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