Transcript
Boker tov, good morning. Our parsha class, Parshas Korach, this morning is sponsored generously by my parents in memory of my mother's father, my grandfather Sam Aboff, שמואל בן יונה גדליה Shmuel ben Yona Gedalia, and I'll take the prerogative because it's my grandfather, just to take one moment to tell you about him. He was a very, very special man. I had the privilege of being very close to him. My son Shai is named for him, שמואל ישראל נתן Shmuel Yisrael Nasan, named for two of his great grandfathers, שמואל Shmuel and ישראל נתן Yisrael Nasan. My grandfather was a modest man, a humble man, a gentleman, a very smart man. He was the superintendent of schools of Elizabeth, New Jersey, very close with Rabbi Tights. The family actually preceded the Tights even to Elizabeth, and his educational brilliance and and success he devoted to תורה ומסורה Torah Umesorah and to the spread of Jewish education across this country. He was a very, very special person with a deep faith, a simple and a quiet faith, an uncomplicated faith, a very gentle soul, and loved all people and had an enormous impact on his community in Elizabeth and on all of us. And our learning today should be לעילוי נשמתו le'iluy nishmaso, שמואל בן רבי יונה גדליה Shmuel ben Reb Yona Gedalia. אמן Amen. If you want to know more, you can ask my mom after class. פרשת קרח Parshas Korach. פרשת קרח Parshas Korach. Page 820 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. פרשת קרח Parshas Korach of course is the פרשה parsha of the, the story of מחלוקת machlokes. We have online on YU Torah previously given several שיעורים shiurim on the anatomy of מחלוקת machlokes, exactly what was driving this great rivalry, this debate, a debate that חז\"ל Chazal, the משנה Mishna in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos characterizes as שלא לשם שמים shelo l'shem Shamayim. You have debates which advance and further the interests of Hashem, they're healthy, they stimulate thinking. There's a great debate going on right now like that. It's kind of, it's kind of חסידות chasidus versus the מתנגדים misnagdim 2.0, the גאון Gra and the בעל שם Baal Shem 2.0 with Rav Moshe Weinberger and Rav Brafman, a Rebbe at נר ישראל Ner Yisrael. I don't know if anyone's following these articles back and forth and the שיעורים shiurim back and forth and this notion, do we need חסידות chasidus? Do we just need גמרא רש\"י תוספות Gemara Rashi Tosfos? That's a מחלוקת לשם שמים machlokes l'shem Shamayim. If you're following that debate, I may write about it this week. It's fantastic. It's fascinating. What I love about it is it has people on both sides excited and animated and arguing, but all לשם שמים l'shem Shamayim. They're arguing about what we need in our time, what is the means, the mechanism, the best strategy to connect to the ריבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. This, קרח ועדתו Korach v'adaso, is characterized as a מחלוקת machlokes שלא לשם שמים shelo l'shem Shamayim. It wasn't genuine, it wasn't authentic, it wasn't interested in advancing the will of Hashem in this world, making the world a better place. It was driven by ego. In fact, that's the opening words, ויקח קרח בן יצהר בן קהת בן לוי Vayikach Korach ben Yitzhar ben Kehas ben Levi. And that opening word, ויקח Vayikach, the Torah never tells us ויקח Vayikach what Korach took. Rabbis across the country will speak about it this שבת Shabbos. What did he take? Rashi says he took himself to one side. לקח את עצמו לצד אחד Lakach es atzmo l'tzad echad, להיות נחלק מתוך העדה לעורר על הכהונה l'hios nachlak mitoch ha'eidah l'orer al hakehunah. He took himself to one side. He extracted himself. Instead of being integrated in the community, instead of operating with harmony with the community, he instigated a מחלוקת machlokes and it left him on the outside. The amazing thing about בעלי מחלוקת baalei machlokes is they lack self-awareness. He didn't even realize he was on the outside. So convinced that they're right in מחלוקת machlokes, so absolutely convinced that they're correct and everyone else is wrong, the person doesn't realize how isolated they've become. They don't understand the damage that they have wrought. The Rebbe says, לקח את עצמו לצד אחד lakach es atzmo l'tzad echad means, you know what the root of the challenge, the root of the problem was? He was לקח את עצמו לצד אחד lakach es atzmo l'tzad echad. He could only see one side of a debate. In order, you can have your opinion. You can have your opinion. And we should all argue persuasively for our opinions. We should advocate for our opinions, but we have to be capable of seeing the other side. For there to be a healthy relationship within the community, healthy relationships within our lives, you can't be on צד אחד tzad echad, you have to stay see שני צדדים shnei tzdadim. See both sides, even if you are going to take one of the sides. Korach was לקח את עצמו לצד אחד lakach es atzmo l'tzad echad. He could only see it one way. He was blinded, which we'll come back to, but he was blinded by the ability or inability to see another perspective, to be able to come at it from another angle, to see it from another way. Rav Kru spoke at the Katz Yeshiva High School graduation, you remember several weeks ago. What was it Laurel and Hardy? Laurel and no, what was the, people heard a sound and you could hear it one of two ways. None of you know what I'm talking about? Your grandchildren all know what I'm talking about. Okay. Yeah, Laurel and... Come on, what was the other one? Yanni. Yanni, Yanni and Laurel. So you only heard one side and people who heard it one way were convinced the other side was categorically wrong. They were distorted. They weren't hearing the same thing, they weren't hearing the right thing. And it was an amazing, actually national or international exercise in this question of, is it possible for me to hear one thing and make room and allow you to hear another? Is it possible for me to be convinced that what I hear, I hear? Can I stand by what I hear but nevertheless respect and make room and allow you to hear what you hear? That's שני צדדים shnei tzdadim. That's the ability to see things from two sides. It's the root of all relationships. And if you don't have that ability, if it's צד אחד tzad echad, you know, איש איש כי תשטה ish ish ki sisteh, that's the pasuk, פרשת סוטה parshas Sotah we read a few weeks ago. איש איש Ish ish. Why does the parsha say, what drove this woman, not to excuse her behavior at all, but what drove her to explore a relationship elsewhere? because איש איש ish ish, her husband, איש איש ish ish, he imposed himself. Only one way of looking at it, only one way of thinking about it, only one way of behaving, demanding and arguing and saying she has to be this way. So Korach only saw one side, and when you only see one side, and when you insist that everyone needs to see it the way you see it, and if you see it any other way, you're either ill-informed, or you're ignorant, you're stupid, you're evil, you're wicked, you're archaic, you're fanatic. If you don't see my side, I find all the names in the world to call you, then that's what creates מחלוקת machlokes. If you want to have harmony and relieve מחלוקת machlokes, there has to be the ability, not לצד אחד l'tzad echad, but שני צדדים shnei tzdadim, the ability to see it from two sides. It says Korach was a פיקח pikayach. Rav Melech Biderman brings this down that Korach was a, was a פיקח pikayach and he brings here some גמטריא gematria. He says twice פיקח pikayach is the גמטריא gematria of שלום shalom. And פיקח pikayach is גמטריא gematria of twice צד tzad. When you can see both sides, both צד tzad, צד tzad times two, when you can see both sides, you're a פיקח pikayach. That's when you're smart. That's when you're wise. And when you're a פיקח pikayach, twice פיקח pikayach, when you're smart, you can see both sides, then you have שלום shalom, then you have, then you have harmony. So ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, what did Korach do? He took himself out of the ציבור tzibur. He wasn't מעורב עם הבריות me'urav im habrios. He wasn't integrated. He wasn't harmonious with others. He didn't make room for other people to see things differently. He only saw it his way. The Modzitzer Rebbe, the דברי ישראל Divrei Yisrael says, ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, you know what Korach's mistake was? You could give a five-hour shiur just on the two words, ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach. I'm not going to. I'm tempted but I'm not going to. ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, says the Modzitzer Rebbe, ויקח Vayikach, he made the mistake of thinking that positions of authority, that positions of respect, that positions of distinction are ויקח Vayikach, that you take them, that you demand them, that you go after them. And he failed to realize that when one attains those positions, not by taking them, one attains those positions when they are bestowed by the ריבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. When Hashem gives that prestigious position, when he endows a person with the privilege of serving as a leader within the community, it's a gift from Hashem. And ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, that was Korach's mistake. Moshe and Aaron didn't ask for this. They were tapped by Hashem. But ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, Korach thought prestige, distinction, power is something that you take. And that was his undoing, that was his mistake. Says the Modzitzer Rebbe, that's how you understand the גמרא Gemara in חגיגה דף ד' Chagigah daf dalet that says, איזהו שוטה eizehu shoteh, who's a foolish person, המאבד מה שנותנים לו hamei'abed mah shenosnim lo. A fool is somebody who loses, who who lets go of what's given to them. A simple understanding of the Gemara is, you're a fool if you have opportunity, you have gifts, and you let them go. You waste, you squander them. But the Modzitzer Rebbe reinterprets it, איזהו שוטה eizehu shoteh, המאבד hama'abed, who's a שוטה shoteh, who's a fool, מאבד ma'abed, one who loses the awareness מה שנותנים לו mah shenosnim lo, that Hashem is the one who gives. You can't take. Yes, we work, and yes we advance, and yes we make progress, and yes we take initiative, but ultimately our success, be it material success or be it a success of title or prestige, is something which is bestowed by Hashem, it's not taken, it's not taken by us. We'll, we'll come back more to this מחלוקת machlokes. The poor, the poor end of the parsha gets neglected because everybody focuses on the beginning and the majority of the parsha which is this rebellion. So I want to get through the overview of the parsha and then we'll delve into certain specific פסוקים psukim together. But the, the rebellion is a fascinating rebellion. It's fascinating because it's illogical. ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach means also, the Rav says, ויקח Vayikach, some suggests ויקח Vayikach means he was on the take. He took. What does it mean he took? He was on the take. That this wasn't about מחלוקת לשם שמים machlokes l'shem Shamayim. He didn't really care about what God wanted or the Jewish people. What was he driven by? His ego. He was on the take. Not necessarily that he, that he took money, that he took money, but he was on the take, meaning he did it for his own ego, ויקח Vayikach. But the Rav Soloveitchik says ויקח Vayikach means when a person is singularly focused, when they're משוגע לדבר אחד meshuga l'davar echad, when they become so devoted and dedicated to one way of thinking in the pursuit of one agenda, then they're, they're illogical, and they're incapable of hearing anything else, and they're incapable of having good judgment or seeing with clarity. ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, he was taken by this idea that he had come up with. He was consumed by it. It's all he thought about. When he was in the shower, when he was getting dressed, when he was going to shul, when he was davening, when he was on his way to work, he was consumed by this thought of why are Moshe and Aaron in charge? I'm from the same family. It's nepotism. Why is it everyone but me? I don't get the honor and and recognition I deserve. He was so consumed by that that it blocked or clouded his ability to see, to judge, to hear anything else. And it became utterly and absolutely illogical. As Rav Moshe Weiss points out, quotes the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim, that what was his, what was his accusation? כל העדה כלם קדושים ובתוכם ה' Kol ha'eidah kulam kedoshim u'bsocham Hashem. מדוע תתנשאו על קהל ה' Madua tisnasu al kehal Hashem? We're all equally holy. Who do you think you are? You raise yourself, you put yourself above everyone? We're all equal. We're all equal. Why do you act like you're all that, Moshe and Aaron? Who died and made you the king of the universe? So it says the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim, could there be a more illogical accusation than Korach pointing to Moshe and saying, \"Moshe, you're so arrogant. You're so egotistical. You think it's all about you. You self-appointed yourself over everyone else.\" Why is that so illogical, irrational? Why is it the most absurd accusation ever? Because what did we just hear testified by God himself at the end of בהעלותך Behaaloscha? והאיש משה עניו מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה V'ha'ish Moshe anav mikol ha'adam asher al pnei ha'adamah. There's never been a more humble man in all of existence. One of the י\"ג עיקרים Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, one of the 13 principles of faith is to know that Moshe is the greatest human of all time, greater than anyone who came before or anyone who will come after. Rav Moshe Weiss says, why does it say עניו מכל האדם anav mikol ha'adam, greater מכל האדם mikol ha'adam, better than all people? So he says, אדם Adam is a reference to אברהם דוד ומשה Avraham, David, v'Moshe. The first three letters of their names, אברהם דוד ומשה Avraham, David, v'Moshe spells אדם Adam. They were all known to be very humble and yet Moshe's humility surpassed them all. Moshe said ונחנו מה v'nachnu mah, what are we? We're nothing. Avraham Avinu said אנכי עפר ואפר anochi afar v'efer, I'm dust and ashes. So how could Korach possibly have thought that he was going to gain traction? What could have led Korach to think that there was any legitimacy to this argument, that Moshe, you're so ego-driven, you're so arrogant, you think you're all that? What do you mean? HaKadosh Baruch Hu just testified, he's עניו מכל האדם anav mikol ha'adam, he's the most humble of all people. אלא מאי Ela mai, what do you see from here? says the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim. What you see from here is that when people are swept away by מחלוקת machlokes, they turn off their brain to logic. They start drawing conclusions that are illogical, that are irrational. It clouds our thoughts, it renders us unable to differentiate right from wrong, truth from false. We become self-sabotaging. When we are engaged in מחלוקת machlokes, ויקח קרח Vayikach Korach, when we become so fixated, so consumed by that one thought, that one accusation, that one suspicion, we start to see things that not only aren't, but that could not be. We start to believe in the absurd because we're so driven by that sense of a, by that sense of a מחלוקת machlokes. So that was Korach. Korach was suspicious. That was his argument. And how does Moshe react? He says, you know what? Let's all sleep on this. בוקר Boker, we'll deal with it in the morning. And that's the section we're going to come back and look at momentarily. Why does Moshe say let's look at it in the morning? Why not hear him now? You got to put this thing to bed before it ferments, before it grows. Why, why