“And Korach took…” (16:1)
Rashi (to verse 7) writes: “Korach was an intelligent [literally, ‘open-eyed’] man. What reason did he have to commit this sin?
The answer is that his eye misled him. He prophetically saw that a line of great men would descend from him, amongst them Shmuel HaNavi, who was equal in importance to Moshe and Aharon together [see Tehilim 99:6]. Therefore Korach said to himself, `On his [Shmuel’s] account I shall escape the punishment’.”
R’ Boruch Sorotzkin z”l asks: why does Rashi write that Korach’s “eye” (singular) misled him? After all, a person has 2 eyes! Indeed, we read at the end of last week’s parashah (15:39), “You shall not explore after your heart and after your eyes (plural).”
He explains: One of the distinguishing characteristics of a tzadik is that he looks at every issue from multiple perspectives and does not jump to conclusions based on his first impression. Rashi is teaching that Korach did not do this. He used only one eye, so-to-speak, and thus was misled. (For example, he did not consider the possibility that he would be punished, but his sons would repent and be saved, as in fact happened.)
R’ Sorotzkin adds that the above lesson is closely related to the teaching in Pirkei Avot: “You shall judge kol ha’adam favorably.” The expression “kol ha’adam” usually is translated, “every person.” Literally, however, it means, “the whole person.” The Mishnah is teaching that when we judge the whole person – when we look at him from numerous angles to see all of his strengths and weaknesses and all of the circumstances that affect his life – we will be likely to judge him favorably.
