Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
When reading the episode of Korach's rebellion against the authority of Moshe Rabennu and Aharon, one readily assumes that Korach was evil, a sinful man ready to wreak havoc on Bnei Yisroel and its leadership. However, the Stichiner Rebbe in Otzar Gilyonei Likutei Torah offers a different perspective on Korach. He suggests that Korach was indeed a very holy man whose disputation with Moshe Rabennu had deep, sacred roots. In defense of this view, the Rebbe offers that it was Korach who was tasked with the sacred duty of carrying the holy ark in the journeys of the desert. Further, every Rosh Hashanah prior to hearing the call of the shofar, we recite the Psalm 49, למנצח לבני קרח,... A Psalm by the Sons of Korach not once but seven times. Certainly, at such an exalted moment, we would not be recalling the name of an evil man. Therefore, we must delve beneath the surface to uncover some deeper meaning and motivation to Korach's argument.
Each of the twelve tribes, according to Kabbalah, is associated with a specific personality type. The Tribe of Levi, the tribe Korach was part of, is associated with gevurah, the power usually invested in strict judgment. However, explains the Stichiner Rebbe, although we consider judgment as harsh and negative, its inner purpose is to achieve good, chesed. This disconnect is apparent in how we reply to negative news, such as a death, with ברוך דיין האמת/Blessed is the Truthful Judge in contrast to our response upon hearing good news, הטוב והמטיב/He Who is good and Who does good. In the future, all will recognize that even what we perceived as harsh judgment was, in reality, good and for our benefit.
It is within this context that Rabbi Eisenberger in Mesillot Bilvovom interprets Korach's argument. Aharon the Kohain/Priest was the embodiment of chesed/loving kindness. He symbolized the inner, usually misunderstood and overlooked aspect of din/judgment. The purpose of Aharon and the priests was that through their service they would bring overt kindness and love to the world. The job of the Leviim was to help the Kohanim in this service. Korach, the son of... Levi felt the time had come to reverse the order, to recognize Judgment in its proper purpose and thereby serve Hashem through gevurah and yirah, judgment and awe rather than through love. That's why Korach's genealogy is recorded here only as far back as Levi rather than to Yaakov who symbolized the truth that exists in the synthesis between judgment and chesed.
But, although Hashem initially proposed to create the world with perfection in the aspect of judgment, He foresaw that the world would not be able to exist in that glorified aspect, for man is imperfect and would sin. Therefore, Hashem created the world in the attribute of chesed. In the future, when Moshiach comes and the world reaches its perfected state, gevurah will indeed be dominant. That world will indeed be more beautiful than the world of chesed. Because we will then be able to handle a world based on din/judgment, the Leviim will become the Kohanim in service, and the Kohanim will be the assistants, in reverse of the current order. At that time, Korach would be the Kohein Gadol/High Priest together with Aharon. But until that time, gevurah needs to be contained in service to chesed, explains Rabbi Wolfson zt”l in Feasts of Faith.
The Tosher Rebbe zt”l develops this idea. In that perfected world, we will indeed be able to exist in a world of din. Accordingly, while today we base our halachic decisions on the opinions of the more lenient and chesed oriented Hillel, at that time, we will base our lives on the rulings of the more strict Shammai. Either the Kohanim and Leviim will work jointly in the priesthood, or the order will actually be reversed. Korach was on such a high spiritual level, worthy of carrying the Aron Kodesh, that he could see the ultimate rectification of the world and thought that our presence at Sinai had achieved that state; now, Korach argued, we are all holy. As Rabbi Wolfson zt”l writes, Korach hoped to bring Moshiach. Then he would join Aharon in serving Hashem equally.
Moshe Rabennu's response to this challenge was not an immediate answer. While deeply disturbed, Moshe Rabennu suggested waiting until morning when Hashem will notify us whom He has chosen. How? Each of you will prepare an incense pan, place incense upon it, and machar/tomorrow Hashem will choose whom He has chosen to be holy.
But machar does not necessarily refer to the day after today. Often in Tanach machar refers to a future time. The Stichiner Rebbe suggests that Moshe Rabennu was not negating Korach completely; rather he was telling Korach that the time for Korach's priesthood, for the superiority of din to be manifest was not now, but some time in the future. In that perfected world, צדיק כתמר יפרח, Korach/קר"ח will indeed blossom.
Moshe Rabennu specifically chose the ketoret/incense offering as the test. According to our tradition, this was the most beloved of all the offerings in the Temple. But any unauthorized person bringing it would die, as did Dothan and Aviram. The attribute of din/justice is associated with our Patriarch Yitzchak who established the Minchah/Afternoon Prayer. But minchah is also translated generally as gift or offering, and most specifically as the ketoret/incense offering. Yitzchak, the paradigm of din, also has an alluded connection to ketoret, for it was Yitzchak who went in the afternoon to bring Keturah, back to be Avraham's wife after the death of Sarah. Hagar had been renamed Keturah, for she had done teshuvah and was now virtuous and sweet. Therefore, in the morning, if Hashem accepts Korach's ketoret/minchah offering at the time when chesed should be dominant, (להגיד בבקר חסדיך) Hashem will have agreed that the time for Korach and din had arrived. Thus Rabbi Eisenberger suggests that Moshe Rabennu was acknowledging Korach's premise, but saying that the timing was wrong; the time of redemption and full rectification had not yet arrived.