didn't, why did Moshe allow it to wait? בוקר Boker, we'll deal with it in the morning. It's going to metastasize by the morning. Why did he allow that? Moshe summons Dathan and Abiram, they ignore him. Hashem responds. We know with four responses. First, the earth swallows up. The Gemara has a machlokes, did Korach die in the earth swallowing him up, or did he die in later? Because after the earth swallows up the first group, then 250 die by a fire that comes and consumes them, and then we have a plague that strikes another 14,000. And when all is said and done, you'd think we're finished, right? HaKadosh Baruch Hu has kind of made his point. Moshe and Aaron have been vindicated, they won. Let's move on, we're done. And yet there's one more thing that has to happen, which is the competition of the staffs. Aaron is placed, the others, Aaron's blossoms, the others don't blossom. Why did we need that last thing? You could listen online, we spoke about that in the past, about the nature of vindication. Quoted Covey in his seven habits, that the best thing is a win-win. It doesn't have to be a win-lose, or a lose-lose, but win-win is the best option that we're looking for in conflict resolution or in negotiation. And that created more of a, of a win-win. Right after the episode is concluded, all these people have tragically died. Casualties, by the way, the most came from the tribe of Reuven. Reuven suffers the greatest casualties. Reuven? Korach was from which tribe? Levi. Why did Reuven suffer the most casualties? If you go back to the beginning of במדבר Bamidbar, Rashi says because Reuven was placed right next to Levi in the beginning in, in the beginning of the encampment, the encamping assignments. Reuven suffers the most. We've spoken about that in the past and it's available online as well. So when the episode ends, the Torah then continues with reiterating the duty, the responsibility of the כהנים Kohanim. Why would it do that? Because the people of Levi, the tribe of Levi, the Kohanim might have thought, maybe others think what Korach thought. Maybe HaKadosh Baruch Hu himself has second thoughts about their position of distinction. So the Torah therefore reiterates that no, they have this role of, of distinction, and they have their responsibilities that they need to serve. We have the מתנות כהונה matnos kehunah, the gifts of תרומה trumah and מעשר maaser, what's given to the כהן kohen, what's given to the לוי Levi. Included in that are the בכורי bikurei, are the first. If you go to פרק י\"ח perek Yud Ches, chapter 18, verse י\"ג yud gimmel, 13. בכורי כל אשר בארצם אשר יביאו לה' לך יהיה כל טהור בביתך יאכלנו Bikurei kol asher b'artzam asher yavi'u laShem l'cha yihyeh, kol tahor b'veisecha yochlenu. כל פטר רחם Kol peter rechem, פדה תפדה את בכור האדם padoh tiftieh es bechor ha'adam, ופדויו מבן חדש תפדה u'ftiyei m'ben chodesh tifdeh, בכור שור bechor shor, the whole notion of the first, the first. Many different forms of the first. So let me share with you Rav Soloveitchik's insight on this obsession or why is it that we deliver so many of our first to Hashem. Said Rav Soloveitchik, these verses deal with the idea that the first created belong to God. The firstborn, the first ripened, the first harvested, encompassing human, animal, and vegetative life. And all are God's possession. חרם Cherem, objects dedicated to God are included. He in turn transferred them to the kohen. The prohibition of ערלה orlah, the fruit of the first three years of a tree's life, and חדש chadash, eating a new grain before the barley offering in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash on פסח Pesach, are evidence to the same concept. Man is not allowed to eat from the yield of the soil before he has brought the offering to Hashem. All of life, human, animal, and vegetative, belong to God and must be surrendered to him. In the act of sacrificing the first fruit, the earliest budding of life, Hashem's mastery over and leadership of the world find expression. Right, so by submitting and surrendering the first of everything, the first of our animal, the first of our fruit, the first of our children, by each one of those has a sanctity that needs to be redeemed or dedicated or offered to Hashem. And says the Rav, the message is the recognition that what's the relationship we have with the first? It's a deeper, greater relationship than anything that comes after. Not our children. Our children we all love equally, but the notion of the first is, I'm a middle child so, right? Love all the children equally. So the notion is though that whatever comes first has our greatest excitement. It's also the greatest reward for the greatest effort. The farmer sits in the field, he plants, and then he waters and he nurtures and he breaks his back taking care and he harvests and now he's ready to dig in to his first tomato or his first wheat or barley harvest. And what's the halacha? The first, first fruit are brought to the Beis Hamikdash. First fruit, that first pregnancy, the first child. And what do you have to do with the בכור bechor? Not yours. Not yours until redeemed. All first is the submission, the surrender that everything really belongs to Hashem. He's allowed me to be the steward over it. I can enjoy it. I'm responsible to take care of it. I'm in charge of it. I can benefit from it, but really it all belongs to Hashem. And Hashem makes that point of his mastery, his ownership over the whole world through this emphasis of the relationship with the בכור bechor that crosses across the human, animal, and vegetative life. Sacrifices are drawn from the animal realm, says the Rav, because the very idea of offering suggests the surrender of life to its rightful master, to Hashem. But offerings are also drawn from the vegetative realm. Wine, oil, and flour take a most prominent place in the sacrificial lists. That all organic existence is one continuum is a postulate of Judaism. But the Torah does not apply uniform standards to all of organic life. Human life is evaluated as the apex of the bio-pyramid. What was termed צלם tzelem. And plant as its base. But the difference consists only in degree, not in kind. Therefore all organic life is included in the sacral act of offering life to Hashem. The fact that the first budding of life must be consecrated to him is a logical consequence of the idea that Hashem is the rightful owner of all life. Every living creature owes its very existence to Hashem. And it is the firstling that God's, that God's life-giving breath is most clearly manifest. The daybreak of life belongs to Hashem, but is leased to man. And as a result, Judaism proclaims the idea of בכור bechor, the firstborn. קדש לי כל בכור Kadesh li kol bechor, sacrifice the firstborn. The firstborn shall be consecrated to Hashem. The בכור bechor, man or animal, is claimed by the master. In the case of a clean animal, the firstborn is surrendered to Hashem in the form of a sacrifice. In reference to human and unclean animals, the Torah recommends redemption. A symbolic performance that still retains its aboriginal meaning in the form, formula which was composed by the Geonim. מה בעית בה Mah bo'is feh? Which do you prefer? To give away your firstborn or to redeem him? It is critical that the idea of בכור bechor belongs to Hashem expressing the unique intimacy between Hashem and any living creature including vegetative life. And he goes on and on, he talks about the notion of תרומה trumah and חלה challah is the same idea in vegetative life. You're separating a piece, it's consecrated and holy, it's dedicated to Hashem. The Rav has one other insight and then we'll go back to analyze our, our psukim we're gonna look at today. פדה תפדה את בכור האדם Padoh tifdeh es bechor ha'adam. In the context of this בכור bechor of the first, there's the first of animal life, the first of vegetative life, and the first of human life, which is פדיון הבן Pidyon Haben. And here the