From:          "Yeshivat Har Etzion's Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash"
To:            yhe-parsha@vbm-torah.org
Subject:       PARSHA -38: Parashat Korach

                   YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
      ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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                     PARASHAT KORACH
                           
                           
     Moshe vs. the Rebels: A Challenge on Two Fronts
                           
                  By Rav Elchanan Samet


a. TWO INTERWOVEN ACCOUNTS
    
     The  story of the rebellion by Korach and the  other
rebels, narrated at the beginning of our parasha, is  one
of  the most complex stories in all of the Torah.  It  is
quite  clear  that it is not a typical biblical  account.
One  does not have to be a discerning critic in order  to
see that in fact two separate stories are being told.
    
     I) One story concerns the test of the censers, which
pitted  Korach and the 250 princes against  Aharon.  This
event  takes place at the entrance to the Ohel Mo'ed  and
concludes with the burning of the 250 unworthy bearers of
the incense.
    
     II)  The  other story involves the refusal of   Datan
and  Aviram  to accept Moshe's leadership -  a  rebellion
which emanated from their dwelling-place in the camp  and
ended  with  their  being  swallowed  by  the  earth,   in
accordance  with Moshe's announcement after  he  went  to
their tents.
    
     These two stories are interwoven in such a way as to
divide the narrative as a whole into different units:
    
(16:1-3)  Opening:  Coalition of  the  rebels  and  their
common complaint against Moshe and Aharon.

(4-7)  Moshe's first response "to Korach and to  all  his
congregation" - proposal of the test of the censers.
(8-11) Moshe's second response to Korach and the Levites:
"Do you also seek the priesthood?"

(12-15)  Moshe's call to Datan and Aviram,  their  speech
refusing him, and Moshe's response.

(16-19) Return to Korach and the proposal of the censers;
the  beginning  of  the test; Korach  gathers  the  whole
congregation.
(20-22)  God  says  He will punish the congregation,  and
Moshe and Aharon pray to cancel the punishment.

(23-27)  Moshe tells the congregation to move  away  from
the tents of the rebels.
(27-34) Moshe announces the imminent punishment, and they
are swallowed into the earth.

(35) The burning of the 250 unworthy bearers of incense.

(17:1-5)  The melting of the censers into a covering  for
the altar, "a memorial for Bnei Yisrael."

      Usually  a biblical story concentrates on a   single
subject,  a single plot, focusing on the place, time  and
personalities  at the center of that plot. The  narrative
in  our parasha describes two different subjects and  two
plots  simultaneously, alternating between  one  and  the
other.  It is true that both stories concerned rebellion,
and  both  seem  to have taken place simultaneously;  but
they could have been presented separately and juxtaposed.
Does  this  interweaving  necessarily  indicate  that  an
editor joined these two independent stories together?

b. FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS

     Sometimes the fact that "that's how it happened"   is
of  such  great significance that it must find expression
in  the  literary description as well. When a  number  of
events  join to form a whole system of pressures,  acting
simultaneously   on   a  number  of   fronts    (and   not
coincidentally, rather with the intention of  creating  a
comprehensive attack), then we would not be able to sense
the   gravity  of  the  situation  unless  the    literary
description  attempted a simultaneous report  of  all  of
these events.

     For  example,  a number of the wars  fought   by  the
modern  State  of Israel have been conducted  on  several
fronts  concurrently. This was the result of coordination
among  the Arab states, aimed at forcing Israel to spread
her  forces and her military effort over large areas  and
against   superior   armies.  A   professional    military
historian,  seeking to clarify the military  developments
on  a  certain front, would obviously focus only on  that
front. But a historian who wished to describe the history
of  the State of Israel during the war would be unable to
tell the story of the State fighting for her survival  in
anything but a "jumping" manner, illustrating the need to
fight  on  several  fronts  at  the  same  time.   Only  a
description   of   the  complications  and    difficulties
involved in spreading forces, and having the top military
command hurrying from one front to the next, debating how
to  divide  resources among the fronts and battling  with
confused   communications,  could  present  an    accurate
picture  of the reality. A description that was  orderly,
with  a  distinction drawn between the different subjects
described, would end up providing a distorted picture  of
what it was really like.

