason? It says וישיבו אתנו דבר v'yashivu osanu davar, you should bring us back דבר davar. What's the exact language? When משה Moshe is recalling exactly what happened when the spies were sent, here it is, ותקרבון אלי כלכם ותאמרו נשלחה אנשים לפנינו ויחפרו לנו את הארץ וישבו אתנו דבר Vatikrevun eilay kulchem va'tomru nishlecha anashim l'faneinu v'yachperu lanu es ha'aretz v'yashivu osanu davar. Bring us back a דבר davar. So משה Moshe remembers it differently, that the purpose was to go find out a דבר davar. What's a דבר davar? So we pointed out רש\"י Rashi says דבר davar is באיזה לשון הם מדברים b'eizeh lashon heim medabrim. What language are they speaking? What language are they speaking? What do you mean what language they're speaking? Asks the מהר\"ל Maharal, who cares what language they're speaking? How strong, how mighty, what are their military strongholds, what kind of military capacity do they have, how difficult will it be to conquer the land, how many are in their army? That's what matters. The census of the people. What language they're speaking? And we quoted the מהר\"ל Maharal who says here in his גור אריה Gur Aryeh in this פסוק pasuk, מהר\"ל Maharal explains, yet it means everything. באיזה לשון הם מדברים B'eizeh lashon heim medabrim. What a person chooses to speak about says everything about them. Says everything about them. We speak negatively, positively. Do we speak about, I think it was Eleanor Roosevelt that great people speak about ideas, average people talk about things, small people talk about people. So the מרגלים Meraglim were sent to find out, are they great, are they average, or are they small? Are they talking about ideas, are they talking about things, or are they talking about people? איש לפי מהללו Ish l'fi mahalalo, the פסוק pasuk in משלי Mishlei quoted by רבינו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah, you learn about a person by what they praise. So the warning not to speak לשון הרע Lashon Hara, the prohibition of gossiping, of knocking other people down is not so much to protect the victim of the gossip, although that's also critically important, but it's to protect ourselves, our integrity, our character, who we are. Because it says everything about us what we speak about. We sit around the שבת Shabbos table talking negatively about the rabbi, about the שול shul, about the schools, about the community, about the whatever the case may be. It says everything about us, not about whom we're speaking about. So the מרגלים Meraglim were sent and and the purpose was וישיבו אתנו דבר v'yashivu osanu davar. באיזה לשון הם מדברים B'eizeh lashon heim medabrim. Find out what דבר davar, what מדברים medabrim, find out what they're talking about, because we'll learn everything about them. So here too, the idea, this is a consistent theme in the תורה Torah, is not to knock people down, but to build ourselves up. Not to emerge victorious by the absence of the other, but to emerge because of our own worthiness and because of our own blossoming. And perhaps that's why that was the final, that's why that was the final test. The fear remains, ויאמרו בני ישראל Vayomer Bnei Yisrael, bottom page 830, הן גוענו אבדנו כלנו אבדנו Hein gavanu avadnu kulanu avadnu, כל הקרב הקרב אל משכן השם ימות Kol hakareiv hakareiv el mishkan Hashem yamus. They were very afraid. What was that fear? Behold we perish, we're lost, we're all lost. Everyone who approaches the tabernacle will die. Is that, what was that fear? Where did it come from? Well, it came from the fact that they're worried. They just saw קרח Korach tried to rebel because he said I'm from the שבט לוי tribe of Levi. So now they're fearful. Is it that the closer you are to השם Hashem, the more vulnerable and susceptible you are to death? First we saw נדב ואביהו Nadav v'Avihu, they bring a fire, and they die, seemingly prematurely, tragically on the day of the הקמת המשכן hakammas haMishkan, the day of the inauguration of the Tabernacle. Now we have קרח Korach. He, ostensibly seeks to come close to השם Hashem. He wants to be a leader, he wants to be a לוי Levi, he wants to be, displace אהרן Aharon. And what's the result for him? He dies. So the people are fearful. כל הקרב הקרב אל משכן השם ימות Kol hakareiv hakareiv el mishkan Hashem yamus, האם תמנו לגוע Ha'im tamnu ligvoa? Is this what happens? Everyone who approaches close to השם Hashem is going to die? Will we ever stop perishing? This is not exactly an incentive for religious growth. Whoever seeks to get close to השם Hashem is going to drop dead, the ground is going to swallow them up. What happens? So how does the תורה Torah respond? By reaffirming אהרן's Aharon's position. That's פרק י\"ח Perek Yud Ches, the next section. אהרן's Aharon's duty reinstated. What happens in the next פרק perek? ויאמר השם אל אהרן אתה ובניך ובית אביך אתך תשאו את עון המקדש ואתה ובניך אתך תשאו את עון כהנתכם Vayomer Hashem el Aharon atah u'vanecha u'veis avicha itach tisu es avon ha'mikdash v'atah u'vanecha itach tisu es avon kehunaschem. You and your sons and your father's household will bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. And remember, וגם את אחיך מטה לוי שבט אביך הקרב אתך וילוו עליך וישרתוך ואתה ובניך אתך לפני אהל העדות v'gam es achecha mateh Levi shevet avicha hakreiv itach v'yilavu alecha v'yishartucha v'atah u'vanecha itach lifnei ohel ha'eidus. You're going to serve. You are the שבט לוי tribe of Levi, you are to serve. Then the תורה Torah tells us about the gifts, תרומה trumah, the gifts that we give to the כהנים Kohanim, that's how they are sustained. And what are those gifts? The תורה Torah enumerates them here, in the end of פרק י\"ח Perek Yud Ches. They are of the קרבנות karbanos, the כהנים Kohanim eat from the קרבנות karbanos. And we have, בכורי כל אשר בארצם אשר יביאו להשם לך יהיה כל טהור בביתך יאכלנו bikurei kol asher b'artzam asher yavi'u l'Hashem l'cha yiheyeh kol tahor b'veischa yochlenu. The בכור bechor, the firstborn, is given to the כהן Kohen. Not to eat, not the child, the animal. And so on. And then we have the מעשר ma'aser, that which is given to the