by Rabbi Avi Billet
One of the strangest instructions we find in the Torah comes in Chapter 17, when Moshe is told to tell his nephew Elazar to take the firepans of Korach’s 250-demised colleagues, hammer them out and make them into a cover for the Mizbe’ach. [Targum Yonatan says they were added to the body of the Mizbe’ach. Chizkuni says it was turned into some kind of canopy for the Mizbe’ach.]
Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi (a supercommentary on Rashi) notes that even though K’tores is burned on the small Mizbe’ach, since that Mizbe’ach is made of gold and located inside the Mishkan where everything is made of gold, putting copper on it would be inappropriate. Thus, the hammered out copper was put with the large outdoor Mizbe’ach despite the disparity of use (animals vs spices/k’tores).
But there is a more pressing question. How could the firepans used by Korach and colleagues be added to something so holy, the actual Mizbe’ach where offerings to God are brought? Isn’t that the definition of sacrilege, using something so degraded – as evidenced by the deaths of those using them – for the purpose of “upgrading” the central location for the service of God? Furthermore, what is the message in the longer term?
Alshikh expands the question: “What will come out of this is disastrous – people will claim these people must have been righteous if God had his Mizbe’ach covered with their firepans!”
He answers that God indicated “Not to worry. Yes, an aveirah was perpetrated with these pans, but they were sanctified, because they brought their fires ‘before God.’”
And yet, this would still open the door for people to say “It must be that the followers of Korach were not considered m’zidim (people who purposefully sin). They were innocently misled. They were convinced that Korach was right…”
Therefore God made it clear. “Take the firepans of THESE SINNERS.” No one should think they were anything but wicked people. They sinned with their own lives! [They put their lives at risk for a purpose which was not for the sake of heaven!] It’s not the people who were sanctified. It is the firepans that were sanctified. Putting the hammered out pans on the Mizbe’ach was meant to be a sign to the Bnei Yisrael, simply because they will always look out of place, causing people to ask ‘what is this about?’ This will lead to the eventual revelation (and eternal clarification) that what took place at that time in history was meant to remind everyone not to challenge the Kehunah.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch wrote: “They [the pans] remained sacred unto the purpose for which they were dedicated. They [the 250 people] had brought them before God, so that through them, God would show which priesthood He desires. The purpose of their offering was attained, even though the offerers forfeited their lives through it. But the fact that this purpose was attained is important for God‘s Sanctuary and for its future, and the moral holiness that emanates from the Sanctuary depends on the remembrance of this fact. Hence, just as these pans served to achieve this sacred purpose, they are to remain dedicated to the maintenance of what was achieved through them; they have become sacred in a dual sense. They remain dedicated to their original purpose, to serve as testimony to the true priesthood; and since this remains their permanent designation, they are connected with the sacred purposes of the Sanctuary. Therefore, they themselves [the pans] become sacred, like all the other objects connected with the service of the Sanctuary.”
What does he mean when he says “the purpose of their offering was attained”? Wasn’t their purpose to prove those using them could be High Priests, each and every one of them? Wasn’t their goal to undermine the Kehunah?
In his Tosefes Bracha, Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein suggested that there is a parallel case from which we can derive how something used with ill-intent can be used for sanctification, as quotes the Yalkut Shimoni on Melachim I 18:23. In that passage, Eliyahu HaNavi challenged the “prophets” of Baal (a form of idolatry rampant in his day) that they’d each bring a bull offering and see whose god would send down a fire to consume the offering. He asked that two bulls be brought forward, and he allowed the prophets of Baal to select which animal they preferred.
The Midrash there – and I think we have to take it for the sentiment, and not take the tale as described 100% literally – describes how the bull chosen for the Baal offering wouldn’t move. It wouldn’t walk to its fate. It said to Eliyahu “Your bull is going to be offered for the sake of God’s Name. And I am going to be offered as a sacrifice to Baal, to anger my Creator?” Eliyahu responded, “Yes, it is true that God’s Holy Name will be sanctified with my offering, when the fire comes down from heaven to consume it. But God’s Holy Name will also be sanctified through you, when fire does not come down to consume you.”
Rav Hirsch concluded: “In the pursuit of honor, they [Korach’s followers] sought to undermine the service of the altar, ordained by God. In this attempt they forfeited their lives, and their ruin only served to strengthen the altar, founded by God.”
And Rabbi Epstein concluded: “Sometimes God’s Holy Name is sanctified through false prophets. Here too it was sanctified by the pans of Korach” which proved that God’s declarations of leadership were what He wanted, and that those who defied Him paid the ultimate price for their challenging Him and His chosen servants.
The message becomes one of understanding that there are different ways of seeing how God’s Name can be sanctified. Sometimes it is through proactive seeking to honor God’s name. Sometimes it can come about through seeing how those who seek to honor themselves, leaving the God of Israel out of the equation, ultimately meet their end.
The Sanctification of God’s Name couldn’t have been made more clear in the last two weeks through the manner in which Israel, fighting in the Name of God, seeking His help at every turn, was successful in its operations. It began with the Prime Minister praying at the Kotel with a tallis (typically the Prime Minister has put on a Kippah), and continued throughout with his overemphasizing (is it possible to overemphasize?) that we cannot do anything and have success in our missions without siyata dishmaya (support and help from Heaven). It continued with people noting miracle after miracle – amidst the pain and the destruction, and the loss of life – of how GOD is watching over His people. And the recitation of Hallel, not only on Rosh Chodesh, but also earlier in the week in some places in Israel.
In the past we’ve seen Hamas rockets turned into Menorahs. We shall yet see how Jews turn the darkness of evil into light for the future. May we always be blessed to sanctify His Name. And may we, and the rest of the world see the sanctification of His Name through the failures of those whose aims are contrary to God’s morals, values, ethics, and desires for the world to see שלום עלינו ועל כל ישראל ועל כל העולם. We await the day when ביום ההוא יהיה ה' אחד ושמו אחד.
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