These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly portion: #1386 – The Importance and Power of Saying Parshas Ketores. Good Shabbos!

Parshas Korach contains the terrible incident of Korach’s challenge to the leadership of Moshe Rabbeinu, which was really a challenge to the entire transmission of Torah. That is why this was such a fundamental event wherein it was necessary to settle once and for all the basic principle that “Moshe is emes (true) and his Torah is emes.” Among Korach’s cohorts were Dasan and Aviram and Ohn ben Peles of Shevet (the Tribe of) Reuven.

Once again, Dasan and Aviram throw in their lot to torment Moshe Rabbeinu. The good news is that this is the last parsha in the Torah in which we will need to hear about the antics of Dasan and Aviram, because they don’t make it past this parsha.

However, if we look through Sefer Shemos, Dasan and Aviram are always the ones who are the rabble-rousers and the instigators of animosity towards Moshe Rabbeinu. It was they who reported Moshe to Pharaoh when he killed the Egyptian. It was they who accosted Moshe Rabbeinu and said that he made the situation worse for them (when Moshe and Aharon first approached Pharaoh). They are the ones who challenged Moshe Rabbeinu at the Yam Suf. They were his perpetual antagonists, to put it mildly.

Interestingly, before the actual punishment occurred in our parsha, the pasuk says “And Moshe arose and went up to Dasan and Aviram, and the Elders of Israel went after him.” (Bamidbar 16:25). The Gemara in Sanhedrin comments on this and says, “From here we see that one should not hold onto a quarrel.” People get into arguments with friends or neighbors, and everyone stands firm and refuses to be the first one to make shalom or apologize. The Gemara says that from here we see that this is an inappropriate attitude. Moshe Rabbeinu himself went to Dasan and Aviram to try to make peace.

Moshe Rabbeinu would be fully in his right to say, “Listen, Korach has to come to me and ask to make peace. They are the ones who started it.” But from here we see that it is wrong for either party to protract a machlokes.

I saw an interesting pshat in a sefer called Menachem Tzion by a Rav Menachem ben Zion Zachs, a son-in-law of Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank. He has a different take on the expression “Eyn machzikim b’machlokes.” There is a Talmudic concept of “chazaka.” If something happens three times, it creates a “chazka.” It creates the halachic reality known as chazaka. We see this throughout Shas. The Menachem Zion says that “Eyn machzikim b’machlokes” does not mean that a person should not hold on to an argument. It means a person should not allow the halachic principle of “chazaka” to pasken (i.e. – determine) what is going to be.

Based on past experience, Moshe Rabbeinu could very well have argued “It is futile to go to Dasan and Aviram and try to make peace. These guys have a chazaka that they hate me and are out to get me. This has happened more than three times already! But from here we see that, unlike in other areas of halacha (e.g. – an ox that gores three times), by machlokes, we cannot assume or rely on chazaka based on past experience and history. Maybe the person will have a change of heart. We cannot rely on chazaka.

Fresh As Ever

As a Divine sign to verify the authenticity of the kehunah (priestly status) of Aharon Hakohen, the leader of each shevet was to take his mateh (staff) and place it in the Ohel Moed. The mateh that would blossom and produce a flower would thereby be declared by Divine sign as the shevet chosen by Hashem to be the kohanim.

This is exactly the procedure Moshe followed and behold, the mateh of Aharon, of Shevet Levi, blossomed and produced a flower. The Torah states: “…and behold the mateh of Aaron of the house of Levi had blossomed; it brought forth a blossom, sprouted a bud and developed almonds.” (Bamidbar 17:23).

Moshe then brought out all the matos (staffs). Everyone saw which mateh had blossomed, and each tribal leader took back his own mateh. This established once and for all the legitimacy of the kehunah of Aharon Hakohen.

Two strange things happened here. First, the Ribono shel Olam only said that the mateh of the chosen person would bring forth a flower. What actually happened was that not only did a flower come out, but “a flower came out and the flower blossomed and produced almonds.” This is not what the Ribono shel Olam said. Why was that? Why was it not sufficient for the mateh to merely produce a flower?

The Rashbam says an interesting idea: When Moshe went into the Ohel Moed and removed the matos, all that was on the mateh of Shevet Levi was a flower, just as the Ribono shel Olam had promised. However, after Moshe brought it out for everyone to see, at that point, the flower blossomed and produced a bud from which almonds grew.

In this way, no one could say that Moshe privately played around with the matos when he was in the Ohel Moed. In order to remove the thought that Moshe somehow rigged the demonstration of the matos regarding the growth of a flower inside the Ohel Moed, a miracle happened, such that in front of everyone, the miraculous growth of the mateh continued until it grew almonds right in front of them.

However, there is another difficulty here. Anyone who has a fruit tree in their backyard knows that the way a tree grows is as follows: First, the tree produces a flower. After the flower falls off, there is a bud. Then the fruit grows from that bud. However, here something amazing happened: The flower, the bud, and the almonds were all present simultaneously. Why shouldn’t the bud and flowers have fallen off like they normally do?

Rav Gedalya Schorr has a beautiful observation in his sefer: The lesson is that a person who is going to be the Kohen Gadol always needs to be in the state of mind and state of being that he is always blossoming, namely that he is always fresh. There is an expression “the blossom has fallen off,” indicating that after a while, a person loses his enthusiasm and excitement regarding a project or endeavor. The reason for this strange occurrence that the flower, the bud, and the fruit were present all at once is to show that Aharon Hakohen had this ability to always remain fresh, as if he just started. It is regarding such an attribute that the pasuk says, “The righteous will blossom like a tamar” (Tehillim 92:13).

