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By Rabbi Naftoly Bier
Superficially it seems that Korach was a terrible person, a distinguished individual who envied Moshe Rabbeinu’s exalted status. How is it possible that someone who witnessed the miracles that Moshe Rabbeinu brought, experienced his selfless dedication and above all knew that the Almighty had chosen him to be His agent to transmit the Torah to Klal Yisroel, doubted the authenticity of his actions?
HaRav Yeruchim Levovitz זצ”ל explains that initially Korach’s intentions were completely legitimate, totally selfless and solely dedicated to Hashem. Korach had a relentless, passionate quest, to attain the highest level of spiritual attachment to Hashem. He couldn’t fathom why his cousin, the son of the youngest of four brothers, should be chosen to be the “administrator” of the Levites, why wouldn’t he be given the opportunity to develop his spirituality through responsibility to Klal Yisroel? He then convinced the first-born males who originally were to be those who would serve in the Holy Temple (or Tabernacle) and the tribe of Reuvein to demand to be returned to their original significant status. The Ramban explains that they argued that everyone should be able to serve in the Tabernacle just as beforehand, everyone could bring a sacrifice on a במת יחיד, a personal altar.
It began as an unequivocal pure desire to regain the ability to aspire, obligate, and challenge themselves for their greatest self development.
But with all the sincere aspirations there is a hidden element that all humans have to contend with. Is it totally about Hashem’s world or is it even minimally about oneself? Am I upset that another has more stature than me? Is it due to one’s need for attention and acclaim? On the surface it seemed he was demanding equal opportunity for all, but משה רבינו revealed that his motivating factor was to be personally bestowed with “priesthood”, כהונה. This is Korach who the Arizal said will rise as a צדיק, a righteous tzaddik in the “end of days”, באחרית הימים. Korach’s intentions were pure! He sincerely believed that Moshe Rabeinu was Hashem’s chosen one. The “problem” was that one shouldn’t allow oneself to be overwhelmed with a selfish emotional drive, even if it is to attain complete negation of oneself to Hashem.
The שפת אמת teaches us that the cause of קרח’s mistake was the lack of focus at that juncture of an elemental concept of Torah.
In 16:11 the Torah states, “ואהרן מה הוא כי תלינו עליו… And what is Aharon that you rail against him?” The wording seems peculiar, it should just say why are you confronting Aharon; the expression “what is Aharon” is confusing.
The שפת אמת explains that ultimately Korach enlisted all of Klal Yisroel with an argument that, (verse 3) “The entire congregation is holy and Hashem is in our midst, and why are you leading us?” “We are living at a time when we all witnessed מתן תורה, Hashem speaking to all of us, we are lovingly being taken care of by Hashem in the desert, we are studying Torah all day—each one of us is a קדוש, a person completely, unequivocally connected to Hashem. We have no aspiration other than to develop our spiritual potential. Let each and every one of us personally develop one’s relationship without interference from Moshe and Aharon!” Korach felt that Klal Yisroel were not being credited with their inherent greatness, that he could attain great heights through his responsibility of being an example to others.
“ואהרן מה הוא”, Moshe Rabbeinu retorted, “You are missing the concept that all of Klal Yisroel is one unit, one נשמה, and every person has to dedicate, consecrate their unique talents to the community. Aharon, ‘what is he?’ — He is a person who has absolutely no self-interests, a humble, selfless being, whose every action is solely inspired by relentless altruism, not feeling the sense of “he”, but rather the “whole picture”.
Those who are chosen to be leaders epitomize the consummate, selfless drive and desire to personally understand another’s potential and to enable them to actualize it. Moshe and Aharon were exemplars of this dynamic and were therefore chosen to be ones who would connect all of Klal Yisroel by enabling all to gift to the community their uniqueness, for they absorbed intellectually and emotionally every individual.
Klal Yisroel needs one another and requires leaders. Our leaders are those who selflessly bind us together as one complete unit of an “infinite” amount of pieces, glued together to follow the dictates of Hashem as one נשמה, Neshoma, never taking credit for their magnanimous dedication. Rather, they thank Hashem for the opportunity to emulate His essence of חסד, chesed.