לוי Levi. ולבני לוי הנה נתתי את כל מעשר בישראל לנחלה חלף עבודתם v'livnei Levi hinei nasati es kol ma'aser b'Yisrael l'nachala cheilef avodasam. The beginning of שביעי shvi'i, bottom page 834. Again, part of the affirmation of לוי Levi and their role is how לוי Levi are sustained. לוי Levi are not given a place in inheriting the land of Israel. The other tribes inherit a portion, לוי Levi does not get a portion. Where are today to live and how are they to sustain themselves? They're given cities among the other portions and they are sustained through the people. They are the ultimate קהילה כולל kehillah kollel. Every community has a כולל kollel of לויים Leviim who learn and teach. How do they make a living? They're given, it was an agricultural system, and they're given a tithe, they're given the produce. They're given מעשר ma'aser, a tenth of the produce that the farmers that the farmers bring in. And that's how the שבט לוי tribe of Levi is sustained. Why is this here? This really should be in ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra, the book of כהנים Kohanim and לויים Leviim of קרבנות Karbanos. It's here again because in the aftermath of the קרח Korach episode with קרח Korach was from the שבט לוי tribe of Levi, and the people's fear, the holier you are, the more susceptible, vulnerable, the more likely you're going to drop dead, תורה Torah reaffirms the status of לוי Levi and our commitment to support them. The רמב\"ם Rambam writes at the end of הלכות שמיטה ויובל hilchos shmitta v'yovel, that anyone can be part of the שבט לוי tribe of Levi. There is a genealogical שבט לוי tribe of Levi. If you descend from לוי Levi, then you also inherit that role and the entitlement to that support. But you can volunteer to be שבט לוי tribe of Levi, says the רמב\"ם Rambam. If you want to sit and learn תורה Torah all day, if you want to play the role of teaching תורה Torah in the community, then the community sustains you and you have the status of לוי Levi. The origin of the קהילה כולל kehillah kollel. Did the רמב\"ם Rambam mean this literally? Put it at the end of הלכות שמיטה ויובל hilchos shmitta v'yovel. So maybe it's an unusual placement. We discussed this at length when we did our three-part series of sharing the burden, drafting ישיבה Yeshiva students to the army. One of the arguments that ישיבה Yeshiva students should be exempt is they have the status of לוי Levi. And we saw רב אהרן ליכטנשטיין's Rav Aharon Lichtenstein's approach, and we saw רב אבינר's Rav Aviner's approach, and we saw, we saw many, many approaches. And they argued that either the רמב\"ם Rambam meant that homiletically, he didn't mean it literally, הלכתית halachically. You see it's placed at the end of הלכות שמיטה ויובל hilchos shmitta v'yovel, that's not the correct if it was a הלכתית halachic conclusion. We saw the argument of רב אהרן ליכטנשטיין Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, today there's 61,000 students taking advantage of the exemption. So, did the רמב\"ם Rambam mean you could have 61,000 people volunteering to be שבט לוי tribe of Levi? Or did he mean the יחידי סגולה yechidei segula? There are 100, there are 50, there are 500, but there are exceptional individuals whose levels of learning are so distinguished that they have the academic support, so to say, of the of the community. But all of that stems, that conversation from this section, from the end of our פרשה parsha, after the episode with קרח Korach, the תורה Torah reaffirming the status of the שבט לוי tribe of Levi. And that is how the פרשה parsha indeed ends. Okay. So let's go back to the beginning of the פרשה parsha and look at some of the פסוקים psukim a little bit more in depth. It's on page 820 in the Artscroll. In the beginning of פרשת קרח Parshas Korach in the מקראות גדולות Mikraos Gedolos, פרק ט\"ז Perek Tes Zayin, the very beginning. ויקח קרח בן יצהר בן קהת בן לוי Vayikach Korach ben Yitzhar ben Kehas ben Levi ודתן ואבירם בני אליאב v'Dasan v'Aviram bnei Eliyav ואון בן פלת בני ראובן v'On ben Peles bnei Reuven. So what happens? קרח Korach, the son of יצהר Yitzhar, the son of קהת Kehas, the son of לוי Levi, and דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram who are the sons of אליאב Eliyav, and און On, the son of פלת Peles, בני ראובן bnei Reuven. So this is a non-sequitur. ויקח Vayikach, קרח Korach took, ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, קרח Korach took, and we give his lineage, and ודתן v'Dasan, we never came back to saying what he took. Look at the next פסוק pasuk. ויקמו לפני משה ואנשים מבני ישראל חמישים ומאתים vayakumu lifnei Moshe v'anashim mi'Bnei Yisrael chamishim u'mata'im. They, in other words, those delineated in the previous פסוק pasuk, קרח Korach, דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram, and און On took, ויקמו vayakumu, stood up in front of משה Moshe, אנשים מבני ישראל anashim mi'Bnei Yisrael, חמישים ומאתים chamishim u'mataim, 250 of them, נשיאי עדה קריאי מועד אנשי שם nesi'ei eidah kri'ei moed anshei shem. And who were they? They were leaders of the assembly, summoned for meeting, men of renown. These were not just average Joes. So what does it mean ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach? How do we understand this non-sequitur? רש\"י Rashi famously says, ויקח Vayikach, לקח את עצמו לצד אחד אחר להיות נחלק מתוך העדה Lakach es atzmo l'tzad echad acher l'hiyos nechlak mi'toch ha'eidah. קרח Korach literally took himself out of the equation. What did קרח Korach take? ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, what did he take? He took himself. Where did he take himself? Out of the equation. Meaning, he was on the other side of the people. לעורר על הכהונה L'oreir al ha'kehunah, to complain about the status of the. זהו שתרגם אונקלוס Zehu shetirgem Onkelos, ואתפלג v'ispeleg. What does אתפלג ispeleg mean? To split. He created a split, a division, a divide, a splintering in the Jewish people. And that is a terrible tragedy, מחלוקת machlokes as we know is undermining, is is one of the biggest plagues we face. נחלק משאר העדה להחזיק במחלוקת Nechlak mi'shar ha'eidah l'hachzik b'machlokes. He separated himself from the rest of the community to establish, to hold on to מחלוקת machlokes. וכן מה יקחך לבך mah yikachacha libecha, לוקח אותך להפרישך משאר בני אדם lokeach oscha l'hafrischa mi'shar bnei adam. We see this elsewhere. דבר אחר Davar acher, ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, משך ראשי סנהדריות שבהם בדברים Mashach rashei Sanhedrios she'bahem b'dvarim, כמה שנאמר קחה עזרך והקומו עמכם דברים k'mah she'ne'emar kachah ezrach v'ha'kumu imachem dvarim. He tried to recruit distinguished leaders to join him. ויקח Vayikach, what did he take? He took people, vulnerable people, people whom he convinced, who he argued, who he recruited to be part of a fight and successfully recruited them to their own detriment. Says the בעל הטורים Ba'al HaTurim, סמך מחלוקת קרח לפרשת ציצית Samach machlokes Korach l'parshas tzitzis. Why is this here? The end of last week's parsha ended with the story of ציצית tzitzis. And we spoke, I think we spoke last week, didn't we? The end of the parsha, the beginning of the parsha, the connection between ציצית tzitzis and the מרגלים Meraglim. The end of the parsha says ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם v'lo sasuru acharei l'vavchem. The beginning of the parsha has the same לשון lashon. They were sent לתור את הארץ lasur es ha'aretz. And the the connection. But why is ציצית tzitzis at the end of the parsha and we begin here with קרח Korach? Says the בעל הטורים Ba'al HaTurim, you know why? שעל ענין ציצית חלק על משה She'al inyan tzitzis chilk al Moshe. Because the מדרש Midrash says what was קרח Korach, what was the source of his rebellion? He argued about ציצית tzitzis. רש\"י Rashi tells us that story. What does it mean he argued about ציצית tzitzis? The whole cloak is made of תכלת techeiles. Yeah. Where is this רש\"י Rashi? Here. Here it is, I'm sorry, ודתן ואבירם v'Dasan v'Aviram. רש\"י Rashi says ודתן ואבירם v'Dasan v'Aviram he recruited them, בשום ששבט ראובן שכנו במחנה אצל תימן b'shum she'shvet Reuven shachno b'machaneh esel teiman. Now, here's a very interesting fact. The שבט shevet of דתן Dasan of ראובן Reuven lived next to, was stationed in the camp, in their traveling and even when they were encamped. Where was ראובן Reuven? Next to קהת Kehas. Not from the same tribe. ראובן Reuven was there next to לוי Levi, to the south. They were on the south side of the משכן Mishkan. I don't know if that was a bad neighborhood, the south side of the משכן Mishkan, but they were on the south side of the משכן Mishkan. Here's incredible. דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram, are they לויים Leviim? Are they part of the שבט לוי tribe of Levi? No. They're part of what tribe? They're the tribe of ראובן Reuven. And yet, they're they're listed, they're delineated as among the leaders of the rebellion. The 250 who die, most of them are not from לוי Levi. Most of them are from ראובן Reuven. How did they get stuck? How did they get stuck here? בשום ששכן לקהת ובניו והן מחנה תימן, נשתתפו עם קרח במחלוקתו B'shum she'shachein l'Kehas u'bnav v'hen machaneh teiman, nishtatfu im Korach b'machlokaso. Because of where they were stationed, bad neighbors. They were influenced by their neighbors. And therefore we conclude from here, the גמרא Gemorah, the מדרש Midrash say, אוי לרשע אוי לשכנו Oy l'rasha oy l'shcheino. Woe unto the wicked person and woe unto his neighbors. You see that ראובן Reuven, most of the dead, most of the damage, most of the deceased came from ראובן Reuven, not even from לוי Levi. Why? Because the tribe was influenced. Asks רב נבנצל שליט\"א Rav Nebenzahl, shlita, chief rabbi of the old city. I don't understand. Who told people where to camp? Who made the seating assignments on the bus? הקדוש ברוך הוא, רבונו של עולם Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the Ribono shel Olam. It was divinely ordained where everyone lived. If you're ראובן Reuven, you have a pretty legitimate grievance. You come to the Almighty and you say, God, you told me to live next to this tribe. You told me to live next to this family, קהת Kehas. And what was the result? The result was I lost so many members of my family. They were recruited to this horrible rebellion and died. God, what were you doing? So רב נבנצל Rav Nebenzahl says, you see, the notion of the influence of neighbors is so great that even when it's divinely ordained that we be exposed to or connected to others, we can never let down our guard. Says רב נבנצל Rav Nebenzahl, you know, sometimes you think, השם Hashem put me in this job. השם Hashem put me in this house. השם Hashem put me in this community. Sometimes you feel like השם Hashem put my kids in this school. השם Hashem put me in this position. It feels almost like it comes from above. It's divinely ordained. It's supernatural. Says רב נבנצל Rav Nebenzahl, but that doesn't give us the license to let down our guard. השם Hashem put you in the house, that's nice. You still have to be careful of the neighbors. השם Hashem put your kids in that school, good. Make sure they still have the right friends. השם Hashem put you in that job, that's nice. Make sure you're hanging out with the right people at the water cooler. Says רב נבנצל Rav Nebenzahl, you see from here that even when השם Hashem puts us in our position in life, we can never let down our guard. Such is the influence and the power and the potency of neighbors. In fact, the משנה Mishna in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos says, what does it say? הרחק משכן רע Harchaik mi'shachen ra and אל תתחבר לרשע Al tischaber l'rasha. It says, don't connect with a wicked person, and distance yourself from a bad neighbor. I don't understand. It should say distance yourself from a a רשע rasha, a wicked person, and don't connect yourself to a bad neighbor. Why does it say the opposite? I forget who I saw this from, that because who is more dangerous? Who is more threatening? A bad neighbor or a wicked person? A bad neighbor. See, a bad neighbor is not necessarily a bad person. They could be a good person with