Shabbos Parashas Korach - 5779

Shabbos Parashas Korach - 5779

Rabbi Hal Miller

They rose up against Moshe and against Aharon and said to them, "It is enough

for you. For the entire assembly, all of them, are holy and God is among them.

Why do you exalt yourselves over the congregation of God?" [Bamidbar 16:3]

I have often wondered, where were the rest of the people in this contentious debate?

Korach expended no little effort to persuade others to join him in ousting Moshe and

Aharon, He convinced 250. But 250 out of 600,000 would have convinced me that

the people would not follow me if I won, yet Korach pursued the action. Perhaps

the people were waiting for an outcome, and would follow whoever won. But why?

Korach told them they were all holy, but so did Moshe. On ben Peles backed out of

the rebellion when his wife pointed out that regardless which side won, he would be

in no better position than he already was.

Rav Hirsch writes, "Korach, Dasan, and Aviram presented themselves before Moshe,

and, after they had collected 250 men whom they had incited to support their reproaches

and demands, spoke as representing the masses."

Rashi translates that Korach and the others "separated themselves", meaning from

the community. They stood alone in geographical space, but also in purpose. If so, how

did Korach represent the masses? Were the 250 somehow representative of the others?

Onkelos says that "they were well-known men, Israel's elite. Moshe's political rivals. But

as with the spies, chosen does not mean royalty. They were chosen by someone with an

agenda." In other words, Korach chose the 250 carefully.

Moshe, in verse 16:5 speaks "to Korach and to his entire assembly", indicating again that

"his assembly" was separate from the people at large. Rav Soloveitchik writes that "Korach

was the first to separate himself from a community which was committed to Moshe and

revered him."

Numerous commentators point out that Korach did not say "the congregation is holy",

rather "the congregation are holy". The former would have referred to the people as a

whole, but the latter says each individual is entitled to some special treatment. This is not

the position that all the people must sacrifice for the greater good, rather that the greater

good must be sacrificed for each individual's desires. Each of Korach and his followers

had his own agenda, many of which were in conflict with each other. Their sole binding

point was that they wanted to shed themselves of responsibility to the greater good.

Looking at all this together, it appears that the people as a whole may well not even have

been aware of what was going on. Korach stood for his own desires, as did each one of

the 250 stand for his own desires. There was, amongst them, a feeling of entitlement.

That is not holiness, and the people as a whole would probably have stoned the members

of this rebellion had they understood what Korach was trying to do. The people were not

there, not involved, because Korach kept his real message secret from them.