Rav offers an insight I had never thought of before or heard of before. And put it in your back pocket if you ever have to speak at a פדיון הבן Pidyon Haben. It's fantastic. פדה תפדה את בכור האדם Padoh tifdeh es bechor ha'adam. You have to redeem the firstborn. You have to redeem the firstborn. If it's born naturally and right, all the depending on the yichus and so on. The ceremonial of redemption of the firstborn son re-enacts the drama, says the Rav, this is a re-enactment of עקידת יצחק Akeidas Yitzchak. That's a good question. That's a good question. For another time. The ceremonial redemption of the firstborn son, we'll, we'll hold questions to the end. It's a good question, Larry. Reenacts the drama of Avraham offering Yitzchak to Hashem of the night of faith, unreservedly giving away his son to Hashem. Children are the greatest and most precious charge to Hashem that Hashem is entrusted to man's custody without granting any property rights to them. Man willy-nilly must acknowledge this irrevocable though bitter truth. He must be ready to lose everything, if losing is what God demands. He must always answer the call summoning him to perform heroically the movement of withdrawal from the most tightly knit and natural community on earth, that of a parent and child, of a father and son. And to retreat from positions which psychologically speaking man lacks the courage to abandon, because the departure from these positions would mean to the ordinary unredeemed person self-displacement and existential uprootedness. The offering of Yitzchak is exemplary of this type of sacrificial service to Hashem. Our Midrashic scholars maintained that Hashem when he commanded Avraham, take his son and offer him on the mountains, did not will him to bring him physical sacrifice. All he willed Avraham to do was relinquish his son whom he showered with love that tore down all the barriers separating two individuals. Again, he goes on and on. I don't want to take the time, but he very beautifully portrays this parallel between the experience of פדיון הבן Pidyon Haben, that your firstborn child, like what Avraham had to do with Yitzchak, the parent does with their firstborn child when they say, he really belongs to Hashem and has to go through this exercise and this process of redemption and bringing him back and bringing him back home. Okay, let's look at our psukim that we're gonna analyze this morning. It is פרק ט\"ז, פסוק ה' perek Tes Zayin, pasuk Hei. The bottom of page 820 towards the very beginning of the parsha. And where we pick up is exactly when Korach has finished articulating his complaint. He says, רב לכם rav lachem, you have too much, כל העדה כלם קדושים kol ha'eidah kulam kedoshim, everybody's equal. Moshe, Aaron, who are you? Who do you think you are? Everyone's equal. You're not better than us. You're not greater than us. Who are you to tell us what to do? And what's Moshe's reaction? וישמע משה ויפל על פניו Vayishmah Moshe vayipol al panav. Moshe is, he falls on his face. By the way, this is a greater reaction than he's had to things in the past. This is on the heels of the מתאוננים mesoanim, the complainers. We're hungry, we're tired, we're thirsty, we want to go back to Egypt, with this, with this, with this. And here Moshe reacts, Hashem reacts even more harshly than he does to any of those complaints. As Rav Soloveitchik says, because it's a watershed moment. You see, those complaints, they came from, they were driven by תאווה taavah, by appetite, by desire, by temptation. This is not driven by appetite. This is an ideological rebellion. This undermines the authority, the centralization of the Jewish people. If Korach's rebellion gains traction, if it catches on, this is the end of the Jewish people. This is the end of the Jewish journey. This is the end of Jewish history and Jewish destiny. And so Moshe understands that, he has that insight, as obviously does the Ribono Shel Olam. And therefore he reacts the way that he does. So what does he say? וידבר אל קרח ואל כל עדתו לאמר Vaydaber el Korach v'el kol adaso leimor, Moshe speaks to them. What does he say? בוקר ויודע ה' את אשר לו ואת הקדוש והקריב אליו Boker v'yoda Hashem es asher lo v'es hakadosh v'hikriv eilav. Let's wait 'til the morning, and Hashem will make known the one who is his own and the holy one. Who are the one who is, who are those separate people? Rashi says, את אשר לו לעבודת לויה es asher lo l'avodas Leviyah, the Leviim, ואת הקדוש לכהונה v'es hakadosh l'kehunah, and who are the holy ones? The kehunah. So you're arguing against both me and Aaron. You're challenging the positions of the Leviim and the Kohanim. So Moshe says, בוקר boker, let's wait 'til the morning. And in the morning Hashem will reveal who he endorses for the Kohanim and the Leviim. ואת אשר יבחר בו יקריב אליו V'es asher yivchar bo yakriv eilav. And he will draw him close to himself. And whoever he will choose, he'll draw close to himself. That's what, that's what's going to happen. And the question I want to ask, we could spend almost the remainder of our time on just that word, בוקר boker. Just that word בוקר boker. Boker? What's boker? I know it means morning. But why morning? Why wait until the morning? Resolve it now. Don't let it ferment. Don't procrastinate. Don't let it metastasize. Don't let it catch on. Don't let it gain traction. Wipe them out. Strike them down. Ostracize them. Excommunicate them. Put them in חרם cherem. What are you doing, Moshe? בוקר Boker. You know what, Moshe says? Let's wait 'til the morning. First he just fell on his face. He just collapsed, understanding the potential catastrophic consequences of this rebellion. But then he gathers himself and he says, בוקר boker. I'm tired. You're tired. It's getting in the morning, we'll have a cup of coffee and we'll take care of it then. Why בוקר boker? Why wait until the morning? So everyone here weighs in. Says Rashi, what's בוקר boker? עתה עת שכרות היא להם Atah es shechrus hi lahem, ולא נאה להראות לפניו v'lo na'ah leheira'os l'fanav. והוא התחכם לדחותם שמא יחזרו בהם V'hu yischakem l'dchosam, shema yachzeru bahem. Rashi says two things. He says, right now is an עת שכרות es shechrus. What does שכרות shechrus mean? Drunk. Right now we're drunk. Drunk? Who said anything about drinks? It wasn't that Moshe and Korach were sitting in the bar having a לחיים l'chaim, and all of a sudden Korach, the intoxicated, belligerent Korach decides to incite a rebellion in his stupor. Who said anything about drinks? What do you mean it's an עת שכרות es shechrus? It's not proper to appear before Hashem while we're drunk. What does that mean? So look at the שפתי חכמים Sifsei Chachamim, the commentary, super commentary on Rashi, שהיו עסוקים במחלוקת כל היום shehayu asukeem b'machlokes kol hayom. לכך אמר עת שכרות היא l'kach omar es shechrus hi, כמו שמצינו בשכרות ולא מיין kmo shematzinu b'shochrus v'lo miyayin, שאומר מינו אף על פי שלא שתו נקראו שכר she'amar meino af al pi shelo shosu nikru sheker. Says the שפתי חכמים Sifsei Chachamim, you know why Rashi describes their their attitude, their condition as drunk? Because what happens when a person gets drunk? They forfeit their clarity. They forfeit their judgment. They forfeit their acting in their best interest. When a person is engaged in a מחלוקת machlokes, they're drunk on the מחלוקת machlokes. It's along the same lines of what Rav Ashi quoted from the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim. So single-minded, so driven, so convinced you're right, so consumed by the מחלוקת machlokes, you're drunk on מחלוקת machlokes. If you'd stop and be able to step outside of yourself and look at yourself and say, \"Is that really intelligent? Is that going to lead to the results that you want? How is this going to end for you?