bad habits. A wicked person, it's unlikely we'll attach ourselves to. אל תתחבר לרשע Al tischaber l'rasha. Don't attach yourself to a רשע rasha. It's unlikely that you're going to become close to the רשע rasha. The wicked person is clearly wicked. You're not going to want to be connected to them. Right? My mother, when my parents were at the Israeli Day parade on Sunday, and of course there was the נטורי קרתא Neturei Karta float with signs talking about protesting, and my mother, God bless her, couldn't help herself from getting into a a discussion. And she said to them, what are you doing? You're you're threatening the well-being of my grandchildren. My grandchildren will live in Israel. By your connection with Ahmadinejad and support of Iran and disgusting attitude towards Israel, you are hurting my, you're you're you're threatening the well-being of my grandchildren. You know what they said there? Good, they shouldn't be there anyway. Sick people. So does my mother have to be told, don't go out for dinner, don't have coffee with the נטורי קרתא Neturei Karta? A רשע rasha, you don't have to be told don't connect with. But a neighbor, הרחק harchaik, you have to distance yourself, because we're so much more vulnerable to a bad neighbor, because a bad neighbor is not necessarily a bad person. It could be a good person with bad habits. So where do you learn all of this from? Our פסוק pasuk. דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram, they were from ראובן Reuven, and yet, אוי לרשע אוי לשכנו Oy l'rasha oy l'shcheino. מה ראה קרח לחלוק עם משה Mah ra'ah Korach lachlok im Moshe, why did קרח Korach disagree with משה Moshe? נשיאות אליצפן בן עוזיאל Nesius Elitzafan ben Uziel. משה Moshe, נשיא בני קהת nesi Bnei Kehas על פי הדיבור al pi ha'dibur. משה Moshe had appointed אליצפן Elitzafan to be the נשיא nasi of בני קהת Bnei Kehas. אמר קרח Amar Korach, אחי אבא ארבעה היו achei avah arba hayu. My father had four brothers. שנאמר ובני קהת עמרם ויצהר וחברון ועזיאל. עמרם הבכור נטל שני בניו גדולה She'ne'emar u'Bnei Kehas Amram v'Yitzhar v'Chevron v'Uziel. Amram ha'bechor natal shnei banav gedulah. So the oldest brother Amram, his two sons took greatness. Who are his two sons? משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon. אחד מלך ואחד כהן גדול Echad melech v'echad Kohen Gadol. One is like the king, namely משה Moshe, and the other took on the status of the כהן גדול Kohen Gadol, אהרן Aharon. מי ראוי ליטול את השנייה, לא אני שאני בן יצהר שהוא שני לעמרם Mi ra'ui litol es ha'shniah, lo ani she'ani ben Yitzhar she'hu sheini l'Amram. Who should come next? Shouldn't it be me? Okay, Amram is the oldest, they took the top positions, good. But who's the brother after עמרם Amram? The next brother is יצהר Yitzhar. And says קרח Korach, I'm his son. So I should get the next appointment. והוא מינה נשיא את בן אחיו הקטן מכולם V'hu minah nasi es ben achiv hakatan mi'kulam. Instead, משה Moshe skipped to the younger, youngest brother and a nephew. הריני חולק עליו ומבטל את דבריו Harei'ni choleik alav u'mevatel es devarav. מה עשה Mah asah? עמד וכינס חמישים ומאתים ראשי סנהדריות Amad v'kinnes chamishim u'mata'im rashei Sanhedrios. He stood up and gathered 250 of the wisest people. רובן משבט ראובן שכיניו ruban mi'shevet Reuven sh'chonav. And where did most of them come from, as we said a moment ago? The neighbor ראובן Reuven. ועם אליצור בן שדיאור v'eim Elitzur ben Shedeur, חבור ליוצא זה chavur l'yotzei zeh. שנאמר נשיאי עדה קריאי מועד she'ne'emar nesi'ei eidah kri'ei moed. לעולם נאמר l'olam ne'emar, אלו קריאי העדה eilu krei ha'eidah. והלבישן טליתות שכולן תכלת V'hilbishan talisos she'kulan techeiles. And what did they, they were assembled, bless you, and what did he put on them? He put on them טליתות talisos that were all entirely woven out of תכלת techeiles. In other words, they weren't white, and the strings on the corners weren't white. Everything about the טלית talis was the color turquoise, was תכלת techeiles. באו ועמדו לפני משה Ba'u v'amdu lifnei Moshe. They came before משה Moshe. אמרו לו Amru lo, and they said, רבי Rabbi, we have a question. טלית שכולה של תכלת חייבת בציצית או פטורה Talis she'kulah shel techeiles chayavus b'tzitzis o p'turah? The טלית talis that we're wearing, nothing on the corners, but the בגד beged, the garment is all turquoise. Is it obligated in ציצית tzitzis on the corners or not? אמר להם Amar lahem, so what did משה Moshe respond? חייבת Chayevess. It's obligated. התחילו שוחקין עליו His'chilu socheik alav. They started laughing at him. אפשר טלית של מין אחר חוט אחד של תכלת פוטרה, זו שכולה תכלת לא תפטור את עצמה Efsher talis shel min acher chut echad shel techeiles potrah, zo she'kulah techeiles lo tif'tor es atzmah? Started laughing, he said, I don't understand. If you're wearing a garment, one strand of turquoise exempts the whole garment, it fulfills the mitzvah. So now that the garment is entirely turquoise, it should be obligated at all? And רש\"י Rashi doesn't quote the second, second example he gave is they filled a room with ספרי תורה sifrei Torah. And they said, משה Moshe, does the room need a מזוזה mezuzah? And what did he answer? Yes. Of course, it needs a מזוזה mezuzah. He said, that's ridiculous. If a מזוזה mezuzah, which has how many פרשיות parshiyos in it? One, exempts the entire room. So if I have a room filled with תורה Torah that has every פרשה parsha, why would I need a מזוזה mezuzah? And they laughed at משה Moshe. What kind of argument is this? I don't want to spend time at length. We did in the past. If you go on YUTorah or on our website, BRSOnline, you can listen. We developed in the past, I think two years ago, from Rav Soloveitchik's interpretation, which was the question of centralized authority versus personal autonomy. A tremendous debate in Western culture today, where everyone wants to feel personal autonomy. קרח Korach wasn't expressing anything different than what every American and Westerner wants. Don't tell me what to do, what to like, how to act, how to behave. I'm the arbiter of my own destiny. I choose. We want personal autonomy, not centralized