     A  coalition  of  opponents chose  to   act  together
against  Moshe, the leader of Israel, on several  fronts,
regarding different issues and even in different  places.
Their  alliance did not arise from a general  convergence
of   interests,  but  rather  from  one  specific   common
interest:  that  the nation would be  drawn  after  them,
bringing  about a collapse of Moshe's leadership  in  the
face of this broad front of pressures, since he would  be
unable  to deal with them all concurrently. In  order  to
illustrate  Moshe's situation, forced  upon  him  by  the
alliance of his opponents, the story focuses on  him  and
the  way  in  which he tries to repel the attack  lauched
against  him  from  all  sides.  Such  a  story   must  of
necessity be complex.

c. AN ATTEMPT TO BREAK UP THE REBEL COALITION

     In trying to meet the challenge of the multi-faceted
opposition to his leadership, Moshe first tries  to  find
cracks  in the wall of opposition of the 250 princes.  He
tries  to  reveal some opposing interests among  them  in
order  to break their apparently united attack.  Both  in
Moshe's first response to Korach and his congregation and
in  his  second response to Korach, Moshe appeals to  the
Levites.  But Levites were not mentioned among the  group
of  rebels listed as the scene is set in verses 1-2.  How
did they suddenly become part of the action?
    
     What  we  shall propose here is a sort of compromise
between  the various interpretations. Korach, who  headed
the  group  of 250 princes, did not represent  his  tribe
alone, but rather brought other Levites with him from his
tribe  and his family. Although the Ramban is correct  in
pointing  out  that  not  all  these  250  princes    were
rebelling against the priesthood of Aharon and his  sons,
those who did oppose Aharon's priesthood did so based  on
a  philosophy  of equality - "for the whole  congregation
are  all  holy." The Levites, however, obviously did  not
hold  this  philosophy: they were complaining  about  the
distinction  between themselves and the sons  of  Aharon,
from  their  own tribe, and sought equality within  their
chosen  tribe  alone. But since all were  now  united  in
their  demand  to  be  included in the  service  and   the
priesthood, Moshe proposed to all of them the test of the
censers.

     At  the  end  of this speech by Moshe  (verse   5-7),
directed to all 250 of the princes, he covertly addresses
the Levites among them: "It is too much for you, sons  of
Levi" - you have no place in this alliance, for you  have
been  given  many privileges and you should be  satisfied
with what you have.
    
     Had  the Levites accepted what Moshe was hinting  to
them, they would have separated themselves from the group
of  250 princes, and thus this group would have begun  to
disintegrate. But this did not occur, and therefore Moshe
now   addresses  them,  and  them  alone,  quite   openly,
clarifying  quite clearly what previously had  only  been
hinted at. But even this speech was met with no response,
neither  by Korach nor by his Levite brethren. The  group
of  250  princes  remains united until  the  bitter  end.
Moshe's attempt to break up this group before they  could
act,  thereby obviating the need for the offering of  the
incense, was unsuccessful.

d. AN ATTEMPT TO JOIN THE FRONTS

     Having  failed in his attempt to break up the  large
group  of rebels, Moshe now attempts to limit the  number
of  fronts, in the geographical sense (16:12): "And Moshe
sent  to call Datan and Aviram, the sonsof Eliav."  Moshe
wished them to come to him, to the center of the camp, so
that  he could negotiate in one place simultaneously with
Korach  and  the  250 princes as well as with  Datan  and
Aviram.  There was also another tactical reason  for  his
calling  them:  Datan and Aviram, who were  situated  far
away from Moshe, could draw the nation after them without
Moshe's  knowledge and without his making any  effort  to
prevent this.
    
     But  this  attempt, too, failed: "And they said,   We
shall  not come up." They were not prepared to conduct  a
dialogue with Moshe, and used the opportunity to launch a
scathing attack of him in front of their audience.

e. BUYING TIME

     Moshe  was  therefore forced to go back  to   dealing
with the 250 princes who were in his close proximity, and
he reverts to his original plan (the test of the incense)
which, it appears, there is now no choice but to execute:
    
   (16-17)  "And Moshe said to Korach: You and  all  your
   congregation, present yourselves before God,  you  and
   them  and  Aharon, tomorrow. And each man  shall  take
   his censer..."