\" The person would stop and abandon what they're doing, temper what they're doing. But a person is so consumed by מחלוקת machlokes is as if they're drunk in that moment. So Moshe says, look, you've been fighting all day. This מחלוקת machlokes is going on all day. This is not a time to try to resolve this. You can't resolve this in this state, in this stupor. You need to sober up. Sleep on it, come back. The other thing Moshe, Rashi says is, שמא יחזרו בהם shema yachzeru bahem. What was Moshe doing? He was buying Korach time. It was a delay tactic. בוקר Boker. You know what? Go to bed. Talk to your wife. Korach's wife, it turns out, was terrible. As opposed to און בן פלת's On ben Peles wife who saved him. Korach's wife really is the one who every night said, Korach, they don't respect you. Nobody respects you. Come on, Korach, why is it always Moshe and Aaron? Korach, you deserve better. She's the one who instigated the entire thing. But But Moshe thought Korach should go home and you know what, talk to somebody, gain some clarity, sleep on it, have a good meal, take a warm shower, relax. Relax a little bit. And by the morning, you'll come back to your senses. By the morning, you'll realize this is not going anywhere good. So the first lesson for us from that word בֹּקֶר boker, and Moshe's delay tactic is, not every instigation from someone towards us deserves an immediate reaction. You don't always have to shoot back that email right away. You got that email, somebody just fired the first shot of a מחלוקת machlokes at you through that email, through that text message, through that phone call, and boy, you're ready to like unload, disproportionately, as those who accuse us in Israel of doing. You're ready to disproportionately wipe the floor with the person who sent you an email with a מחלוקת machlokes because you've been, you have a file of 20 years of that person wronging you. And you've been suppressing it, and you've been hiding it, you haven't wanted to deal with it. Oh, but now you sent me an email because you're upset that the שמחה simcha I didn't do, the שבת Shabbos meal. Boy, I'm going to unload. בֹּקֶר Boker. Don't send an email. Wait till the morning. Sleep on it. Maybe the person is going to write you back and say, you know what? I reread the email I sent you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have worded it in that way. I thought about what I said to you. I didn't mean to hurt you in that way. Even if not, בֹּקֶר boker, the morning will give you the clarity how to respond in a productive way, not in a way which is self-sabotaging. So the first lesson of the word בֹּקֶר boker is from רש\"י Rashi, is this notion that when you are in the moment of מחלוקת machlokes, by the way, the brain and all the bio physical feedback is exactly fight or flight, reptilian, it's animalistic. When you, somebody instigates against you, you're you're no longer of your right mind. That's what the שכרוס shikrus, the שישי חכמים Sifsei Chachamim says, or Rashi says, when you're in that מחלוקת machlokes, you're like drunk because you're not in your right mind. You're not using the front cortex, you're not using the parts of the brain which are the unique human thinking, analytical thinking. You're using the fight-flight animal parts of your brain, which just want to have you unload on that person. And you're like a שכור shikor. You're like a drunk person. So בֹּקֶר boker. Wait, take a deep breath, sleep on it, wait till the morning. The email can be responded to in the morning. By waiting, you both give the other person time to come to their senses, and you can gather yourself to figure out what's the best path forward that will be the most productive. Rabbi Soloveitchik, or let's keep going actually in the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim. The אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh says, בֹּקֶר boker. בֹּקֶר וְיָדַע ה' Boker v'yoda Hashem. טעם אמרו בֹּקֶר ולא עשה המבחן בזמן עצמו Ta'am amru boker v'lo asah hamivchan b'zman atzmo. What does Moshe do? Let's keep reading the פסוקים psukim for a second. זֹאת עֲשׂוּ Zos asu, Moshe says, oh yeah, you think that we're all equal? First of all, let's deal with it in the morning. And then in the morning comes, he says here's the deal. קְחוּ לָכֶם מַחְתּוֹת קֹרַח וְכָל עֲדָתוֹ Kchu lachem machtos Korach v'chol adaso. You, Korach and your עדה eidah, take fire pans, the כלים keilim that were used in the משכן Mishkan to burn the incense. וּנְתַתֶּם בָּהֵן U'netunem bahen. Why did Moshe choose the incense? What history do we have with the incense? Do we have any history, a precedent of the incense being that which can decipher the right person from the wrong person? Did we ever have a consequence of somebody who brought incense who wasn't designated to do so? נדב ואביהוא Nadav v'Avihu. They brought a אֵשׁ זָרָה eish zarah, they brought a קטרת ketores that they weren't designated, they weren't commanded to. And what was the result? Death. So Moshe says, okay, look. You know, Nadav and Avihu tried this. Didn't work out too well for them. You're so convinced that you're the chosen ones? Very simple. Bring a קטרת ketores. If indeed you are the chosen ones, it'll be accepted. If not, and you're not commanded and you are foreign to this service, then you will have the same consequence. וּנְתַתֶּם בָּהֵן אֵשׁ וְשַׂמְתֶּם עֲלֵיהֶם קְטֹרֶת לִפְנֵי ה' מָחָר וְהָיָה הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר ה' הוּא הַקָּדוֹשׁ V'netunem bahen eish v'simu aleihem ketores lifnei Hashem machar v'haya ha'ish asher yivchar Hashem hu hakadosh. רַב לָכֶם בְּנֵי לֵוִי Rav lachem bnei Levi. First of all Moshe throws in a great dig. We're going to come back to this in a moment. But רַב לָכֶם rav lachem. Why does he say רַב לָכֶם rav lachem? Who used the word רַב לָכֶם rav lachem a moment ago? Korach. Go to the very opening, the very opening of the parsha. What does Korach say? Korach turns to Moshe and Aaron and he says, רַב לָכֶם כִּי כָל הָעֵדָה כֻּלָּם קְדֹשִׁים Rav lachem ki kol ha'eidah kulam kedoshim. So Moshe says, okay. You know what? Let's sleep on it. Deal with it in the morning. And here's what we'll do in the morning. Take the fire pan, offer the קטרת ketores. You're the chosen ones, it'll be accepted. And if you're not, you're going to be wiped out. רַב לָכֶם Rav lachem. He takes the very same language and it's a zinger right back at Korach and his and his עדה eidah. So the אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh says, if you had this test of the קטרת ketores, Moshe had it all lined up. So why didn't he employ it now? What are you waiting for בֹּקֶר boker? Back to our question. Says the אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh, אוּלַי שכבר נעשה קטרת של בין הערבים ulay shekvar na'aseh ketores shel bein ha'arbaim, שבו המבחן shebo hamivchan. Because the קטרת ketores that was offered in the evening had already been offered. So the test, the opportunity to to do that test would already passed. או שלא יאמרו שעשה המבחן בזמן בלתי הגון שהוא בין הערבים שאינו זמן הרצון O shelo yomru she'asah hamivchan b'zman bilti hagun shehu bein ha'arbaim she'eino zman haratzon. common in the זוהר הקדוש Zohar Hakadosh, שהוא זמן תוקפם של הדינים shehu zman tokpam shel hadinim. That time Mincha is a time of דין din, not מידת הרחמים midas harachamim, Mincha is a time of מידת הדין midas hadin. So if you do the test in the evening, in the afternoon, which is the time of מידת הדין midas hadin of divine judgment, and then Korach and his eidah were rejected, they would say it wasn't a fair fight. You דַּוְקָא davka employed the test when you knew that the odds were against us because it was מידת הדין midas hadin. And for these two reasons, says the אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh, that's why Moshe waits till בֹּקֶר boker. So we saw Rashi brought two reasons. They were drunk on מחלוקת machlokes, they would lost their minds with anger, with rage. It's not the time to resolve things. Or Moshe was buying time for Korach to see the wrongness of his ways and come back. And the Ohr HaChaim gives two