authority. And yet the תורה Torah requires a certain sense of. community. And to have community, there has to be a centralization of תורה Torah, of הלכה Halacha, of jurisprudence, of of worship, of ritual, of ceremony, of practice. And there's this tension that exists even within יהדות Yahadus, where we have individuality, we have twelve different tribes, twelve different entrances to the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash. We have individuality, we have seven מנינים minyanim in Boca Raton Synagogue, and yet there's a centralized, a central system that binds us, called הלכה Halacha, called community, called ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, called called מנהג Minhag, called Jewish calendar. So there's this tension. And ultimately the רב Rav says that's what קרח Korach was arguing, the decentralization of authority. משה Moshe, you're not holier than me. כולנו קדושים Kulanu kedoshim. We're all holy. We're all equally the image of God. Each one of us can arrive at at what we think is right. But what was his classic mistake, said the רב Rav? The רב Rav coined the expression, it was the common sense rebellion. You see, if you ask if my entire garment is turquoise, do I need ציצית tzitzis? If the entire room is filled with תורות Toras, do I need a מזוזה mezuzah? It's a ridiculous question because it's the common sense rebellion. קרח Korach was saying, my common sense dictates that it shouldn't need ציצית tzitzis, it shouldn't need a מזוזה mezuzah. What's the answer? Imagine if I told a physicist, my common sense dictates that if I release an item mid-air, it should remain there. My common sense says gravity is stupid, it's ridiculous. Why should it drop? If I'm holding it there and I let go of it there, it should remain there. What would the, what would the scientist say to me? They'd laugh. They'd say it's not worthy having a conversation with you. Go study physics, start with biology and chemistry, get to physics, and then we can talk. And when you understand the natural order, when you understand the laws of science, then we can talk. קרח's Korach's mistake was seeing, and this is a mistake the רבי סולובייצ'יק Rebbe Soloveitchik developed this at length, this is a mistake that many Jews follow in today. You understand הלכה Halacha from within. It's a vibrant, dynamic, rich system, body of knowledge. You can't just say, X הלכה Halacha, that makes no sense to me. That's stupid. That doesn't make sense. That's outdated. That's archaic. That's that's done. That's old. You have to learn, learn the סוגיא sugya. You have to be within the system. You have to understand the framework of הלכה Halacha. And understand the dynamism, and understand the tensions within הלכה Halacha, and the development of הלכה Halacha. See see הלכה Halacha, see תורה Torah as a rich, dynamic, vibrant body of knowledge, not as something that's common. Oh my common sense dictates that that should be okay on שבת Shabbos. My common sense dictates קול אישה Kol Isha is stupid. My common sense dictates people who argue as such are embracing the קרח Korach common sense rebellion. Learn the סוגיא sugya, understand the issues, understand it within the framework of הלכה Halacha. קרח Korach was arguing from common sense. That's what רש\"י Rashi means to tell us with the מדרש Medrash is telling us about the טלית talis and the תכלת tcheiles and the מזוזות mezuzahs and the ספרי תורה Sifrei Torah. But this was not a question of of common sense. So now, where did he get the ספרי תורה Sifrei Torah? This is part of the That's a good question. Where did they get ספרי תורה Sifrei Torah? So maybe it doesn't mean entire complete ספרי תורה Sifrei Torah because the entire ספר תורה Sefer Torah wasn't written because they hadn't yet lived. It means scrolls of the תורה Torah. Scrolls that had already been written. So back to the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim. So the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim says, why is קרח Korach positioned here at the end of last week's פרשה parsha with ציצית tzitzis? Beginning of this week's פרשה parsha is קרח Korach. What's the connection between the two? Because that was one of קרח's Korach's arguments. Was about ציצית tzitzis. And that's why they're back-to-back. What about ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach is also that he took issue? That he took issue Right. So you can view ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach is is what did he take? He took issue with משה Moshe. Yeah, you could see it that way. The רשב\"ם Rashbam, רב שמואל בן מאיר Rav Shmuel ben Meir, רש\"י's Rashi's grandson gives a different interpretation. ויקח קרח כמו ויקח אברם את שרי אשתו ואת לוט אף כאן ויקח קרח בדבריו את אביו ואחריו הרבה עד שקמו עמם לפני משה חמשים ומאתים איש Vayikach Korach, k'mo vayikach Avram es Sarai ishto v'es Lot. Af kan, vayikach Korach b'dvarav es aviv v'acharav harbeh, ad shekamu imam lifnei Moshe chamishim u'mataim ish. אברם Avram makes a statement when he takes שרה Sarah and לוט Lot. It's an ideological statement. So similarly here, קרח Korach is making a statement. I guess this is what you were describing, Barbara. ויקח Vayikach, he took issue. What did he take? He took issue. He took himself out of the equation. He took conflict. There's different ways of understanding it. And what does he do? Right, he separated himself. That was his classic error. Yeah, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar spells them out by the way. Look at the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. בקיחה זו באו הרבה פירושים B'kichah zu bo harbeh peirushim. This קיחה kichah, this taking, this non sequitur of the תורה Torah, which never really says what he took, has many interpretations. יען כי לא פירש אם קיחה זו בידים Yan ki lo peirash im kichah zu b'yadayim, does it mean he took literally, physically something with his hands? או בדברים o b'dvarim, with words, כמו לקחת לבבים k'mo l'kachas l'vavim, means to summon, to call. ויש אומרים שכל הסיפור נמשך אחרי בני ראובן שלא לקח לו למחלקתו, כי ראה לאכן