      The date, "tomorrow," had already been fixed in his
first  proposal to them in verses 5-7, and  Rashi  (16:5)
explains  the meaning of the delay until then as follows:
"He  intentionally postponed in case they would  repent."
Moshe tried to "buy time," hoping that the number of  his
opponents  would  have diminished by the  next  day,  but
again  he was not successful. In fact, Rashi infers  from
verse  19, Korach used the intervening time to  win  over
more people to his cause:

   "All  night long he walked about among the tribes  and
   tempted  them: 'Do you believe that I am  acting  only
   for  my own benefit? I act only for all of you.  These
   people  have come and taken all the powerful positions
   -  the kingship for himself and the priesthood for his
   brother...' - until they were all convinced."

       All   of  Moshe's  attempts   had  been  aimed   at
neutralizing  the  opposition  in  humane  ways,  thereby
obviating  the  need  for Divine  intervention.  But  his
activities  in all of these areas failed to  achieve  his
aims.  The opposition was powerful and stubborn,  leaving
no  room  for  dialogue.  On the  one  hand,  the   rebels
confronted Moshe with a deafening silence; on  the  other
hand,  they slandered him behind his back. There was  now
no alternative; it was time for Divine intervention.

       Until  this  point  the  story   has  examined  the
relations between Moshe and the various groups of rebels.
But  it  should be remembered that the aim of the  rebels
was not to create any type of relations with Moshe. Quite
the  contrary - their aim was to convince the nation. The
possibility that the nation would be drawn after them was
the  most  urgent  danger, and this  process  was  indeed
taking  place  at  both centers of  the  rebellion.  With
regard  to the internal center we are told (16:19),  "And
Korach  gathered  the whole congregation  against  them."
Those  who  present themselves before the Ohel  Mo'ed  at
Korach's calling thus express their support of his cause.

     From the continuation of the story (verses 23-27) we
see  that  other  Israelites were involved  even  in  the
external  center - at the tents of Datan and Aviram.  The
rebellion  was  gathering momentum, and  many  among  the
nation were drawn after its various leaders.

f. DIVINE REVELATION

      Now  comes the moment of revelation which,  in   the
stories  of  the  major  sins  narrated  in  our    Sefer,
indicates the imminent turning point (16:19): "And  God's
glory  appeared to the whole congregation." Indeed, God's
words   to   Moshe  and  Aharon  are  (16:21),   "Separate
yourselves  from amongst this congregation,  and  I  will
consume them in a moment." As was the case in the sin  of
the  golden  calf and in the sin of the  spies,  this  is
simply  an  opportunity for Moshe and Aharon to  offer  a
prayer for Israel and to stand in their defense:
   (22)  "And they fell upon their faces and said, O God,
   God  of the spirits of all flesh, if one man sins will
   You then be angry with the whole congregation?"
Ramban explains their prayer as follows:
   "Moshe  and  Aharon  were  speaking  in   the  people's
   defense,  pointing out that only Korach  was  actually
   guilty;  he  had  been  the  instigator  and   he   had
   attracted them. It was therefore appropriate  that  he
   alone  should  die,  in order that his  punishment   be
   well-known.  This is the way of those  who  plead  for
   mercy  - to remove the sin from the nation as a  whole
   and  place it upon the individual who instigated,  for
   he is guilty in any event."

     How does God respond to their prayer? Does He accept
it?  If so, why does God not say, "I have forgiven as you
have  spoken,"  or  some such phrase? Many  commentators,
both  traditional  and  critical, see  God's  next  words
(v.24),  "Speak to the congregation, saying, Get up  from
around the dwelling of Korach, Datan and Aviram," as  His
response  to  the  prayer of Moshe and Aharon.  In  other
words,  they  interpret God as saying, "I  have  accepted
your prayer, on condition that the congregation expresses
its  disassociation with the rebels and moves  away  from
them."

      But  in  fact there is no continuity  of   plea  and
response,  as  these  commentators would  understand  it.
Firstly,   let   us   look  at  the    location   of   the
"congregation," which seems to move from the entrance  of
the Ohel Mo'ed to the tents of Datan and Aviram. Does the
expression "the whole congregation" mean the same as "the
whole nation"? Without any connection to the questions we
are  dealing with, the Ramban (16:21) answers this in the
negative:
   "'And Korach gathered the whole congregation (kol  ha-
   eda)  against  them' (verse 19) - this refers  to  the
   dignitaries  of all the tribes, who are  often  called
   to   the  entrance  of  the  Ohel  Mo'ed,   or  to  the
   firstborn   of  the  nation  who  were   eligible   for
   service.  The text here does not mention 'the  nation'
   as  in the sin of the golden calf (Shemot 32:9) and of
   the  spies (Bamidbar 14:11), for if all of Israel were
   there, God would have said, 'I will consume them in  a
   moment,  AND I WILL MAKE YOU INTO A GREAT NATION'  [as
   He declared on those two occasions]."

