How to Get What You Want!
What was Korach thinking?! How could someone described as so wise make such a huge mistake? And what made hundreds of people follow him despite the risk? • Moshiach Beparsha is a weekly drasha connecting the Rebbe’s teachings on Moshiach with the weekly Parsha, presented in an engaging way with stories and practical life lessons • Read More
BEGIN WITH A GRIN
Shakespeare walks into a café and says to the waiter: “To be, or not to be… that is the question!”
The waiter replies: “Sir, just decide already, do you want tea or coffee?”
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT
The story of Korach is a famous biblical mystery. Many questions trouble anyone who studies this parsha: What was Korach thinking?! How could a man whom the Sages called ‘clever’ do something so foolish?! Beyond that, it is well known to students of Chassidic thought that Chassidus has a great deal to say about Korach and his inner intention, and the Chassidic explanation of Korach’s essence seemingly does not align with the plain meaning of the text.
In Chassidic thought, Korach was a ‘futurist’; he was ahead of his time. He wanted the mode of avoda of Yemos HaMoshiach to be implemented right now, before its arrival. In the future, the Leviyim will become Kohanim, and the Kohanim will become Leviyim (see Tanya chapter 50, and the Rebbe’s note there; this has been discussed previously in these pages). Korach wanted to bring the future into the present and begin the ‘redemptive’ seder of avoda immediately. The problem was that this was not only impossible, but destructive, as explained in the verses and at length in Chassidic teachings.
But how does this fit with the plain meaning of the text? In the Torah, Korach is portrayed as an arrogant and scheming man seeking honor and power, not as someone of great spiritual vision and elevated soul!
Furthermore, there are additional questions that complicate our understanding of the story. For example: what led Korach’s 250 men, who were heads of Sanhedrin from the tribe of Reuven, to such folly?! To offer incense, when they knew full well (and Moshe explicitly warned them) that “whoever G-d chooses will emerge alive, and all of you will perish.” What desperate person risks his life in such a way?!
The question grows stronger when we note that Moshe himself joined them, saying: “I too desire this!” (Rashi on the verse). A group comes to dispute Aaron’s kehuna, and Moshe joins them?! Why?
In a remarkable sicha (Likutei Sichos vol. 18, sicha 1 on Korach), the Rebbe offers a fresh perspective on Korach’s rebellion and his true intention. Korach did not dispute Moshe, Korach did not dispute Aharon’s kehuna; Korach simply wanted to be a Kohen. But not just “wanted.” He wanted it intensely, to the point of self-sacrifice and loss of rational judgment.
The 250 heads of Sanhedrin from the tribe of Reuven also did not come to challenge Moshe; they too simply wanted the kehuna. This is, in fact, explicit in the text: “And you seek the kehuna as well” (Korach 16:10). Korach and his followers did not deny that Moshe was G-d’s messenger and that his actions were according to the Almighty (after all, Hashem had promised Moshe “and they shall also believe in you forever,” and Hashem’s promise was certainly fulfilled!). They simply believed that through prayer, petition, and supplication it is possible to change the Divine will, just as we find many times that through prayer or korbanos, fasting and pleading, one can alter a person’s decree.
Just as Moshe’s prayer was effective after the sin of the Golden Calf and the sin of the spies, as Noach’s korbanos were effective after the flood, and as Avrohom’s prayer could have helped the people of Sodom, why shouldn’t prayer help for people free of sin and pure of heart, like the tribe of Levi (who did not sin with the Golden Calf and always maintained faith in G-d), whose wish was to be Kohanim? Why shouldn’t it work? That was the true intention of that “clever man,” Korach: if prayer helps for sinners, why shouldn’t it help for the righteous?!
HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT
That was also the intention of the 250 men of the tribe of Reuven. They did not mean to challenge Moshe; they simply wanted to be Kohanim Gedolim, not in order to dominate the Jewish people, but to reach a level of holy of holies, to stand always before G-d and serve Him.
And to this Moshe replied, “I too desire this.” The desire to be a Kohen Gadol, separated from worldly affairs and devoted to the service of G-d, is a good and worthy desire. But in practice, “we can only have one Kohen Gadol!” (Rashi, ibid.)
Sometimes, however, desire overpowers reason. Their longing to draw close to G-d was so wonderful and intense that it overrode their rational minds, and they were willing to offer incense even just once in order to experience that wondrous closeness to G-d, even if it meant their death. (This is similar to the Kohanim Gedolim of Bayis Sheini, who would not survive the year in office yet would pay large sums for the privilege of being appointed Kohen Gadol and entering the Holy of Holies even just once! They knew they would enter and not leave, and yet the yearning for closeness to Hashem overcame their common sense.)