reasons. Either because they had brought the קטרת ketores of the Mincha time of בין הערבים bein ha'arbaim, or because it was מידת הדין midas hadin, that wasn't the time to do it. The Rav, Rabbi Soloveitchik, in his חומש Chumash, gives a, I guess we're up to fifth reason for the word בֹּקֶר boker. What does that word בֹּקֶר boker invoke? Let me read to you the Rav. This statement by Korach that the entire congregation are holy is correct. As long as we're speaking of the community, רודה קדושה ruda kedusha inherent from all our ancestors. You know, is Korach wrong? We actually have a tradition that Korach was a very virtuous, noble person. Korach was a חכם chacham, Korach was a צדיק tzaddik. In fact, his argument is very compelling. We might have been persuaded to join. כל העדה כולם קדושים kol ha'eidah kulam kedoshim. The holiness inherent in every one of us. Isn't that a beautiful message? I'm going to speak about this on Thursday night at our Farbrengen for the Rebbe, זצ\"ל zatzal, ג' תמוז Gimmel Tammuz, that the Rebbe's greatness was, he saw כי כל העדה כולם קדושים ki kol ha'eidah kulam kedoshim. Every Jew is holy. Wherever they live on the globe, and whatever their lifestyle is right now, inherently this holiness within every Jew. So isn't that a very beautiful, beautiful attitude? Where did Korach go wrong? כל העדה כולם קדושים kol ha'eidah kulam kedoshim, that's very beautiful. It's very true. Says the Rav, it's correct as long as you're speaking about the community. Indeed, the entire congregation, the community as a whole is a source of holiness. Moshe was born into a Jewish community as was the baby of a slave. Their shares in the endowment of sanctity were equal. However, if we shift our attention from the social aspect to the individual aspect of קדושה kedusha, the whole idea of equality turns into an absurdity. We have to admit that the בחירה bechira of Moshe was above and beyond the בחירה bechira of the wood chopper or the water drawer. Interesting, in his response, Moshe gave Korach בֹּקֶר boker, in the morning. Medieval grammarians, such as the רד\"ק Radak, in his ספר השרשים Sefer HaShorashim, talks about the word בֹּקֶר boker. The word בֹּקֶר boker is made up of the letters ב, ק, ר beis, kuf, reish. Points out that בֹּקֶר boker has the connotation of discriminating and differentiating between individual forms. בֹּקֶר Boker means the period of recognition of things, events, and people. What's the opposite of בֹּקֶר boker, the inverse of בֹּקֶר boker? ערב Erev. Where does ערב erev, what's the etymology of ערב erev? ע, ר, ב ayin, reish, beis. Evening in contradistinction is the time of monotony and uniformity. ערב Erev is a time of apprehending the surroundings as an amorphous, formless mass where the individuals merge into one homogeneous black reality. Right, ערב, מעורב, תערובת erev, me'urav, ta'aroves is a mixture. An ערוב eruv, Rabbi Barsky was just here with the rabbi who's down to help us look at our ערוב eruv and see the improvements we can make. How does an ערוב eruv work? The ערוב eruv works because it makes everyone who is within that boundary מעורב me'urav, a תערובת ta'aroves, it's a mixture of all those people live in one private domain all together. ערב, תערובת, מעורב Erev, ta'aroves, me'urav means a mixture altogether, a formless monotony, a uniformity, a homogeneous blend. Here Moshe speaks not of the congregation but of an individual. Moshe said to Korach, your concept of קדושה kedusha is identical with the ערב erev, with the bleakness of an eternal night whose darkness and dreariness envelop everything. All you see is one piece of formless reality called a עדה eidah, community. You don't see the individuals who make it up. Your concept of קדושה kedusha is limited to what the medieval philosophers called חומר היאולי chomer hiyuli, the primordial mixture. From the viewpoint of ערב erev, your argument is valid. But there's another idea of the holy, the personal, individualistic holiness, in which the human personality participates with all its singular greatness and beauty. This is the holiness which discriminates, which sees individuals. This is the holiness of the morning, of בֹּקֶר boker, when the world emerges from the nightly anonymity into a world full of sun, joy, individual freedom and individual greatness. As far as this holiness is concerned, the crowd is far below the individual, and each person is consecrated to a unique task that only he or she can perform. So beautiful. Says the Rav, the word בֹּקֶר boker is not a coincidence. What Moshe was saying is, you're right. If we examine this and we're going to have this fight, if we're going to engage this debate at night, you're right. Because under the cloak of darkness of ערב erev, when everything is מעורב me'urav, you're right. כל העדה כולם קדושים Kol ha'eidah kulam kedoshim. When you take the community, all you see is Boca Raton Synagogue community. That's non-descript. That's one grouping. That's the unity. But we're made up of individuals who are diverse, who are different, who each have their own mission, who each have our own charge in this world, who each have our own mandate. And that's בֹּקֶר boker. That's not ערב erev where we're all combined. It's בֹּקֶר boker where we're discriminating, discerning, where we're different one from the other, and we have roles to play. The כהן kohen is different than the לוי levi who's different than the ישראל yisrael. The man is different than the woman. The בכור bechor is different than those who come after. We have all of these differences, not better, not superior, but different. You're right. You want to erase those differences, look at the community, the nation as a whole. That's ערב erev. But you know what, Korach, we're going to deal with this when? בֹּקֶר Boker. When the sun comes up and there's the clarity and the vision and the ability to see the differences, then you'll understand that your argument that we're all equal doesn't hold true when you zoom in and look at the level of the individual. A very, very beautiful insight of Rabbi Soloveitchik, the fifth explanation of בֹּקֶר boker. Why it waits all the way until בֹּקֶר boker. A sixth explanation, and this explanation is also beautiful. We've derived lessons from each of the five. From the Rav's is that we as Jews live in בֹּקֶר boker and ערב erev simultaneously. The individual and the community. The Rav has a famous essay, the individual and the community. That we live in both dimensions simultaneously. On the one hand, we're committed to the entity, to the entire unity of our people, to the community. We're willing to submit, we're willing to blend, we're willing to surrender our individuality for the good of the whole. But at the same time, we preserve our individuality and we pursue our individuality, and we have to be able to find both. And I once spoke about that Rav's essay at a שבע ברכות Sheva Brachos, because to a degree that's what marriage is. Marriage you blend into be a couple, the couple, the family unit. But on the other hand, if somebody is sacrificing or submitting or suppressing their individuality, and they grow resentful of it, or they are it's a form of abuse not to be given expression to your individuality, to be coerced by the other, to be overshadowed by the other. A healthy marriage, like our relationship with our people, is בֹּקֶר boker and ערב erev simultaneously. It's to be integrated, it's the ערב מעורב, תערובת erev, me'urav, ta'aroves. We're a unit together, but on the other hand, we're individuals who comprise it and there's room and expression for our individuality as well. Number six explanation is given by the אור פני משה Ohr Pnei Moshe, who was a contemporary of רבי אלימלך מליז'נסק Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk. And he says that Moshe was alluding to something else by invoking בֹּקֶר boker. And he references a Gemara in חולין Chullin. Really, Rashi says this as well. Let's look at it first in Rashi. Says Rashi, וְהִקְרִיב v'hikriv. תרגום מוכיח כן, ויקרב לקרב מוי, יקרב לשמושי ומדרש בֹּקֶר אמר להם משה Targum mochiach kein, v'yikarev l'kadamohi, yikarev l'shimushei, u'Midrash, boker, amar lahem Moshe. Moshe says to Korach the following. גבולות חלק הקדוש ברוך הוא בעולמו Gvulos chilak Hakadosh Baruch Hu b'olamo. He says, look Korach, you see this all as one blend? It's one blur? No. