Shabbos Parashas Korach - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Korach - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller

And Moshe heard and fell on his face [Bamidbar 16:4]

Four verses in our parsha tell a story among themselves. After our verse, in which we

might say Moshe is reeling from the attack, we see in verse 16, "Moshe said to Korach,

'You and your entire assembly, be before Hashem -- you and they, and Aharon --

tomorrow'." Here, Moshe is presenting a challenge to Korach's attack. Then, in verse

22, Moshe and Aharon turn to question G-d: "They fell on their faces and said, 'O G-d,

G-d of the spirits of all flesh: The one man shall sin, but You will be angry with the entire

assembly?'" Then at last, in verse 28, Moshe appears with renewed strength, with G-d

on his side, and directly confronts Korach: "Moshe said, 'Through this shall you know

that Hashem has sent me to perform all these acts, for it was not from my heart'."

What is the meaning behind this progression?

Rashi says that Moshe's falling on his face was because there was a dispute in the

nation, not because of his own loss of prestige or other damage to him personally. He felt

pain because of the division within the people. Rashbam points out that only Moshe fell on

his face here, that Aharon gave no reaction. He says, "Although his silence and lack of

defense of himself could be interpreted as an admission that the insurgents were right, Aharon

obeyed Moshe's instructions as one obeys the decree of one's king."

Rav Hirsch says, "The truth of a fact can only be proved by a fact, not by reasons or

reasoning. Reasons and reasoning can establish its probability or its necessity but can never

prove its actuality. The veracity of a messenger can only be proved by his sender." Thus

according to Rav Hirsch, there was nothing that Moshe could say to defeat Korach's charges,

it had to come directly from G-d. We see this mirrored in the current anti-Semitism in the

world, and in the slanders constantly thrown at us by some of our neighbors. Rav Hirsch

further mentions that Aharon held his office only on the strength of Moshe's validity as a

prophet. If Moshe fell, Aharon had no job, but if Moshe was sustained, Aharon was too, thus

he had nothing to say.

In verse 16, Moshe is in fact bowing to Korach's demands. When Moshe directed earlier

that the rebels appear with firepans, it was to see whether G-d would approve them. Now,

he's adding Aharon to the mix, so it would be a direct, head-to-head competition. There

would be no mistake whom G-d had chosen.

Now, once we reach verse 22, both brothers are involved, both fall on their faces before G-d.

Having set up the game, it was now time to pray for assistance. But they didn't exactly do

that. They prayed instead for G-d to accept the rest of the nation back into His good graces.

They claimed here that the only one guilty enough to be punished was Korach, the one who

sinned. The rest of the nation were in fact being led astray and should be accepted back.

Ramban looks at verse 28. This is the culmination of the build-up of Moshe. He knew that

only G-d could convince the people that Moshe, not Korach, was to be the leader. He knew

that nothing short of a complete victory was required here, there was no room for fudging,

as that would imply that G-d was somehow not all-powerful, but subject to negotiation. He

had prayed to separate out the people from the collateral damage problem. Now it was

time to take the battle to Korach directly. Ramban says, "And this is the meaning of 'then it

is not Hashem Who has sent me', that He did not send me at all to take them out of Egypt."

Moshe put everything on the line. He knew with a certainty that G-d would take the action

necessary to prove Moshe's validity. He acted on that belief, even in the face of serious

challenge to his authority, and perhaps to his life.

The progression is not a matter of Moshe gaining courage as he went. He knew at each

point exactly what he was doing, setting up the final battle on behalf of G-d.