ולו כל מרי נפש וידע כי נפשם מרה על הבכורה שנטלה ככה מראובן V'yesh omrim shekol ha'sipur nimshach acharei bnei Reuven she'lo lakah lo l'machlokuso, ki ra'ah la'achen v'lav kol marei nefesh v'yada ki nafsham marah al ha'bechorah shenitla kachah meiReuven. ואף על פי שיעקב נטלה ולא משה, מכל מקום על ידי שתחזור כוסרה לבעליה יחשבו שגם להם תחזור הבכורה ויסכימו עם קרח V'af al pi sheYaakov natlah v'lo Moshe, mikol makom al yedei shetachzor kosoro l'valeah yachshevu shegam lahem tachzor ha'bechorah v'yaskimu im Korach. This is an incredible insight by the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. Who did קרח Korach go after? ויקח Vayikach, he took. He took into his party. He took, he recruited into his cause. And who did he go after to recruit into his cause? מרי נפש Marei nefesh. Well, first of all, we saw, okay, רש\"י Rashi, רב נבנצל Rav Nevensal, the neighbor. Who is the easiest to get? Your neighbor. You share a, you know, flower with them, you break bread with him, you drink wine with your neighbor, you know your neighbor, you babysit your neighbor, you borrow something from your neighbor. So your neighbor, there's that, the guard is down because there's that nation, that that casual relationship, so your neighbor. But here the כלי יקר Kli Yakar says something more. Why did he go after ראובן Reuven? Because ראובן Reuven were מרי נפש marei nefesh. ראובן Reuven were bitter and resentful. Why was ראובן Reuven bitter and resentful? And what did ראובן Reuven feel that would identify with the argument of קרח Korach? Says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, who was supposed to be the בכור bechor? Who was supposed to have the holiest distinguished status of the Jewish people? ראובן Reuven. Who took it away? It was יעקב Yaakov, not משה Moshe. But so what? Here קרח Korach says, it should have been me. My father's older than אליצפן's Elitzafan's father. It should have been me. My father was the second eldest. And he comes to ראובן Reuven and he says, hey ראובן Reuven, remember you went through that? You were supposed to be the בכור bechor and it was taken away from you? ראובן Reuven says, yeah, you know what? I'm sick of this. That's right. I'm going to join with you. What's with this this displacement? What's with taking away the the right of leadership? So that's what the כלי יקר Kli Yakar says, that's ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach. What did he take? דתן ואבירם בני ראובן Dasan v'Aviram bnei Reuven. He went to his neighbor. He went into his tent and he started a conversation. And he took away, he he took advantage. ויקח Vayikach, what did he take? He took advantage of their bitterness. He took advantage of their status. כל מרי נפש, ידע, כי נפשם מרה על הבכורה Kol marei nefesh, yada, ki nafsham marah al ha'bechorah. He knew they were embittered over the loss of the firstborn status שנלקחה מראובן she'nilkachah mei'Reuven, that was taken from the tribe of ראובן Reuven. That's the first interpretation of the כלי יקר Kli Yakar. Then ויש אומרים שלקח לו טענה כבן עזרא כי זו היתה עיקר הטענה שאמר, אחי ארבעה היו v'yesh omrim she'lakach lo ta'anah k'Ibn Ezra ki zo hayisa ikar ha'ta'anah she'amar, achai arba'ah havu. Then the second interpretation is, what did he take? He took the טענה ta'anah. ויש אומרים בו'ו שלו, דסוכה נוספת כו'ו של וְאֵיָה וְעַנָה V'yesh omrim b'vav she'lo, d'socha nosafes k'vav shel, v'ayah v'anah. ובירושלמי שלקח את דתן ואבירם לצרפם אליו, ונכון לומר ששניהם, שלקח לו לטענה מה שהוא בבן עזרא ולקח לו גם את דתן ואבירם ואון, ולפי זה לא תהיה הו'ו נוספת U'v'Yirushalmi she'lakach es Dasan v'Aviram l'tzarfam eilav, v'nachon lomar she'shvaihu sneihem, she'lakach lo l'ta'anah mah she'hu b'Ibn Ezra v'lakach lo gam es Dasan v'Aviram v'On, u'lefi zeh lo tihiyeh ha'vav nosafes. He says that's the ו'ו vav. What did he take? V, he took all of them, wrapped together with his טענה ta'anah, with his grievance, and he came to complain. Okay. And then the כלי יקר Kli Yakar explains further, but we'll stop here. Okay. Why did it not continue with the lineage? Go back to רש\"י Rashi. It says בן יצהר בן קהת בן לוי Ben Yitzhar, ben Kehas, ben Levi. קרח Korach is the son of יצהר Yitzhar, who's the second son of קהת Kehas, who's the son of לוי Levi. Who's לוי's Levi's father? יעקב Yaakov. Says רש\"י Rashi, ולא הזכיר ביעקב v'lo hiskir b'Yaakov. It doesn't mention יעקב Yaakov. Why? שביקש רחמים על עצמו she'bikesh rachamim al atzmo. Because יעקב Yaakov had prayed, had דאווען davened, שלא יזכר שמו על מחלוקתם shelo yizaker shmo al machlokosam. He anticipated that this would emerge and he דאווען davened, I don't want to be associated with מחלוקת machlokes. שנאמר, בקהלם אל תחד כבודי Sh'ne'emar, b'k'halam al techad k'vodi. ובהיכן נזכר שמו? בסיכרוסו על דברי הימים, שנאמר, בני אביסף בן קרח בן יצהר בן קהת בן לוי בן ישראל U'v'heichan nizkar shmo? B'sichruso al divrei ha'yamim, sh'ne'emar, b'nei Avyasaf, ben Korach, ben Yitzhar, ben Kehas, ben Levi, ben Yisrael. Finally at the end of דברי הימים Divrei Hayamim, the final book of the of תנ\"ך Tanach, when it mentions the lineage, the book is mostly a family tree, uh, lineage, then it mentions it, it mentions it there. So a very important lesson here also. יעקב Yaakov, who was no longer even alive, certainly couldn't be held responsible or accountable for this מחלוקת machlokes. But to such a degree he did not want to be associated with מחלוקת machlokes. You guys want to fight? You're speaking negatively, critically, the shul, the school, the political parties, the neighbor, the homeowners association, the you're all for מחלוקת machlokes? I'm far away. I don't want my name attached to מחלוקת machlokes. Don't list me, don't tell me, don't email me, don't BCC me. I don't want to be attached to מחלוקת machlokes. So poisonous, so toxic, so cancerous is מחלוקת machlokes, that יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu died, דאווען davened rather, that יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu ביקש רחמים bikesh rachamim. He דאווען davened, don't attach me, don't identify or associate with me with מחלוקת