Parasha: Korach · Aliyah: Second (Gevurah)

אף לא אל ארץ זבת חלב ודבש הביאותנו, "Moreover, you have not brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, etc." Since they had already accused Moses of bringing them to a place where all one could do was to die, what was the point of accusing him that he had not brought them to a land flowing with milk and honey? Rashi gives a rather forced explanation to this question. Perhaps we can say that Datan and Aviram did not want to justify their refusal to go and see Moses merely because he had brought them to a place where all one could do was die. They implied that even if all he had done was not to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey this would be sufficient reason for them to decline his invitation as Moses had failed to deliver on his promise. The words אף לא אל mean that this latter detail is already enough reason to decline his invitation. They were working up to their next argument: "will you put out the eyes of these men?" They implied that the fact that Moses had caused the people actual damage by marooning them in the desert was an additional reason for not coming to see him."

העיני האנשים ההם תנקר, "should you gouge out the eyes of those men? we will not go up." They meant that they would rather have their eyes gouged out than to pay Moses the compliment of accepting his invitation. This comment revealed the very depth of their hatred. They preferred to have their eyes gouged out rather than to be granted a favour by the righteous Moses. No wonder Moses anger was greatly aroused!

ויאמר אל ה׳ אל תפן, He said to G'd: "do not turn to their gift-offering." Moses now understood the depth of Datan and Aviram's hatred, that they were thoroughly wicked and actually hated anything or anybody who was good. He was aware that there are no people who do not have certain merits due to good deeds they have performed. He realised that G'd does not withhold the reward for such merits from anyone, and that if the people in question cannot be rewarded in the hereafter because they had forfeited their hereafter, G'd would compensate them in this life. This is based on Deut. 32,4 that "the Lord is one of faithfulness without iniquity." Sanhedrin 106 provides us with an example of the wicked Bileam, who had after all pronounced all the blessings on the Jewish people, collecting his fee for having the Moabites seduce the Israelites, prior to his being slain. Moses did not want G'd to accept even the good deeds Korach and associates had performed for whom they had not yet received a reward. This is what he had in mind when he referred to מנחתם.

You may well ask how Moses could expect G'd to change the rules of how He dealt with the wicked on account of himself?

Be aware that the righteous possess the power to annul merits which the wicked have accumulated when they observe that the potential recipients have become thoroughly wicked. This is the mystical dimension of Samuel II 23,3 צדיק מושל יראת אלוקים, "The righteous rules in matters of G'd-fearingness." This means that G'd has given the righteous leeway to cancel merits that the wicked have acquired. The idea is that although G'd Himself does not do this, He has allowed the righteous to be His surrogates in this respect. This is not so surprising as the same principle which has been adopted by a court in our world which has the right to deprive an accused of property he owns under the heading of הפקר בית דין הפקר, that when a Jewish court declares certain property as ownerless such a declaration is binding (compare Gittin 36).

You may still ask why Moses demanded such an exceptional punishment for Korach and his associates? Surely the mere fact that they hated Moses was not enough of a reason for Moses to act in this manner? Moreover, did we not learn in Moed Katan 18 that when someone is accused of something, if he is not guilty of the whole accusation he is at least guilty of part of it, and even if he is not guilty of having carried out part of the evil deed attributed to him he may have planned to do so? In view of this how could Moses demand such a penalty? This is the reason that Moses began to justify himself publicly saying that he had never taken anything from anybody, i.e. he had not displayed any sign that he lorded it over the people. He had not been guilty of any of the things that kings normally do without being faulted.

He added ולא הרעותי את אחד מהם, "neither have I hurt anyone of them (in some other way)." Moses meant he had not been guilty of any act that would account for someone hating him for it.

When Moses said the words את אחד מהם, this included that he was not even involved when one Jew hurt another Jew in some way. He had never given a verdict in which the guilty had been exonerated, nor had he issued a verdict in which the innocent had been declared guilty. If, as a result of his decision, one party had to pay money to a second party this was not Moses' doing but the guilty party had caused that loss to the other. Seeing that Moses possessed sufficient prophetic insight not to make awards to people who did not deserve them from people who were innocent of wrongdoing, he could say of himself that he had not wronged anybody during his career as leader of the nation. Inasmuch as Datan and Aviram's hatred of him could only be the result of bad character, Moses felt entitled to ask G'd to deprive these men of any merits they might have accumulated in their lives and for which they had not yet been recompensed. I believe that the wicked people concerning whom Moses offered this prayer, i.e. Datan and Aviram, were not considered by him as part of the congregation of Korach concerning whom we applied the verse from Samuel I that their share in the resurrection had already been assured (compare Sanhedrin 108). The souls of these men (Datan and Aviram) must have had their roots in the קליפה, the spiritually negative domain of Satan.

אתה וכל עדתך היו לפני השם, "you and your whole congregation be in the presence of the Lord!" Why did Moses not include Aaron in the same breath, seeing he too was supposed to bring incense? Why did he mention Aaron separately? Had Moses done so he would not have had to repeat the words: "you and they." Perhaps Moses wanted to emphasise that the decision would be made on the morrow. He did not want to give the rebels a chance to put off the date of the confrontation and perhaps add to their numbers in the interval. As far as Aaron was concerned Moses did not worry about when the confrontation would take place. He only had to mention that Aaron too would bring his censer.

Another reason Moses gave the people until the morning was so that they could sanctify themselves in the interval. This was the meaning of: "be in the presence of the Lord." He certainly did not have to include Aaron as amongst the people who had to sanctify themselves as Aaron was always in a state of readiness to present himself before G'd. He did have to tell Aaron to be present at that time on the morrrow. The reason the whole instruction has been repeated seeing Moses had already told Korach and associates to take censers for incense in verse 6, is that in the interval Moses had rebuked the rebels and pointed out to them that they were guilty of overreaching themselves. In view of the fact that these people did not accept Moses' rebuke he had to tell them again to prepare for the confrontation which would be the test.

חמישים ומאתים מחתות, ואתה ואהרון "two hundred and fifty censers as well as you and Aaron." All these words are superfluous in view of what Moses said in verse 16, i.e. "you and your whole congregation as well as Aaron." If all Moses wanted to tell us was how many people were going to appear with the censers this should have been part of verse 16. The words "you and Aaron" are superfluous whichever way you look at it. Perhaps Moses was clever enough to tell Korach not to become part of the 250 men and their censers but to compete only with Aaron. He may have done so to prevent people from claiming that the only reason Korach's incense had not been accepted was because he had become part of the evil congregation of 250 men, but that in a straight confrontation with Aaron he would have won out. Even though all the people offering incense did so at the same time, this did not prevent them from doing so in two groups, i.e. the 250 men on the one hand and Korach and Aaron on the other.

ויקהל עליהם קרח, Korach assembled against them, etc. This tells us that these people did not voluntarily assemble against Moses but only after Korach had put heavy pressure on them to do so. Accordingly, the Torah reports something here that is favourable for this whole congregation of 250 men. On the other hand, the words ויקהל עליהם may only provide the background to the command by G'd in verse 20 to separate themselves from this congregation in order that G'd could destroy them simultaneously and at once. The verse would provide the answer to the people who questioned why the animals had to perish along with their masters. What sin had the animals committed? To this the Torah answered that seeing the animals had obeyed Korach they were considered as if they had been supporters of his.

וירא כבוד השם The glory of the Lord appeared, etc. The entire congregation experienced this glory of the Lord in order that they would recognise that it was G'd Himself who carried out this judgment and that only He decides who is worthy to serve Him in the capacity of a priest.