The Stichiner Rebbe introduces yet another element to Korach's connection to din. According to medrash, the earth was created with Hashem's "left hand," with the aspect of gevurah, din, judgment. But that inner aspect of sanctity necessary for din is contained within Eretz Yisroel only and has not yet spread out to encompass the entire earth. The earth, the ground, is a manifestation of judgment. It cannot abide sin. It is cursed when Adam sinned, and was further cursed when Cain killed his brother. As the earth covered the blood of Hevel, so did it "open its mouth" to cover Korach, his family and all he possessed.
To elaborate on this idea, the Stichiner Rebbe explains that when Bnei Yisroel entered the Land, all the tribes were allotted their portion of the Land except for the Tribe of Levi. Korach had argued that since Hashem provided for all their needs, all of Bnei Yisroel spent their time in the holy study of Torah. Therefore all of Bnei Yisroel were holy. When they would enter the Land, together they would be able to rectify and purify the Land, bringing it to its fulfillment. But they were not at that level, and Levi, instead of getting an allotted portion in the Land, received 48 cities of refuge where anyone who was guilty of involuntary, negligent manslaughter could flee. There he would be rehabilitated and recreate the sanctity within himself. When the world will be perfected and will live under the system of din, the Tribe of Levi will indeed receive a portion of the Land itself.
Rabbi Wolfson zt”l agrees that Korach's argument was not wrong, only that the timing was off. If the system of din is introduced too early, it will be destructive, and all those whose souls had not yet been rectified would perish. Korach himself was on that lofty plane, but because he was so lofty, he could not fathom that the rest of Bnei Yisroel did not yet merit this new world order. According to Rabbi Wolfson zt”l, this is what Moshe Rabennu meant when he admonished Korach and his people with רב לכם/You have too much [in this context, too much personal sanctity.].
What Korach did not realize was that underlying his arguments was an unconscious element of jealousy, a jealousy similar to that of the moon when it argued with Hashem that the sun and moon could not be equal rulers. There, the medrash says, Hashem diminished the moon. The moon wanes, but every month it begins its growth anew, and. An Arab once showed Rabba bar Bar Chama, the spot of the desert where Korach had been swallowed, and every Rosh Chodesh Korach's voice declares from that spot, "Moshe Rabennu is true and his Torah is true," validating Moshe Rabennu's leadership.
Generally we read Parshat Korach in the month of Tamuz. Rabbi Eisenberger explains that this is no coincidence. Just as each of the twelve tribes symbolizes a different character trait, so does each of he twelve months symbolize a different body part. The month of Tamuz is associated with the eyes, while the month of Av is associated with the ears. In our previous parshah, the spies, whose mission of forty days was almost completely in Tamuz, were misled by what their eyes saw.
Korach was also misled by his eyes. He saw Elitzafan ben Uziel appointed as chief over the Tribe of Levi, and he became jealous. Instead of looking outward at what you do not have, look inward and appreciate what you do have. Jealousy is an outgrowth of haughtiness and of a perverted sense of justice. I feel that I deserve this more than does the other. [Just listen to children who complain, "It's not fair." CKS] We must not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of Haman who, while admitting he had so much wealth in so many areas, complained,... כל זה איננו שוה לי/All this is worthless to me as long as I keep seeing Mordechai. Focusing on what he lacked was Haman's downfall as well as Korach's downfall.
It was Korach's strict sense of din [which we will interpret in our vernacular as fairness] his unwillingness to balance it with chesed that destroyed the balance necessary for survival. True, Korach wanted to serve Hashem in a higher capacity, but mixed in was a trace of self aggrandizement and haughtiness. Therefore the Tosher Rebbe zt”l warns us to do our chesed as much as possible in private, avoid a sense of self aggrandizement and haughtiness, for pride leads to many negative attributes – jealousy, hatred, anger, to name just a few.
Citing the Ramban's letter to his son, the Tosher Rebbe zt”l instructs us to find something positive in every human being, something we can emulate and will eliminate our sense of superiority over others. When reciting a brachah, say it with full acknowledgment that everything we have comes from Hashem, even our ability to do chesed.
The Tallelei Chaim focuses on a different aspect of Korach's argument. The Leviim's job was to guard the gates of the Beit Hamikdosh and to prepare the people for the kedushah of the kohanim. Gevurah is about awakening the people so they are receptive to the chesed that the kohanim bring. Korach wanted to eliminate the preparation process. He argued, "We are already holy. We're already in the inner world." If Korach believes he is already in the inner world, then indeed his place is in the "inner world," in the ground from where he can proclaim the absoluteness of strict justice.
While Korach negated the outer world, Pinchas, knowing that we are indeed all holy, understood that the outer world, the body, must reflect this sanctity. Therefore, when Pinchas avenged the sanctity and honor of Hakodosh Boruch Hu by killing the flagrantly sinful Zimri, his status changed from that of Levi to Kohein, in contrast to Korach who wanted to be a kohein but could not - would not- respect the process.
Cain had a similar approach to that of Korach. He too felt that as long as the inner intention is correct, the way one implements it is irrelevant. Cain wanted to create closeness with Hashem, but he believed that the thought was enough even if he brought the least desirable produce. Therefore, posits the Tallelei Chaim, Pinchas was the reincarnation and rectification of Cain.
The Tosher Rebbe zt”l explains that we have to bring our body, the repository of gevurah in sync with our neshamah, the repository of chesed, a process that takes time. We must appreciate what we have, avoiding jealousy, especially in the month of Tamuz.
Rabbi Frand quotes the Gemara that tells us that the Beit Hamikdosh was destroyed because Bnei Yisroel was intent on keeping to the letter of the law, unwilling to forgive each other. Hashem would have forgiven us. Let us hope that we will soon merit to see chesed and gevurah in sync, and the full redemption soon.