Parshat Korach  5 Tamuz 5763, 5 July 2003

Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Korach    Numbers 16:1-18:32

By Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel - The Torah portion of Korach is one of the most tragic in the entire Torah. Moses, the greatest leader - liberator of all time, stands accused by 250 rebels - and only G-d comes to his defense. Indeed, the Almighty punishes the upstarts in front of the entire congregation of Israel. But He does not mete out only one punishment; He metes out two punishments. The Bible records, "And the earth opened its mouth and devoured them and their houses and all the people who were to Korach and all their possessions. And they went down, along with everything that was theirs, swallowed alive into Sheol; the earth covered them up and they were lost in the midst of the congregation." (Numbers 16:32,33) And then, only two verses later, comes a second punishment: "And the fire came forth from the Lord and devoured the 250 men who were offering the incense." (Numbers 16:35)

Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra not only takes note of these two punishments, but even queries which of the two befell Korach. Interestingly enough, he concludes that since Korach was one of those who offered the incense, and since the Biblical text mentions Korach's men, but not Korach himself, as having been swallowed up by the earth it is logical to assume that Korach was consumed by the fire from heaven. Why two punishments and why did Korach get the second?

A fascinating, fanciful tale in an Aggadic passage of the Talmud provides an interesting insight. The Talmud (B.T. Taanit 8a) relates:

Rabbi Ami said, "rains fall only because of the merit of those with faith, as it is written 'truth sprouts from the earth and righteousness drops from the heaven' How do we know this? From a weasel and a pit who killed two people. A story is told of a young man who promised to marry a young maiden. She said, who will be a witness that you pledged your troth? No one was there except for a pit and the weasel. Said the young maiden, let the pit and the weasel be the witnesses. Some time passed, the young man forgot his pledge, married another maiden and bore two sons. The first son fell into a pit and died, the second son was bitten by a weasel and died."

I would like to connect this tale to another tale of two witnesses who were present at the revelation at Sinai, who were to bear testimony that bride Israel would remain faithful to her groom Almighty by keeping His Torah. As the Torah teaches, "let the heavens hear and I shall speak, let the earth listen to the words of My mouth." (Deuteronomy 32:1) Rashi cites the midrash which teaches that heaven and earth are the witnesses to Israel's pledge of fealty. "If Israel will merit it by remaining faithful, the witnesses will come and give their award "the vines will give its fruit, the earth will yield its produce, and the heavens will send forth their dew.'(Zekariah 8:12) But if they will renege on their pledge, and prove themselves to be unfaithful, the witnesses will claim their due: "the heavens will hold back and there shall be no rain, and the earth will not yield its produce.'"

Let us now return to our Torah portion of Korach. As the Ibn Ezra sees it, and as I have previously explained, there were two different groups of sinners who merited two different types of punishment. Korach questioned Moses' leadership; He felt that he had been overlooked, that he should have been the Priest - Kohen instead of Aaron. That's why Moses lashes out at him, "is it not enough for you that the G-d of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel (as Levites)& that you must also seek the priesthood?" (Numbers 16: 10,11) Korach was not merely expressing ambition; in a far more insidious fashion he was denying the fact that all of Moses' teaching and all of Moses' appointments were not from Moses himself but were rather from G-d. Korach questioned the divinity of Moses' Torah and like Nadav and Avihu wanted to bring a false fire of incense which had not been commanded. His sin was against "Torah from heaven"; a fire from heaven therefore descended to consume him and his cohorts.

Datan and Aviram led the second group of sinners, they were old-time enemies of Moses, who  in the beginning of his career after having slain the Egyptian taskmaster  they confronted him with the words, "who made you an important personage to be a minister and judge over us." (Exodus 2:14, Rashi there) Their fundamental opposition to Moses at that time was based on their anti Zionist feeling; they wished to remain in Egypt rather than to risk an unknown future in a questionable land. They have not changed much over the years. They are still rebelling against Moses  and for the same reason. When Moses now in our portion asks to see them, they refuse to come, they say to him, "is it not enough that you took us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to cause us to die in the desert? Must you also rule over us?" (Numbers 16:13) They call Egypt the land flowing with milk and honey and that is the place they never wanted to leave and to which they now wish to return. They have sinned against the Land of Israel and so the earth swallows them up.

Moses emerges fully justified. His appointment of Aaron and his descendants for the Priesthood according to the Divine word is proven to be correct. The staff of Aaron produces a flower, brings forth blossom and sends out almonds. (Numbers 17:23) Fruitfulness is clearly in evidence, the king of produce fielded by a verdant earth sufficiently satisfied by heavenly rain. For the children of Aaron in the Promised Land, "the earth shall give forth its produce and the heavens shall send their dew."

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