Moshe's Bumper Sticker

Parshat Korach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

An unofficial theme of the book of Bamidbar is that the string of narratives are connected thematically. The most quoted example of this is the first critique given to the spies of Parshat Shlach, who did not learn from the episode of Miriam's tale-bearing punishment. After seeing what happened to her for speaking about Moshe, they did not check themselves before speaking ill of the land they had scouted.

I think a similar lesson can be applied to the Korach narrative – from the perspective of the leadership.

Throughout the Torah, whenever people did something wrong or complained and triggered God's anger, Moshe was always the stalwart defender, telling God a thing or two about the leadership role he has accepted (to bring these people as far as he can) versus the one he has not accepted (to watch them all die as a new nation is created from Moshe).

Through it all, Moshe has averted a few disasters and has saved countless lives. This is why it is decidedly odd that Moshe says the second half of his final challenge to Korach and company. "If you die a natural death, God did not send me. But if a creation is created and the ground opens up and swallows them up and they go down, alive, to Sheol, then you know they have challenged God."

How could Moshe offer two options for death – natural or supernatural? Is there no room for teshuvah (repentance)? What happened to the ultimate defender, who views life as the most precious gift? Could it be, perhaps, that Moshe is taking Korach's challenges as a personal affront (as well he should!) and he is taking revenge in the most spiteful we he could? היתכן - Is this possible?

If we look back at the two most recent narratives in the Torah – the spies and the wood gatherer – we see people being punished with death on account of their actions. And, in both cases, the view from the top is the same.

Rabbenu Bachaye posits that Moshe took the stance against God in defense of the people when he said, "Egypt will hear that you took the nation out of their land, but were unable to defeat the Gods of Canaan" because Moshe was concerned for the desecration of God's name. Why give Egypt the opportunity to speak ill of You?

Similarly, Rabbenu Bachaye addresses the wood-gatherer story using a literal interpretation of the word used to describe his action, "M'koshesh," (מקושש) as opposed to "M'laket" (מלקט) (which mean the same thing, but the former is normally used to describe a gathering of straw, while the latter is normally used to describe the gathering of wood), to suggest that in his Shabbat-desecrating activities the wood-gatherer was denying God and the Six Days of Creation and was thus desecrating God's name in the worst possible way.

If we can say about Moshe that his personal bumper sticker was "Desecrating God's Name Stops Here!" then we can begin to understand why Korach was doomed (as were Datan and Aviram) once the challenge to Moshe and Aharon is understood for what it really was: a challenge to God, and a desecration of God's Name. In 16:5-11 and 16:28-30, Moshe makes it clear that this is not about him. This is all about God. It is only about God.

The Kli Yakar points out the use of the words "Briah yivra" – if a creation is created, which is reminiscent of the account of Creation in the Torah. Stringing together two thoughts which appear in Pirkei Avot, he suggests that they were denying God's role in the world. Firstly, the mouth of the earth was created in the final hours of the Six Days of Creation (Avot 5:6) – a denial of this is a denial of Creation. Secondly, they did not want any leader, for they thought “all of the people are holy, and God is among them – so why should you raise yourself over God’s people?” The anarchist's view contradicts the mishnah (Avot 3:2) that says "Were it not for fear (of a king), men would swallow their friends alive."

The different denials of God and His ways served as indicators to Moshe that the people in question were following the same lines of perverted logic that brought down the spies and the wood-gatherer. As such, the precedent set by their respective punishments helped Moshe come to the easy and unfortunate realization (for Korach and co., that is) that their immediate death was pending.

For Moshe, the writing was so clearly on the wall that he did not need to do much. He had learned the lesson of the previous stories, and Korach and all the followers received the punishment that followed the recently confirmed precedents – the "measure for measure" for anarchists is that the ground swallowed them alive.

The relevant lesson for us is threefold: 

• Remember, as always, that the most regular affirmation of our appreciation of Creation comes from a commitment to Shabbos. 
• We must defend against the desecration of God's name as best we can. 
• We must strive to sanctify God's name in all that we do.