This explanation aligns with the plain meaning of the text. Korach’s argument, as is well known, was: “The entire congregation is holy; they all heard words at Sinai from the mouth of the Almighty” (Korach 16:3 and Rashi there). And what did they hear at Sinai? They heard from the Almighty: “You shall be to Me a kingdom of Kohanim.” The Baal HaTurim there explains explicitly that every Jew is on the level of a Kohen Gadol! These words stirred within Korach and his followers the desire to actually be a Kohen Gadol.
This desire is positive, even Moshe agreed with it and that is why the parsha is named “Korach,” because there is something to learn from him. From Korach we learn that one must desire!
This should serve as a powerful moral lesson regarding bringing the Geula. We must want, and truly want, as Korach wanted! Of course, we must understand that one cannot take the Torah into one’s own hands, and we must obey Moshe in every generation; we must follow the directives of the leader of the generation, the Rebbe. We must obey the instructions of the Torah, its scholars and arbiters, the rabbanim and communal leaders. But deep within ourselves, we must know that every Jew is worthy of being a Kohen, even a Kohen Gadol, and every Jew must desire to be one!
The same applies to Geula: we must desire the Geula truly and wholeheartedly. We must believe that through faith, desire, and anticipation of the Geula, we hasten and accelerate its arrival. And through complete faith and eager anticipation of the Geula, the words of the Baal HaTurim will be fulfilled in us (Yisro 19:6): “Had Israel merited it, they would all have been Kohanim Gedolim, but sin caused otherwise. In the future it will be restored to them, as it is written: ‘And you shall be called the Kohanim of G-d’” (Yeshaya 61:6).
TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY
We will end with a story about the need to follow the directives of the leader of the generation, even when things seem puzzling and incomprehensible.
A young unmarried Chassid named Meir came to the Maggid of Mezeritch and asked for a blessing to find a shidduch.
“Go in peace,” said the Rebbe. “And the first marriage proposal that comes your way—accept it.”
On his way home, the Chassid stayed at a rural inn where a group of drunkards were gathered. After a brief conversation, the Chassid revealed to them the Maggid’s instruction. Upon hearing this, one of the group announced: “Excellent! I have a match for you. My sister is a fresh divorcée with a dowry of one hundred silver rubles and she’s even here right now! If you agree, we can finalize the match immediately!”
In fact, the young woman was the innkeeper’s daughter, whose father was away at the time.
Meir answered: “Fine, I agree.”
The drunkard explained the joke to the girl and asked her to play along and she agreed.
Then one of them suggested: “Why not arrange the wedding ceremony right now?”
One of his friends objected: “None of us knows how to write a kesuba or conduct a proper wedding.”
Meir said he knew how to both write the kesuba and perform the ceremony properly. They took a white tablecloth, tied it to four broomsticks, and held it over the couple’s heads as a wedding canopy. The Chassid wrote the kesuba and then betrothed the young woman according to Jewish law.
Then the trouble began. The drunkards started beating Meir, and he fled and slept in the hut of one of the village gentiles. In the morning he dared approach the inn door, but feared to enter lest he be beaten again. At that very moment he heard a voice: “Here comes the father of the kalla!”
The young man approached the innkeeper and said, “How are you, father-in-law?”
The innkeeper recoiled. “What are you talking about?” he asked.
The daughter came out and explained: “Last night we performed a wedding ceremony, as a joke.”
The father was furious and asked the young man to give his daughter a bill of divorce, promising him twenty silver rubles for the trouble. To his surprise, Meir refused. The innkeeper raised his offer several times, but each time was met with the same refusal.
“My Rebbe told me to accept the first match proposed to me, and that is what I did. If you do not agree to the match, let us go to the Rebbe together and let him decide.”
The stunned innkeeper realized he had no choice but to travel to Mezeritch. Upon arriving, he presented his complaint to the Maggid.
“I will speak with Meir,” said the Maggid.
When the innkeeper returned some hours later, the Maggid told him: “I spoke with Meir, and he agrees on condition that you give him one thousand silver rubles. But what about your daughter? Has the time not come for her to marry? Allow me to suggest an excellent match for her. I know a young man, learned, G-d-fearing, and of distinguished lineage.”
“I am happy to agree,” the father replied.
“Meir has only one shortcoming,” the Maggid continued. “He is penniless, and his poverty makes a poor impression. Now that you agreed to give him one thousand rubles, there is no need for a divorce or a new wedding. I promise you, this is a match made in Heaven. I wish you both to travel home in happiness, and the young couple to live in joy.”
Good Shabbos!
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