      Thus  there is no difficulty in the fact  that   one
congregation gathered at the entrance to the Ohel  Mo'ed,
while  a different portion of the congregation surrounded
the  tents  of  Datan  and Aviram.  Both   "congregations"
represented  groups  within the nation  rather  than  the
nation as a whole. It is quite possible that the majority
of  the nation was not involved in the story at all.  The
prayer of Moshe and Aharon thus referred to those who had
been  gathered by Korach and brought to the  entrance  of
the Ohel Mo'ed.

      God's next words (verse 23-24) move the story - and
Moshe  -  to  the  tents of Datan and  Aviram.  Moshe   is
commanded  to  go  to them in order to  prepare  for  the
punishment that will come upon them and in order that the
punishment  will  not harm that part of the  congregation
that is in their midst.

      Why is Moshe not commanded to drive away those  who
are  gathered around Korach and his cohorts, before going
to  the  tents of Datan and Aviram? The answer is simple:
these  people were not really involved with the  offering
of  the  incense, but rather stood around  watching.  And
besides, the fire that emanated form God would harm  only
the  sinners,  not those who had not sinned.  After  all,
Aharon  was  standing with the sinners, and  he  was  not
harmed by the fire. But when the earth split open (at the
tents  of  Datan and Aviram), all those who  stood  there
would  be  swallowed alive, and therefore all  those  who
were not involved had to move away.

      But  the  answer to the question may be more   of  a
matter  of  principle: God did not  wish  for  the  whole
congregation to move away from the entrance to  the  Ohel
Mo'ed. On the contrary - He wished them to remain and  to
witness the results of the test of the incense, in  order
that they would learn their lesson. For this very purpose
God  commanded afterwards that the censers of the sinners
be  fashioned into a covering for the altar, "a  memorial
for  Bnei  Yisrael,  that  no stranger...  offer  incense
before God."

      For the same reason, it would seem, Moshe does  not
completely  banish  the crowd surrounding  the  tents  of
Datan and Aviram; rather, he tells them to move away from
their  tents  and  to  stand  back.  Therefore  when   the
punishment comes to Datan and Aviram we are told of those
stood  back  (16:34), "And all of Israel WHO WERE  AROUND
THEM fled at their voices, for they said, Lest the ground
swallow us." This terrified flight was also something  of
a  lesson for Israel, and Moshe did not wish to miss  the
opportunity.

      Thus we see that God's words in verse 24, "Speak to
the congregation saying, Get up from around the dwellings
of  Korach,  Datan and Aviram" was not an in any  way  an
answer  or  response  to the prior prayer  of  Moshe  and
Aharon. A new subject begins in verses 23-24.

g. TWO MOTIVES, TWO PUNISHMENTS

      Together with Moshe, we leave the entrance  to   the
Ohel Mo'ed and move over to the place where the tents  of
Datan  and  Aviram are situated. The text  describes  the
events  there in epic length and detail: Moshe's  warning
to the crowd to move away from the tents of the rebels  -
and  their distancing themselves, the announcement of the
expected punishment - and its immediate fulfillment,  and
the  reaction of those present to the punishment. All  of
this  is described over eleven verses. What was going  on
during this time at the entrance to the Ohel Mo'ed?

     Again the story "jumps" to where we left off, eleven
verses ago, and completes the picture (verse 35): "And  a
fire  came out from before God and consumed the  250  men
who  offered the incense." The beginning of the verse  is
formulated in the simple past tense - "a fire came  out,"
rather than with the conversive "vav," which is the usual
biblical style for describing the past tense. One of  the
functions of the simple past tense in biblical  style  is
to  indicate  the  past perfect. It  seems  this  is   the
intention here, too. The fire emanating from God did  not
take place AFTER what was described previously about  the
splitting of the earth, but rather during the same period
of  time. The two punishments, so different in nature and
in   two   completely   different  places,    took   place
simultaneously.

