Shabbos Parashas Korach - 5777

Shabbos Parashas Korach - 5777

Rabbi Hal Miller

Say to Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen and let him pick up the fire pans from amid

the fire, and he should throw away the flame, for they have become holy. [Bamidbar 17:2]

What makes something holy? Here we have "fire pans", used in direct contradiction to Moshe and Aharon, for a purpose clearly not commanded in the Torah, yet G-d calls

them holy, and requiring special treatment.

Rashi tells us, "they are forbidden for benefit since they were already made into service

vessels." Ramban does not understand this Rashi and asks, "for it was an alien incense

that they offered, and a layman who made a service vessel in order to bring an offering

outside, it does not become holy." In simpler words, how can someone do the wrong thing

with an item, for the wrong reasons, and find it sanctified by his action anyway?

Rav Hirsch gives us an approach that makes sense. "One could have taken it that those

who offered the incense had first of all dedicated the fire pans in general to the Sanctuary,

and this kedusha would not be lost by their wrongful use." We know from many places that

anyone can dedicate any of their property to the Temple, such that it takes on holiness and

restrictions in use. This would explain Rashi. But Rav Hirsch takes issue with this approach

from the next verse, where the holiness is attributed to the offering, not to dedication. He

says that if the pans were in fact dedicated, then the inappropriate use to which they were

put would not negate the holiness, following Rashi, but that there was no proper dedication.

Sforno takes a middle ground. The pans were dedicated, but only if they were used for an

appropriate purpose. Thus the Torah commands that they be put to an appropriate use, as

part of the Ark cover.

Ibn Ezra proves that there could not have been a dedication to the Temple before the fire

pan incident. Since the Torah commanded that they later be used for the Ark cover, a lower

level of sanctity than incense burning, and since we know that we are never allowed to

move something from a higher level to a lower level, only the reverse, thus there could

not have been a dedication.

If there was no prior dedication, how did the pans end up sanctified?

Nechama Leibowitz has an interesting answer. "The important fact was not the holy use to

which the fire pans were put but the fact that they were so used at the bidding of Moshe."

Thus G-d dedicated the pans in order to honor Moshe!