machlokes. And that's what the כלי יקר Kli Yakar continues. ומטעמא, ויקח קרח בן יצהר, ולא כחה שמו בבן יעקב U'mi'ta'ama, v'yikach Korach ben Yitzhar, v'lo kachah shmo b'ben Yaakov. כי שקרח היה מחניף לבני ראובן ואמר דרך חנופה, אין אני מיחס אחר אבינו יעקב Ki she'Korach hayah machnif l'vnei Reuven v'amar, derech chanufah, ein ani meyacheis acher avinu Yaakov. ועל יחלק עמכם במה שלקח הבכורה מראובן V'al yechalek imachem b'mah she'lakach ha'bechorah meiReuven. על כן גם הפסוק אין מיחסו אחריו Al kein gam ha'pasuk ein meyacheso acharav. See קרח Korach was, this is how קרח Korach bribed ראובן Reuven. He went to ראובן Reuven and he said, I don't even want to be known to be the offspring of יעקב Yaakov. What יעקב Yaakov did to you by taking away the בכור bechor, because it was יעקב Yaakov who withdrew the firstborn status from ראובן Reuven. So, part of, says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, part of the methodology of קרח Korach when he went to his neighbors, ראובן Reuven, דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram and he said, isn't it terrible what's going on? It's horrible. I want you to know, I'm so upset at what my great-grandfather did to you, to your grandfather by withdrawing his status, skipping over him, I don't even want to be identified with him. On my ID card it says, בן יצהר בן קהת בן לוי Ben Yitzhar, ben Kehas, ben Levi, hard stop. I don't even want to be identified. So Torah says, oh you don't want to be identified? No problem. על כן גם הפסוק אין מיחסו אחריו Al kein gam ha'pasuk ein meyacheso acharav. Therefore the Torah does not list him. בחז\"ל אמרו ויקח קרח שעשה קרחה בעולם B'Chazal amru vayikach Korach she'asah korchah b'olam. חז\"ל Chazal interpret another ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach. What is a קרחה korchah? A bald spot. He made a bald spot in the world. בן יצהר שהיסיח כל עולם כצהריים. בן לוי שנעשה לויה לגיהנום Ben Yitzhar she'his'yacheis kol olam k'tzohorayim. Ben Levi she'na'aseh l'vaya l'Gehenom. ולחשוב נמי בן יעקב שאיקב עצמו לגיהנום V'lachshov nami ben Yaakov she'ikeiv atzmo l'Gehenom. יעקב ביקש רחמים מעצמו שיחשוב עמו שנאמר בסודם אל תבא נפשי, בקהלם אל תחד כבודי Yaakov bikesh rachamim me'atzmo she'yachshov imo sh'ne'emar b'sodam al tavo nafshi, b'k'halam al techad k'vodi. ובפשוטן ודאי לא לכבוד יהיה לו אם יחשבו שאביהם, כי על ידי זה ידרוש שמו לגנאי U'v'pshutan v'dai lo l'chavod yihiyeh lo im yachshevu she'aveihem, ki al yedei zeh yidrosh shmo l'gnai. ועל כן ביקש שלא יחיד כבודו שמה V'al kein bikesh she'lo yechid k'vodo shamah. יעקב Yaakov knew that it would not reflect well on him to be associated, and that's why he דאווען davened to be omitted, not to be included in this. Yet they, it's not easy for him to understand this, the first time he hear it. Should they car, sons of יעקב אבינו Yaakov Avinu knowing that everything is done by השם Hashem. The whole of question, everything is done by השם Hashem. They did not have a son of. So this is a general, this is a general question. A generation who saw the splitting of the sea and the ten plagues, who stood at הר סיני Har Sinai and השם Hashem revealed himself, who lived through miracle after miracle, the מן man, the באר ba'er, the ענני הכבוד ananei ha'kavod, it's enough already. Clearly there's a divine plan. השם Hashem chose אהרן Aharon, chose משה Moshe, step aside. It's clear. What what's the obstinance? What's the what's the stubbornness? So yeah, first of all, there's a lot to be said on this, but thus is the power of of בחירה חפשית bechirah chafshis, of free will. That is the strength of free will. The ability to deny. The ability to deny and to act in a self-destructive. It's also the power of the ego when the ego gets in the way. Okay. I don't want to take the time now, but you could look back, I referenced earlier, the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra and the רמב\"ן Ramban have this long discussion. Just look at the beginning of the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra for a moment. זה הדבר היה במדבר סיני כאשר נשלחו הבכורים ויבדלו הלויים Zeh ha'davar hayah b'midbar Sinai ka'asher nislechu ha'b'chorim v'yidavlu ha'Levi'im. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says this whole episode of קרח Korach happened long before. Before the מרגלים Meraglim, and before much of ספר במדבר Sefer Bamidbar, מי מריבה Mei Merivah, it happened, it happened much earlier, says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra. It happened after the inauguration of the משכן Mishkan when the לויים Levi'im were given the status instead of the בכורים bechorim. The בכורים bechorim should have been the ones to conduct the service of the משכן Mishkan and the לויים Levi'im were given that task instead. And it's right after that episode. כי חשבו ישראל שמשה אדונינו עשה מדעתו לעשות גדולה לאחיו, גם לבני קהת שהם קרובים אליו Ki chashvu Yisrael she'Moshe Adoneinu osah mi'da'ato l'asos gedulah l'achiv, gam l'vnei Kehas she'heim krovim eilav. לכל בני לוי שהם משפחתו L'chol bnei Levi she'heim mishpachto. What happened? Those who were watching thought who is the one who decided this? I guess this answers your question a little bit then. This was not divinely ordained. It was משה Moshe. משה Moshe, you're human. You favor your brother. This was um, nepotism at its finest. The ultimate nepotism, פרוטקציה protektzia. You're taking care of your own. לכל בני לוי שהם משפחתו L'chol bnei Levi she'mishpachto. And all the לויים Levi'im thought, okay, good, we're going to get cabinet positions. We're going to get positions of distinction. הלויים קשרו עליו בעבור שיישר את לאהרן לבדו Ha'Levi'im kashru alav ba'avur she'yisr es la'Aharon l'vado. וקשרו דתן ואבירם בעבור שהסיר הבכורה מראובן אביהם ועשאה ליוסף V'kashru Dasan v'Aviram ba'avur she'he'sir ha'bechorah meiReuven avihem v'osah l'Yosef. ולחשדו בעבור יהושע משפחתו. גם קרח בכור היה V'lachadju ba'avur Yehoshua mishpachto. Gam Korach bechor hayah. So what happens? The בכורים bechorim rebelled. All the בכורים bechorim. So the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra posits, you know, קרח Korach was the