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu made boundaries in his world. He made distinctions in his world. יכולים אתם להפוך בוקר לערב? כך תוכלי לבטל זו Yecholim atem l'hafoch boker l'erev? Kach tuchlu l'vatel zu. You can't switch morning to night or night to morning. You can't control הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu who set the sun and the moon in motion. The sun rises in the morning, it goes down in the evening, and you can't interfere with that. There's absolutely nothing you can do to manipulate that. And just like you can't manipulate the distinct roles of the sun and the moon, you can't switch day into night or night into day, similarly, you can't switch Aaron's position, my position, your position. We were given these positions. כהן לוי ישראל Kohen, Levi, Yisrael, man, women, בכור bechor, non-בכור bechor, and the list goes on and on. As true, as binding, as unchanging as the sun and the moon, as nature, the natural order is the supernatural order and the roles that Hashem gave us. The Gemara in חולין Chullin spells it out even more. The Gemara in חולין Chullin says, וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹקִים אֶת שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים Vaya'as Elokim es shnei ha'meoros hagdolim. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the two great luminaries. אֶת הַמָּאוֹר הַגָּדֹל וְאֶת הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן es ha'maor hagadol v'es ha'maor hakatan. How did one become big and one small? אָמְרָה יָרֵחַ לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא Amrah yareach lifnei Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The moon said in front of God, רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם Ribbono Shel Olam, אֶפְשָׁר לִשְׁנֵי מְלָכִים שֶׁיִּשְׁתַּמְּשׁוּ בְּכֶתֶר אֶחָד efshar lishnei melachim sheyishtamshu b'keser echad? God, the heavens, the cosmos are not big enough, said the moon, for me and the sun. How can two kings share one crown? Who's the king? I want you to shrink the sun and make me, the moon, bigger. I want to wear the crown. I want to wear the crown. What did Hashem do? אמר לה amar lah, לכי ומעטי את עצמך lechi u'ma'ati es atzmech. He said, go diminish yourself. And the moon as a result shrunk, and the moon waxes and wanes, it becomes a sliver. It becomes a sliver. Says the אור פני משה Ohr Pnei Moshe, that Moshe was telling Korach, בֹּקֶר boker. We'll deal with it in the morning. And he said, you think you're the first one to incite this rebellion? You think you're the first one to challenge the roles that were in place in the world? The moon challenged Hashem, it's unfair that the sun shines so bright and infringes on his territory. And as a result, what did Hashem say? He shrunk the moon and he made it clear the sun rules the day. And when Moshe was telling Korach בֹּקֶר boker, בֹּקֶר boker, an allusion to the sun, בֹּקֶר boker. You think you're the first to try this? You think you're the first who's unhappy with your lot and your assignment in life and you're trying to reverse it? The moon tried it. And how well did it work for the moon? You want to know how well it worked? בֹּקֶר Boker. Let's wait for the morning and we'll check out the sun, because the sun is greater than the moon. The שפת אמת Sfas Emes is bothered by the simple implication of בֹּקֶר וְיָדַע ה' אֶת אֲשֶׁר לוֹ boker v'yoda Hashem es asher lo. Moshe made it sound like we'll find out in the morning who Hashem loves. Did Moshe have any doubt? How do you think Aaron felt? Korach comes and he says, Aaron nepotism, your brother, you appointed him. I'm just as good. I want to be the כהן גדול Kohen Gadol. I'm taking over. And what does Moshe say? Maybe you have a fair point. Okay. You know what? Let's wait for the morning, we'll see who Hashem chooses. If you're Aaron, you say, \"Hey, bro, what what is that? What happened? You didn't have my back. Why didn't you stand up for me? You should have put Korach in his place. You should have put our cousin in his place and said, what do you mean what's wait for Hashem to decide and determine? Hashem has decided. Aaron is the man. Why employ that it's not yet decided, it's not yet set in stone? The שפת אמת Sfas Emes offers an astounding answer. The שפת אמת Sfas Emes suggests that true, Aaron had been selected, but that was yesterday. How do you know that Aaron will remain selected tomorrow? A Jew has to live life never taking anything for granted, never making assumptions, never living with a sense of entitlement. Our עבודת השם avodas Hashem can never grow stale or complacent, or work off assumptions or make us feel entitled. It has to be renewed and refreshed and reinvigorated. And therefore, Moshe was saying is, you know what, you're raising a challenge, and let's see. Aaron, if he's not continued to be selected by Hashem, will forfeit the position. Because we can't live with a sense of entitlement. Every single day, we approach the gift of our position and distinction in life with a sense of renewal. And that's the pasuk in כי תבוא Ki Savo. The pasuk says, הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ מְצַוְּךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת הַחֻקִּים וְאֶת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה Hayom hazeh Hashem Elokecha metzavcha la'asos es hachukim v'es hamishpatim ha'eleh. On this day, Hashem commanded you. And Rashi quotes the Midrash that every day our attitude towards Torah and Mitzvos have to be כחדשים kechadashim. As if it's new, as if we've just been commanded, as if it's from the start. And so Moshe's telling Korach, בֹּקֶר boker. Let's wait till the morning and see what happens. In the morning, the sun rises. It's a new day. It brings new opportunity, but it also brings new responsibility to prove ourselves worthy. And if my brother Aaron proves himself worthy, then Hashem will renew his commitment towards Aaron. And if not, then maybe it's you. Let's wake up and let's see. This is also the theme of ראש חודש Rosh Chodesh, which is tonight, I believe. Tomorrow and Thursday. ראש חודש תמוז Rosh Chodesh Tammuz. Rabbi Gedaliah Schorr, the אור גדליהו Ohr Gedalyahu writes, ראש חודש Rosh Chodesh is the יום טוב yom tov, the quasi-holiday of חידוש chiddush, of renewal, that we never get locked into our patterns and our habits. We never submit that this is the way it is. This is who I am. This is my life. This is my lot. ראש חודש Rosh Chodesh is חידוש chiddush. Just like the moon can renew, so too we can renew. Every month is pregnant with new possibility, with new opportunity. We're never complacent. We're never fatalistic. We never forfeit or surrender, but we recognize that if we bring an attitude of newness, בֹּקֶר boker, that every day we take it from the בֹּקֶר boker, every day we take it from the top and we start from the beginning again. That was explanation number six and seven. Finally, number eight is from Rav Asher Weiss again. So Rav Asher Weiss also references the Rashi that the Midrash says Moshe, when he was saying בֹּקֶר boker, I told you you could give a five-hour shiur just on the word ויקח Vayikach, five-hour shiur just on the word בֹּקֶר boker. You have to be sensitive to the text, though. Most people heard Parshas Korach a million times and you hear בֹּקֶר boker and you say, okay, so Moshe said in the morning, we'll resolve it. How many of us stop to say, why did Moshe wait till the morning? What's the deeper message? What was it communicating? What was the Torah communicating to us about how to resolve