They assembled against Moshe and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation are all holy, and HASHEM is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above HASHEM’s assembly?” (Bamidbar 16:3)

You take too much upon yourselves. You took by far too much greatness for yourselves. – Rashi

(Moshe speaking) Place fire into them and put incense upon them before HASHEM tomorrow, and the man whom HASHEM chooses he is the holy one; you have taken too much upon yourselves, sons of Levi.” (Bamidbar 16:7)

you have taken too much upon yourselves. You have taken too great a task upon yourselves, to rebel against the Holy One, blessed is He. – Rashi

It’s quite curious that Moshe feeds Korach a dose of his own words, “you have taken too much upon yourselves”. Korach was convinced, and convinced many others too, that Moshe on his own decided to place Aaron, his brother, as the Kohen Gadol. It seemed to Korach an obvious case of nepotism. The truth however, is that Korach wanted that position for himself. He had so much already. He was near to the very top. Yet, still, he wanted to be the top of the top himself. Moshe saw through everything!

There’s a classic cartoon that depicts in the first frame two psychiatrists approaching each other and they are each saying to the other, “Good morning!” In the second frame, they have passed each other already, and the thought bubbles on each of their heads read, “I wonder what he meant by that.”

Two men were feuding ferociously and another gentleman came between them to broker peace. He asked them to face one another and be prepared to shake hands and make up. As one was about to extend his hand he said to the other fellow, “I’ll make up with you, if you make up with me.” The other fellow got all riled up and angrily declared, “There you go starting up again!”

Moshe realized that Korach was imputing his motive. The reality was that Korach was the one who had the selfish and ulterior motive here. Whatever he was accusing Moshe of was more-true about himself.

In psychology they call it “projection”. Life is a self-portrait. Our picture life is not entirely objective but rather very subjective. We see in others and many situations what resides within ourselves. The Talmud states it succinctly, “Kol HaPosel, B’Mumo Posel” – “Anyone who discovers fault, it his own fault he discovers”.

The Baal Shem Tov had similarly pointed out that what we find most distasteful in others is our own unfinished business. The famous psychologist Carl Jung said “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

I have come to the conclusion after these many years that the Mitzvah of “V’Ahavta L’Re’echa K’mocha” – “Love your neighbor as yourself” is not only a Mitzvah but a fact of life. We can only love someone else to the extent that we love ourselves.

One clever Rabbi said, “If someone doesn’t love himself, I don’t want him loving me!”. Another teacher told us, “Don’t forget that when you point a finger at someone else, you have three fingers pointing back at you!

Korach’s accusation assumed that Moshe was selfish and ambitious and his decisions were influenced by personal biases. The real truth was that this was a clear description of Korach’s inner world. He had ambitions, agendas, and self-serving designs. Therefore, Moshe saw right through this and he fed back to Korach his very own words, “you have taken too much upon yourselves”.

In psychology and in business we have to figure out who owns the problem. It’s like the game Hot Potato. Korach tossed it to Moshe. Moshe gave it back to Korach. Korach cooked it up in his head, and so Korach took – the heat.