      These  simultaneous punishments were   "measure  for
measure."  The  various groups of rebels  had  chosen  to
unite  in  order that their various outbreaks would  take
place at two different centers concurrently, for the sole
purpose  of  making it difficult for Moshe to  deal  with
them. Therefore their punishment, too, took place at both
centers  simultaneously. Moshe, a mortal,  could  not  be
present in both places at the same time. But God  had  no
trouble  with  performing two different  actions  in  two
different places concurrently.

     Attention should be paid to the lack of quantitative
equality  in  the  two  descriptions  of  punishment.   In
contrast  to  the  long and detailed description  of  the
earth splitting, only one single verse is devoted to  the
punishment of the fire. A possible explanation  for  this
is  the  literary principle according to which our  story
operates: it follows Moshe in all his movements; we could
almost  say that the subject of the story is Moshe's  way
of dealing with the rebellion at its two centers.

     The "compensation" for the brief description of what
took place at the Ohel Mo'ed is found in the unit 17:1-5,
which  thematically is a direct continuation of verse  35
which concludes the previous chapter. While the lesson to
be  learned  from the splitting open of the  earth  is  a
personal  one,  gained experientially by the  people  who
were  present at the event,  the lesson learned from  the
punishment  of the fire is a lesson for all  generations,
for  God commands that it be eternalized and embodied  in
the covering for the altar.

      By  means of this command and its fulfillment,   the
punishment  that took place at the entrance to  the  Ohel
Mo'ed is also connected to Moshe. His name appears at the
beginning of the unit - "And God spoke to Moshe saying" -
as  well  as at its conclusion, which is the end  of  the
whole story and the essence of its moral (17:5): "... And
he shall not be like Korach and his company, AS GOD SPOKE
BY MOSHE'S HAND TO HIM."

      At  the  beginning  of  this   study  we  noted  the
complexity  of the story - a factor which would  seem  to
make its unified comprehension more difficult. One of the
details  mentioned there is that the punishment that  met
the  different  rebels was not uniform. Indeed,  this  is
true,  although it should be noted that the two types  of
punishment were in fact connected to one another  -  they
were  opposites. One punishment was that "a fire emanated
from  before God" - it comes down to earth from heaven  -
"and  consumed  the  250  men who offered  incense."   The
second  punishment originated in the opposite  direction:
not  downwards  from  above, from heaven  to  earth,  but
rather  from beneath the earth upwards (31-32): "And  the
earth  THAT  WAS  UNDER THEM split open,  and  the  earth
opened  her mouth and swallowed them." Thus at  the  very
same  moment a fire FROM HEAVEN "consumes" some  sinners,
and  the  depths  of the earth FROM BELOW  "swallow"   the
others.  In this way, a juxtaposition of the two OPPOSITE
punishments taking place simultaneously serves  to  unite
the story as a whole.

     This contrast in the punishment of the two groups of
rebels  is  obviously related to the specific content  of
each rebellion. The 250 princes sought to be included  in
the priestly service - the offering of incense, and their
sin  therefore involved a wish to move upwards -  towards
God and His service. Those whose sin involved a forbidden
attempt  to  reach  God were punished with  a  fire  that
emanated from God. They wished to reach heaven -  and  so
they were punished from heaven.

      But  Datan,  Aviram and their supporters   waged  an
earthly,  political  rebellion against  Moshe's  calling.
They  sought  not the priesthood and Divine service,  but
rather  an  "inheritance of fields and  vineyards."  They
praise Egypt as a "land flowing with milk and honey," and
regret  the fact that Moshe took them out. Their  motives
are lowly; they come from the earth. What drives them  is
jealousy of Moshe and earthly desires. They desire not to
"ascend"  -  "We  shall not come up;"  and   they  express
sorrow  over  having "come up" from Egypt. Therefore  the
punishment  appropriate for them  is  a  descent  to  the
depths  of the earth. The "earth" is the source of  their
sin,  and  so  from the earth emanates their  punishment.
Hence   the  emphasis,  in  the  description   of    their
punishment,  on the fact that not only their bodies  were
swallowed  up  but also "everything that  was  theirs"   -
"their houses... and all their property."

       In  this  way  the  contrasting   punishments  also
indicate the contrasting motives of the different  groups
of  rebels. And a contrasting subject, as we have already
mentioned, is always a unifying factor.

(Translated by Kaeren Fish)

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