There is a famous Sefas Emes in Parshas Beha’aloscha on the pasuk “Va’ya’as ken Aharon” (And Aharon did so). Rashi famously says “Melamed shelo sheenah” (This teaches that he did not deviate). That was the attribute of Aharon Hakohen. On the fortieth year of lighting the Menorah, he had the same enthusiasm and excitement as he did the first year. Therefore, the mateh of Aharon maintained its flower, even after it produced fruit, which is not the normal way that things grow. This shows the freshness and newness that was always part of Aharon’s avodah.

One Last Chance

When Moshe Rabbeinu wants to convince the people that he is the rightful leader, he says, “If these people’s death will be like the death of all other people, it is not Hashem who sent me…” (Bamidbar 16:29) Moshe Rabbeinu did not merely ask that they should be killed. He asked that the ground open up and swallow them alive.

This is a “meesah meshuneh” (unnatural death). Imagine what a terrifying event this must have been: The ground opens up and the person knows what is happening to him. He realizes that he is being buried alive. He endures not only death but the whole torment of seeing his life being taken away from him in this elongated process.

Isn’t it curious that Moshe Rabbeinu, who was always worried about Klal Yisrael and who always petitioned the Almighty on their behalf, here, on the contrary, asks the Ribono shel Olam to create a new creation and open up the earth to swallow his adversaries alive! This seems somewhat vindictive on the part of our great leader!

The Maragolias Hayam writes in Maseches Sanhedrin that he was once with the Belzer Rebbe, zt”l, during the week of Parshas Korach (in 1913) and he asked about this. The Belzer Rebbe said that this was not vindictiveness or cruelty on the part of Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu, as the earth opened up and the ground came caving down, wanted to give them the chance to do teshuva. Had they died instantly, from a Heavenly fire, or whatever it would have been, they would have had no chance to evaluate their mistakes.

As it turned out, they died in a fashion that provided time to do teshuva. They were looking up at the sky, the earth was open, and the dirt was piling in, first to their ankles, then to their knees, then to their waist, their shoulders, and their mouths. That gives them a few precious moments in which they could do teshuva. As we all know, a person can be a wicked person his whole life and at the very end, if he sincerely repents, he dies as a baal teshuva.

In fact, the Gemara says in Sanhedrin that someone walked by the place where Korach and his followers were swallowed and he heard them say “Moshe is emes and his Torah is emes,” meaning that at least some of them did do teshuva. That, Rav Reuven Margolias says, is why the halacha is that if a building collapses on top of a person and there is a doubt whether he is still alive or not, even if at best he will survive only momentarily, we desecrate the Shabbos to extend his life even for a few moments, because in those few moments he can do teshuva.

This is what Moshe Rabbeinu did over here. It was not cruelty. It was not vindictiveness. It was a question of “I want to give them one last chance to do teshuva.” And that is, in fact, what Bnei Korach did.

Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]

Edited by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]

This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas Korach is provided below:

• 017 – Visiting the Sick
• 062 – May the State of Israel Extradite a Jewish Criminal?
• 106 – The Temple Mount Today-Obligations & Restrictions
• 151 – The Mitzvah of Pidyon Haben: Some Fascinating Facts
• 198 – The Ethiopian Jewry Question
• 244 – Tachanun
• 288 – “Masiach L’fi Tumoh”: The Coca Cola Question
• 334 – Leaving a Chasunah Before Benching
• 378 – Truth Telling to Patients
• 422 – Bais Din’s Power to Subpoena
• 466 – Tachanun: To Say Or Not To Say
• 510 – Pidyon Habein and Vending Machines
• 554 – The Kohain and the First Aliyah
• 598 – Siamese Twins
• 642 – Different Minhagim for Saying Kedusha
• 686 – Ma’alin B’Kodesh V’ain Moridin
• 730 – Divergent Minhagim in One Shul
• 774 – Tachanun: Most Fascinating Insights
• 818 – Bikur Cholim on Shabbos
• 862 – Preventative Medicine To Avoid Chilul Shabbos
• 906 – Tachanun Without a Sefer Torah?
• 950 – Pidyon Habein: Not Your Regular Cases
• 993 – Pidyon Habein Without A Bris Milah?
• 1037 – Should A Chosson Come To Shul During Sheva Brachos?
• 1081 – Ha’arama: Halachic Loopholes – Advisable or Not?
• 1124 – Segulos for Refuos
• 1166 – Do You Really Need Ten for a Minyan?
• 1209 – The Chasam Sofer’s Battle Against the Reform Movement
• 1254 – Why Shouldn’t You Park In a Handicap Space?
• 1298 – The Shul That Did Not Say Tachanun By Mistake; Now What? and Other Tachanun Issues
• 1342 – The Case of The Man Who Now Deines That He’s a Kohain
• 1386 – The Importance and Power of Saying Parshas Ketores
• 1430 – Should Chazanim be Paid?
• 1474 – Tachanun on Mondays and Thursdays
• 1519 – Should You Say Tachnun at Mincha?
• 1560 – We Want to Make Our Own Shul – Are They Allowed?
• 1602 – Some Interesting Tachnun Shailos

A complete catalogue can be ordered from the Yad Yechiel Institute, PO Box 511, Owings Mills MD 21117-0511. Call (410) 358-0416 or e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.yadyechiel.org/ for further information.