בכור bechor of his family. דתן ואבירם Dasan v'Aviram were the בכור bechor of their family. Says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, all 250 of those who rebelled were all the firstborn of their family. This was the rebellion of the firstborn. When they see in practice they're not going to get to do the service, they're not going to be the ones who have the positions of of distinction, it was taken from them and given to לוי Levi, even though קרח Korach is a לוי Levi, his status of בכור bechor is more overriding, and he gathers all these firstborn, and it becomes a conglomerate team of firstborn and they are the ones who rebel. So the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says, when did all this happen? Not after the מרגלים Meraglim. It's happened early on, right when they were inaugurating the משכן Mishkan, and they saw the לויים Levi'im in practice, that's when they rebelled saying, what do you mean, we're the בכור bechor, it should have been us. The רמב\"ן Ramban disagrees. And the רמב\"ן Ramban says, yes, normally אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה ein mukdam u'me'uchar ba'Torah. True there are times that the Torah is taken out of chronological order, but this is not one of them. Says the רמב\"ן Ramban, this happened exactly where it appears, namely here. The רמב\"ן Ramban says this in a paragraph that begins ואמר רבי אברהם v'amar Rabbi Avraham. אמר רבי אברהם Omra Rabbi Avraham כי זה הדבר היה במדבר סיני כאשר נשלחו הבכורים ויבדלו הלויים ki zeh ha'davar hayah b'midbar Sinai ka'asher nislechu ha'b'chorim v'yidavlu ha'Levi'im he quotes the whole Ibn Ezra. וכבר כתבתי כי על דעתי כל התורה כסדרה, וזה לאשים במקום שיפרש הכתוב ההקדמה והאחור U'kvar kasavti ki al da'ati kol ha'Torah k'sidra, v'zu l'osim b'makom she'yifareish ha'kasuv ha'hakdamah v'ha'achor. וגם שם לצורך ענין לא טעם נכון. אבל היה הדבר הזה במדבר פארן בקדש ברנע אחר מעשה המרגלים V'gam sham l'tzorech inyan lo ta'am nachon. Aval hayah ha'davar ha'zeh b'midbar Paran b'Kadesh Barnea achar maisas ha'meraglim. This happened exactly where it is, after the episode of קדש ברנע Kadesh Barnea, after the מעשה המרגלים maisas ha'meraglim, says the רמב\"ן Ramban, it happened right here. So you have this מחלוקת machlokes between the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra and the רמב\"ן Ramban. Okay, a few more points. Look at another אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra on פסוק ב' pasuk beis. We got very far today, we did two פסוקים psukim. ויקומו לפני משה ואנשים מבני ישראל חמישים ומאתים נשיאי עדה V'yakumu lifnei Moshe va'anashim mi'bnei Yisrael chamishim u'mataim n'si'ei eidah. They stood up in front of משה Moshe, men from the בני ישראל bnei Yisrael, 250 of them, men of distinction, נשיאי עדה n'si'ei eidah. Says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, לפני משה, שלא קמו בסתר. ויש הפרש בין לפני ובין מפני lifnei Moshe, she'lo kamu b'seiser. V'yish hefresh bein lifnei u'vein mipnei. It doesn't say they stood up מפני משה mipnei Moshe. מפני משה Mipnei Moshe would mean they stood up because of משה Moshe. They were upset, they were rebelling, they were angry, they were resentful, they were bitter, they were challenging. That's not what it says, notes the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra. It says לפני lifnei. What does לפני lifnei mean? In front of. And says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, this was an open rebellion. They didn't meet privately in his office. Why? Why? Because when your agenda is a successful outcome, then you meet privately. You don't go right to the press. You have a grievance with someone, you go meet with them. You share it with them. You talk it out. You put it on the table privately. In fact, the more public something becomes, the less likely you could work it out. People have to dig in their heels, and now people form on both sides, armies, and rumors spread, and egos get involved. When you go meet and it's private, the fewer people who know, the greater the likelihood you can mediate. Says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, the goal wasn't to mediate. The goal wasn't a private meeting to succeed in some agenda or grievance. It was to make a public statement. Says the אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, לפני משה lifnei Moshe. ויקומו Vayakumu, they took out billboards. They put posts online. They wrote blogs. They weren't interested in meeting with משה Moshe and resolving it privately. They were interested in fermenting a public rebellion. And that's the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim. ויקומו Vayakumu, they stood up, בגמטריא, לחלוק b'gematria, lachlok. What was their goal, what was their agenda? מחלוקת Machlokes. Sometimes that's the whole agenda is מחלוקת machlokes. What are you arguing about? Doesn't even matter. We're arguing. I don't like you. Why? Doesn't matter. Sometimes מחלוקת machlokes, I would say actually very often in families, I've given דרשות drashos about this. There are families that are fighting years later, and no one can remember why they're in a fight. There are siblings who haven't spoken in decades, and no one can remember what the original fight was about, why they're not talking. Is there a greater tragedy than that? To a certain degree, is there anything more pathetic than that? But when people are so committed to the מחלוקת machlokes, they're wrong and I'm right. What are they wrong and you're right about? I don't even know. All I know is I'm right and they're wrong. About what? What's the מחלוקת machlokes? I can't remember. All I remember is I'm right and they're wrong. That's absurd. It's self-destructive. It's it's ridiculous. So that's ויקומו vayakumu, says the בעל הטורים Baal HaTurim, ויקומו vayakumu in גמטריא gematria is לחלוק lachlok. Why they stand up? It didn't matter. לחלוק Lachlok, מחלוקת machlokes. Because they're wrong and I'm right. That's why they stood up. That was the agenda. Okay, there's a lot more to say, but we're going to stop here. Why? Wish everyone a wonderful שבת Shabbos.