מחלוקת machlokes, how to stay in control, how to not feel entitled, how to give other people the opportunity to walk back their instigation? All these messages are only because these commentators were bothered enough to pause and stop and say, why does it say בֹּקֶר boker? So the last explanation from Rav Asher Weiss, so what's the meaning of this Midrash? How is the distinction between night and day relevant to Aaron's distinction as a כהן גדול Kohen Gadol? So Rav Asher suggests based on the Gemara in שבת Shabbos. The Gemara in שבת Shabbos is one of my favorite Gemaras. I get the opportunity to try this Gemara. Not often, but often enough. The Gemara says, תנו רבנן Tanu Rabbanan, עלובים ואינן עולבים, שומעים חרפתן ואינן משיבין, עושים מאהבה ושמחים ביסורים, עליהם הכתוב אומר ואוהביו כצאת השמש בגבורתו Aluvim v'einan olvim, shom'im cherpasan v'einan meshivim, osim me'ahava u'smeichim b'yissurim, aleihem hakatuv omer v'ohavav k'tzeis hashemesh b'gvuraso. עלובים ואינן עולבים Aluvim v'einan olvim. What does that mean? עלובים ואינן עולבים aluvim v'einan olvim. The Gemara elsewhere says that we should be מן העלובים ואינן מן העולבים min ha'aluvim v'einan min ha'olvim. עלובים ואינן עולבים Aluvim v'einan olvim are those who are ridiculed who do not ridicule others back. Hear their disgrace, they're they're hear their being attacked, they don't attack back. Of them, the pasuk says those who love Hashem will be like the sun which goes forth in its might. Asks Rav Asher, what does the Gemara mean? The notion of being in control, of encouraging us that even when you're attacked, don't attack back. Stay calm, absorb the blow and move on. Be מן הנעלבים ואינן מן העולבים min ha'ne'elavim v'einan min ha'olvim. Be attacked. So someone posted about you online, someone leveled an unfair accusation, someone sent out an anonymous letter, somebody wrote you an obnoxious email. And be מן הנעלבים ואינן מן העולבים min ha'ne'elavim v'einan min ha'olvim. Be among those who are attacked and ridiculed. In fact, the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim had a מסורה mesorah that a person who is in that moment that they're attacked, but they gather themselves enough to say, you know what, I'm not going to dignify this with a response, I'm not going to lose my own cool, I'm just going to absorb the blow and move on, that when that person in that moment has achieved such righteousness, when they give a ברכה bracha, that ברכה bracha has a very, very, very special quality. Find somebody who's being attacked and who has the self-control to absorb it and not respond, get a ברכה bracha from that person in that moment and it's a ברכה bracha for ourselves. And that's what the pasuk says. You're likened, Hashem loves you. How does Hashem love you? Like the sun which goes forth in its might. Says Rav Asher, what is the fact that you were attacked, you were ridiculed, you were disgraced and you absorbed it, you didn't do it back? What does that have to do with the sun? So the עיון יעקב Iyun Yaakov, the commentary on the Ein Yaakov, offers a beautiful explanation of the Gemara. And he quotes our other Gemara in בבא בתרא Bava Basra, that when the sun and the moon were first created, they were equal size, and the moon said, two kings can't wear the same crown, and Hashem said, you know what, you're right. Moon, you get smaller, the sun's going to wear the crown. So in each and every generation, this is Hashem's method of resolving disputes between those who ridicule and those who are ridiculed, between those who disgrace and those who are disgraced, but do not respond. He knocks down the ridiculers and disgracers and he uplifts the ridiculed and disgraced. He comforts the disgraced as he comforted the sun. And that's what the Gemara means when it quotes the pasuk about the sun. If you can bear the blow, the sun didn't fight back against the moon. The sun didn't argue I want to be greater than the moon. The moon was the instigator. And how did Hashem respond? By shrinking the moon and giving the crown to the sun. And that's how Hashem operates in the world. I tell people all the time when they're attacked unfairly, I say, don't gauge. First of all, I'm a big believer in my own life, I've seen this several times that what goes around comes around. Don't get in Hashem's way. He's got a plan. He'll figure it out. Maybe it's tomorrow, maybe it's in a month, maybe it's in 10 years, maybe it's in your lifetime, maybe it's after. But what goes around comes around, and whoever's acting in that way, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu has a plan, just get out of his way and don't interfere with it. Be a spectator on the side of it. But it has a ברכה bracha to be מן הנעלבים ואינן מן העולבים min ha'ne'elavim v'einan min ha'olvim. And what's the ברכה bracha? Just like the sun was rewarded for not shooting back to the moon, where the moon was the one, the disgracer was the one who shrunk, and the disgraced was honored, so too in perpetuity and for all time, הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu honors the disgraced and shrinks, punishes the disgracer. And that's what Hashem, that's what Moshe was telling Korach, בֹּקֶר boker. With this, we can understand Rashi's explanation. Can you turn morning into night? Moshe asked Korach. It's impossible to revoke Aaron's appointment as כהן גדול Kohen Gadol, and anyone who attempts it, disgracing Aaron in the process, will suffer the same fate as the moon, which was thrown down from its grandeur. Yet Aaron and Moshe, who were ridiculed and disgraced, they emerged victorious, just like the sun goes forth in its might. So the sixth explanation or seventh, I don't even remember, eighth, wherever we're up to, of the word בֹּקֶר boker is this idea that be מן הנעלבים ואינן מן העולבים min ha'ne'elavim v'einan min ha'olvim. בֹּקֶר Boker. Just like the sun absorbed the blow and didn't fight back, you think Moshe couldn't have gotten up at a pedestal, Moshe could have gotten up in his pulpit and said a lot of things about his cousin, marginalized him and made the entire מחלוקת machlokes disappear. But he didn't. He absorbed the body blow and he moved on. מן הנעלבים ואינן מן העולבים Min ha'ne'elavim v'einan min ha'olvim. Just like the sun, and just like Hashem rewarded the sun, He rewards us. Now, the main thing I want, this was all by way of introduction. The main thing I wanted to get to, which I'm going to make a note to myself, maybe you can remind me, to start with next year, is a very a very puzzling, mysterious comment by Rashi about Korach, that how did Korach, how did this whole thing happen? How did this whole thing happen? So Rashi says, עֵינוֹ הִטְעַתּוּ eino hit'atu. His eye led him astray. קֹרַח שֶׁהָיָה פִּקֵּחַ, מָה רָאָה לִשְׁטוּת זֶה Korach she'haya pike'ach, ma ra'ah l'shtus zeh. Korach was a smart guy. What led him to this שטות shtus? What the חדושי הרי\"ם Chiddushei HaRim said was irrational and illogical to put forth an argument. Moshe's arrogant? Are you kidding? Hashem testified he's humble. What led him to that ridiculous conclusion? עֵינוֹ הִטְעַתּוּ eino hit'atu. His eye led him astray. What do you have, cataracts, macular degeneration? What happened with his eye? What happened with his eye? What led him astray? So that's what I wanted to get into. The notion that we see out of two eyes, but Korach was blind in one eye. And why did he only see out of one eye? What does that correspond with the notion of seeing out of two eyes? He was blind in one eye. He's not the only one. Bilam is described as שְׁתֻם הָעָיִן shtum ha'ayin. Bilam also was blind in an eye. The מרגלים meraglim were blind in the other eye. What is this notion of being seeing out of two eyes, which offers a perspective? What are the two eyes we see out of? What does it mean to be blind out of one eye? We'll pick up with that Rashi and what it means, במרצת השם b'mirtzas Hashem, in Parshas Korach, תשע\"ט Taf Shin Ayin Tes.
