Korach 5774
This week’s parsha talks about the machlokess Korach led against Moshe and Aharon and the destruction that resulted. Klal Yisrael to this day has the negative commandment: Do not be like Korach and his group. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 110) states that this is a lav d’Oraisa. Indeed, it was so important to recall the danger of this machlokess that the machtos used to offer the ketores by the 250 men who sought to become kohanim gedolim were later used as a covering for the mizbe’ach, so that the memory of this machlokess and its harm never be forgotten.
Since there is such a severe admonition to avoid Korach’s sin, let’s try to understand exactly what Korach’s motivation was and how it might apply to us, so we can better identify and avoid it.
The Zohar (3:176) states that Korach “argued against shalom, and one who argues against shalom is as if he is arguing against Hakadosh Baruch Hu.” At first glance, what could the Zohar be talking about? In what way did Korach argue against shalom, and what argument can one possibly make against shalom? Did Korach find something wrong with shalom?
The Slonimer Rebbe writes that both shalom and machlokess are middos that have deep roots within a person. The root that leads a person to being a baal machlokess is self-centeredness. The first step is usually that a person becomes jealous. Why do people feel jealousy? When someone has something that we lack and we feel jealousy, it means that our initial assumption is that what he has should really be mine, and he in effect has taken it away from me. If I take any steps against him, that is called being a baal machlokess.
For example, let’s say that the jealous party is in a position to fire the person he is jealous of. He may reason, why can’t I fire him? Only, he has a mitzva to love his fellow Jew, and giving vent to jealousy by firing his fellow Jew makes him into a baal machlokess. One need not look for such drastic examples, though. Merely deciding not to say hello to a person also makes one into a baal machlokess. Of note is that the definition of the word “machlokess” is not limited strictly to “argument,” but refers more broadly to the idea of separating oneself from another. Separating from one’s fellow Jew means being a baal machlokess.
Shalom is the opposite of self-centeredness. A man of shalom feels that 1) Hashem owes him nothing, and 2) all he has is a gift from G-d. If such a person sees that someone else got a different sort of gift from Hashem, this does not upset him, because he knows that even what he does have is nothing that he in fact deserved. What logic is there in complaining about gifts?
Just as one never hears today of a Yisrael being jealous of a Levi because he receives the second aliya in shul, so too a man of shalom feels no jealousy when others have things that he might like to have but does not.
Rashi explains that Korach began moving in the direction of machlokess when he saw that he had not been appointed Nassi of the Bnei Kehas, even though his yichus seemingly placed him in line for this role. In light of the fact that Korach was a gadol b’Yisrael — he was one of thenossei ha’aron (Bamidbar Rabba 16:11 ), had reached a level of spirituality equal to that of Aharon (ibid. 16:18) and was one of the wealthiest men in the world (Sanhedrin 110) — it seems surprising that such a turn of events would upset him. Our impression of gedolei Yisraelis that they prefer to avoid the limelight so they can better pursue spiritual growth. Only, within Korach was a root of self-centeredness, and once agitated this root of self-centeredness eventually led him to an irrational demand, namely, that Hashem should reverse his appointment of Aharon as kohen gadol and appoint him instead.
Korach stands out as a lesson of the bitter fruits that can stem from the root of self-centeredness. Aharon, on the other hand, provides us with an eternal example of the midda of shalom. The Ramban (16:4) notes that Aharon did not argue with Korach. On the contrary, he agreed with him! “Yes, you are better and deserve this, but what can I do, Hashem put me here!”
Elsewhere, the Slonimer Rebbe says that the midda of self-centeredness is the source for all bad middos. We can easily understand how self-centeredness causes gaava, kina and sinah, but he adds that it causes sadness (a person irrationally feels “bereft” of what was never supposed to be his, or when things do not go his way), laziness (a person feels he deserves something and therefore does not work for it, as in his mind it should already be his) and anger. Anger, the rebbe describes, is an “explosion of self-centeredness.” When things don’t go the way one wants and one explodes, why is he exploding? Because at that moment he does not recognize that Hashem is running the world and that what happened is part of Hashem’s direction. His irrational conclusion is that since what happened violates his will, it is therefore “wrong.” Without realizing it, an angry person unconsciously becomes a baal machlokess against Hashem, as the Zohar (Zohar I, page 27b) states: One who becomes angry is a kofer b’ikar (a heretic).
In our generation lived an outstanding talmid chacham named Rav Avraham Chaim Brim, who exemplified what it means to overcome the midda of self-centeredness. Whenever he was offered a position, his first step was to examine it from the vantage point of how it affected other people. “Maybe there’s another person who could do this job better?” Or, “perhaps there’s another person who’s in need of this position more than I am?” he would ask.
He told his talmidim that when it comes to dealings with one’s fellow man, to strive to be like amalach — acting only in service of Hashem, without motivations of personal gain, jealousy and the like. Even in his chinuch of young children, he would admonish them to focus on what others need and what Hashem wants from us, not about ourselves and what we want.
May we be zoche to detect and overcome the roots of self-centeredness within us!