JUNE 18 • 2020 | 29
T
his portion describes, in
great detail, the rebellion
led by Korach against
Moshe and his older brother
Aharon.
Everyone was aware of
Moshe’
s greatness. Everyone
knew that Moshe spent a grand
total of 120 days face-to-face
with God on Sinai.
How is it possible that
anyone could have
rebelled against Moshe?
Some background:
There is a Yiddish
expression: Azoi reich
vi Korach, as wealthy
as Korach. Korach was
the chancellor of the
exchequer for Pharaoh
in Egypt. While bal-
ancing the books, he
discovered a massive
fortune that Joseph had
collected during the
seven years of plenty and had
put away in a rainy-day fund.
Since no one else knew of
the money, Korach absconded
with the funds, amounting to
what would be over $1 billion
by today’
s standards. There is
an adage in the Talmud that a
wealthy person deserves honor
because HaShem has found it
honorable to make this person
wealthy. Korach, now being fab-
ulously wealthy, felt he deserved
honor, as well.
Korach was Moshe’
s first
cousin. When positions were
assigned, Korach was bypassed.
Moshe was chosen as king.
Aharon was the high priest. The
next job of honor was leader of
the clan of Kehos and that posi-
tion went to a younger cousin.
Korach saw prophetically that
one of his descendants would
be the prophet Samuel. About
Samuel it is written, “Samuel
in his day was like Moshe and
Aharon in their day.
” Armed
with such knowledge, Korach
felt he was a sure winner. It was
easy to convince 250 Reubenites
to join his coup. If successful,
they would replace the Levites
as servants in the temple, a
re-establishment of the birth-
right to the firstborn of Jacob.
Together they approached
Moshe. Korach asked Moshe,
“Does a garment made of
techailis (blue wool) require
tzittzits (fringes)?” Moshe
said, “Yes.
”
Korach laughed at him.
“If one thread of blue
exempts the garment, an
entire blue garment should
be exempt.
”
(The commandment of
tzitzits required one blue
thread and three white
threads. The blue dye was
made from a chalozone
—a sea mollusk native to
the eastern Mediterranean.
Once Jews moved away
from that area more than
2,000 years ago, we are not sure
what a chalozone is. Currently,
tzitzits are all white.)
What did Korach want? The
High Priesthood. This would
offer the individual the ultimate
God experience. Korach wanted
that. His claim of the garments
was that superficial, makif, god-
liness, was sufficient to bring
Moshiach. Moshe’
s reply was
that the superficial needed to
be internalized. Korach wanted
to bypass the normal order of
creation and bring Moshiach
supernaturally. Moshe respond-
ed that it would not work.
Moshiach could only come
when the natural itself becomes
uplifted to the supernatural.
All we need to bring
Moshiach is one more act of
goodness and kindness and one
more person to want Moshiach
to come.
Rabbi Herschel Finman is co-director
(with wife, Chana) of Jewish Ferndale
and host of “The Jewish Hour” radio
show on WLQV 1500 AM — Sundays
11 a.m.-noon.
Parshat
Korach:
Numbers
16:1-18:32;
I Samuel
11:14-12:22.
Rabbi
Herschel
Finman
Spirit
torah portion
A Rebellious Man
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