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By Rabbi Shloime Lindenbaum
כי כל העדה כלם קדושים (פרק טז פסוק ג)
Our Parsha begins with the legendary argument between Moshe and Korach. Korach claims that Moshe took too much honor for himself and that he isn’t driven by truth but rather by selfishness. Specifically, Korach argues that all Jews are holy and therefore how could Moshe elevate himself to a higher status. R’ Moshe Feinstein tells us that truthfully this logic was the source for Korach’s faulty views. Korach believed that because every Jew is holy, they should be able to determine for themselves how to properly follow the Torah. He felt that a person’s obligation to Hashem should only go as far as they can understand by themselves. R’ Moshe says that this is totally false. Everyone needs a rebbi, someone not just learned in Torah, but someone who received the Torah tradition from earlier generation as it was passed down from teacher to student. Without a clear מסורה, tradition, on what the Torah wants of us, each individual will definitely err. Many times, we find רשעים and heretics who base their opinions on פסוקים or words of חז”ל. The secret to discerning the true will of Hashem is by following the true Torah scholars who are continuing the age-old tradition of our Torah from Sinai.
ויצא פרח ויצץ ציץ ויגמל שקדים (פרק יז פסוק כג)
To prove that Hashem Himself chose Aharon as the Hight Priest, Moshe performs a test. He takes staffs that correspond to each tribe and their leader and places them in the משכן. The next day the staff of Levi and Aharon blossoms and almonds burst forth. Rashi says that Hashem specifically had almonds sprout because they grow the fastest of any fruit and this symbolizes that anyone who challenges the priesthood will be punished hastily. The Or Hachaim explains that the proof to Aharon’s position was through the miraculous growth of fruit. If so, it would have been a much bigger miracle if something that naturally requires a long time to grow, like carobs, had sprouted the next day. This is why Rashi explains that although it was a somewhat minimized miracle, Hashem chose almonds so that everyone internalizes that there is quick retribution for attacking the priesthood.
