“Korach took…” [1]
Korach led a rebellion against Moshe.
We have been taught that whilst his followers foolishly sinned, Korach was wise, and instead it was his eyes that tricked him: he saw that future greatness would emerge from him and therefore assumed, mistakenly, that he was greater than Moshe [2].
But what is the difference between a person ‘foolishly sinning’ and one who sins as a result of being ‘tricked’ by his eyes?
Furthermore, what is it that Korach “took”?
Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, the ‘Chafetz Chaim’ beseeched a wealthy man, who was hiring Jewish workers to work on Shabbos in the city of Czernikov, Russia, to observe Shabbos. But it was in vain, for the wealthy man simply made so much money – 4000 Rubles each Shabbos – too much for him to close his business.
The Chafetz Chaim went on to explain that in truth even this figure was just a small investment, but the wealthy man laughed off the idea of losing money as an investment! In a final attempt, the saintly Rabbi pleaded that the wealthy man could really save all of his possessions. He then offered an innovative thought, “The Torah says with regards to Shabbos observance that “you shall finish your work in six days and the seventh shall be Shabbos – you shall do no work” [3] – in other words all a person’s livelihood is based on his Shabbos observance!”
But the man stubbornly replied, saying that he could not possibly close his business because of a mere verse!
A short while later the Bolshevik Revolution swept over Russia and teh government confiscated the factory. The now destitute businessman wrote to the Chafetz Chaim, “Now I see that your words were true. A verse in the Torah indeed brought my factory to a stop!”
Korach’s followers sinned: Moshe told them not to follow Korach and spelled out the consequences of doing so, but they nonetheless followed Korach. They simply did not look into the consequences of their actions. This is foolish. But Korach was no fool: he was wise – he was a ‘pikeach’. A ‘pikeach’ is someone with open eyes [4]; a person who does look into the consequences of his actions [5].
Subsequently Korach was greater than his followers, but the greater a person is, the greater his evil inclination is…
We have been commanded: “Do not take a bribe because a bribe blinds the eyes of the pikeach (wise)” [6]. A wise person who keeps his eyes open and analyses the consequences of his actions is less likely to be involved in foolish sin. But this is only if he maintains his vision and his eyes are not ‘blinded’ [7].
Korach saw a triple greatness [8] that was to come from him and his descendants: he saw the greatness of Shmuel; he saw that his descendants would exclusively perform part of the Temple service and that they would be prophesize the “Divrei Elokim – Divine word”; and he subsequently relied on the ‘Chazaka’, i.e. testimony, that Moshe concluded that only one of them would be Divinely chosen [9]. These three factors could be summarised: Shmuel, Divrei (Elokim) and Chazaka, and their first letters could be rearranged to spell ‘shochad’, meaning bribe.
This is what Korach “took” – he took a bribe. Indeed ‘Korach’ shares the same numerical value as ‘shochad’ [10] and furthermore “Vayikarch Korach (And Korach took)” shares the same numerical value as ‘hu kach shochad’ meaning ‘he took a bribe’! [11] He saw the greatness of his future generations, and was ‘bribed’ into believing that their greatness was because of him. And so he was ‘tricked’ or ‘blinded’ and did not see the true picture that their greatness was not because of him, but rather despite him. The bribe he took ‘tricked’ him into ultimately leading a fully fledged rebellion against the leadership and authority of Moshe.
“Do not take a bribe because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous”.
A wise person has knowledge, but “a righteous person lives by his belief” [12] which is essentially the foundation of the entire Torah and commandments [13]. A righteous person lives by his belief rather than by his eyes and subsequently he cannot be ‘blinded’ by bribes. The simple understanding of the verse is that a bribe can cause a person to distort even ‘righteous’, or in other words, true words [14]. Perhaps though, the verse can be read to be indicating the extent of a wise person being blinded from taking a bribe: it could even lead him to distort “the words of the righteous”; to distort the truth.
This is what Korach did: he took a bribe and led a rebellion against Moshe; a rebellion against truth. Indeed both the phrases “Vayikarch Korach (And Korach took)” and ‘hu kach shochad’ meaning ‘he took a bribe’, share the same numerical value as the word ‘emes’ – truth [15]. We find that he generated his following by distorting the truth of the Torah and specifically the words of Moshe [16]. Subsequently Korach’s followers would ultimately be shown the truth and they would admit “Moshe is true and his Torah is true” [17].
After declaring Moshe and the Torah to be correct, they added the words “and they are false”. The simple understanding is that they are actually referring to themselves being incorrect, but for some reason they use the word “they” rather than ‘we’. Perhaps though the word “they” is referring to the words of the righteous Moshe that were distorted.
“V’hen b’daim – and they are false” [18] can also be rearranged to spell ‘b’yad emunah – in the hand of belief’. Even a wise person who relies solely on his own knowledge is in danger of deviating from the truth and sinning. Only if he lives by his belief that ‘Moshe is true and his Torah is true’ can he save himself.
The matter is literally in our own hands.
Have a perfect (vision) Shabbos,
Dan.
Additional sources and notes:
[1] Bamidbar 16:1 [2] Rashi, Bamidbar 16:7 [3] Shemos 23:8 [4] E.g. See Morning blessing ‘pokeach ivrim – he opens the eyes of the blind’ [5] See also Tomid 32a and Pesachim 91a [6] Shemos 20:9, 10 [7] This is also reflected in the following equation: ‘pikeach’ + ‘ayin’ (eye) = shochad [8] A play on the word ‘shilsheles’ meaning a chain (of descendants) but also containing the word ‘shalosh’ meaning three [see also Yalkut Shimoni, Bamidbar 15:750]. Indeed a rope (and chain – that looks like a rope) is typically made from three strands. [9] Medrash Tanchuma, Korach 5 (based on Divrei Hayamim A 25:5 and Bamidbar 16:7) [10] This equation requires the application of the ‘kollel’ (i.e. adding one for each letter and/or word and/or phrase. This is one of the established rules of ‘gematria’ – equating numerical values), i.e. Korach + 3 (one for each of the three letters of Korach) + 1 (for the word itself) = Shochad [11] It is also worth noting that it is also equal to the numerical value of the word ‘lo’ and also the letter ‘tav’ (plus one for the ‘kollel’). If we add these letters before the phrase ‘kach shochad’ we end up with the language of the verse prohibiting taking a bribe: “lo sikach shochad”! [12] Chabakuk 2:4 [13] Makkos 24a [14] Rashi, Shemos 23:8 [15] These equations also require the application of the kollel: “Vayikarch Korach” + 7 (one for each letter) + 2 (one for each word) = emes = ‘hu kach shochad’ + 8 (one for each letter) + 1 (for the phrase).Medrash Rabba, Bamidbar 18:3
[16] Bava Kamma 74a; Sanhedrin 110; see also Rabbeinu Bachaya, Bamidbar 16:34 [17] This is how it appears in Sanhedrin, or alternatively ‘v’hem b’dain’ in the Rabbeinu Bachaya
