Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Practical Parasha Podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Cohen, and I hope you are well.
[00:00:08] Before we begin, as always, if you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out and say hello, don't be shy, send me that email. Rabbi shlomokon.k o h nmail.com I'd love to hear from you.
[00:00:23] This week's Parsha is Parshas Par.
[00:00:26] And just to give a quick overview of the parsha, the Parsha is named after Korach.
[00:00:34] Korach was the cousin of Moshe Rabbeinu who led a rebellion, a mutiny against the, uh, leadership of Moshe Rabbeinu, of Moses in the desert.
[00:00:47] And he gathered together followers to challenge Moshe directly. And the Parsha primarily revolves around this back and forth of Korach and his followers with Moshe Rabbeinu.
[00:01:05] And Moshe Rabbeinu is forced to show Korach and his followers and the rest of the Jewish people that he is the chosen one. He is the one that Hashem has chosen to be the leader of Klal Yisrael, to be the leader of the Jewish people. He doesn't want to go down this route of having a duel, so to say, but he's forced to because Korach and his followers will not be placated. They just want to rabble rouse everybody and challenge Moshe Rabbeinu because their own instincts and desire for honor and envy caused them to do something so irrational like challenge Moshe Rabbeinu. We'll get back to that a little bit later in the podcast. But that's what the Parsha primarily deals with. This back and forth, this mutiny that Korach does with Moshe Rabbeinu and how Moshe Rabbeinu handles it. And miraculously, what happens is that Moshe arranges this duel where Korach will bring a Ketorah offering and Moshe will bring the ketorah offering and the offering, the ketorah, this incense offering.
[00:02:22] And whoever's ketorahs, whoever's incense is accepted by Hashem.
[00:02:27] That is the one. That's how we're going to know who the leader of the Jewish people is. Wherever this fire comes down and consumes the Ketoros, that's we're going to know who Hashem has chosen to be the leader of the Jewish people. And Moshe Rabbeinu tries to delay Korach till the next day. Hopefully, maybe some sense will come into him to not do this. He doesn't want to do this but unfortunately, Korach, his followers, they come, they challenge Moshe Rabbeinu, they set up the ketorah, and the fire comes down, takes the Ketorah of Moshe Rabbeinu, and miraculously, Hashem makes a miracle where the ground opens up and swallows Korach and his followers.
[00:03:13] And the leadership of Moshe is reestablished. The Parsha continues by reaffirming the leadership and the position of Moshe Rabbeinu. And not just Moshe, also his brother Aaron. His brother Aaron, who is the high priest. Because the whole beginning of this challenge was that Korach was saying, oh, you're taking too much for yourself.
[00:03:38] You have nepotism. You're picking your brother and your nephew, but you could pick any of us as well. We're also great people. So the Torah reaffirms Moshe's position and Aaron's position.
[00:03:52] And the parsha finally finishes off with the gifts to the Kohanim and the special tithes that are given to the Leviim. The first idea I want to share with you today takes us to the beginning of the parsha with Korach.
[00:04:09] Now, Korach, he himself was a great man. And the commentaries tell us that in a certain sense, he was even greater than Moshe Rabbeinu, whatever that means.
[00:04:20] But at the same time, he came to a denial of Hashem, meaning through this, you know, through this episode, he came to denying God exists, and he challenged Hashem. So the question is, what happened? How did he go, quote, unquote, bad, right? Uh, he was a great person.
[00:04:39] And how did he get to this point where he got swallowed up by the earth because of what he did?
[00:04:44] And the commentaries tell us that even though there could have been some righteous motives in. Involved in Korach's, uh, you know, starting up, he thought he was doing something right, possibly. But deep down, it was envy. There was jealousy that pushed him to start up with Moshe Rabbeinu, to start this rebellion that was the source of everything.
[00:05:09] It wasn't, you know, because of something unjust. Maybe he coded it in that. But what really was driving him was the kinna, the jealousy, the envy.
[00:05:21] And the question is that how could it be that a person who was greater than Moshe Rabbeinu, right, we say that the level of he was on a greater level than him. It's brought down from different sources. But yet he made such a tragic and deadly mistake. How could that happen to Korach?
[00:05:39] Like, what got hold of him? How did he, you know, go off the deep end, literally?
[00:05:46] And the answer to that is, if we take a look at the trait of envy of Kinna, it'll give us a better understanding. Normally, when it comes to us doing things that we're not supposed to be doing, the way that the yetzer hara, the evil inclination gets us to do things that we're not supposed to do is very, very gradual.
[00:06:05] It gets us to, you know, sleep a little bit later to not do something. You know, listen, we rationalize to ourselves things that we do. But a regular person is not going to just start doing things that humanity or people view as very, very bad. Instantly there's a progression, or a person slowly goes down that slippery slope. And that's how it works. It doesn't just happen overnight. There are a few exceptions to this.
[00:06:34] It's brought down in Ethics of the Fathers. Hakina Taivavakavoid ah, Moitziyen ESA odam in oylam that jealousy, envy, desire or lust and desire for honor, uh, that they remove a person from the natural world order or from the natural order of the world.
[00:06:59] So the commentary is discussed. What does it mean that these three traits Kinna Taiva uncovered, that jealousy, desire and this drive for honor take a person out of the, uh, natural order of the world? What does that mean?
[00:07:17] And the story of Korach, I think, gives us insight to this. Because normally with all other traits, it's a slow progression.
[00:07:26] A person won't do something so illogical.
[00:07:29] But when it comes to envy or these other two traits, or desire, uh, and lust and drive for honor, people will do crazy things because of it.
[00:07:42] And that's what happened to Korach, Even though he was a great person, but this little seed of envy pushed him to do something so illogical that challenged Moshe Rabbein to think about it for a second. Moshe Rabbeinu took. He led the Jewish people through the ten plagues in Egypt. He took the Jewish nation through Kriyas, Yamsuf, through the crossing of the Red Sea, all these miracles that had happened. He was the ultimate defender of the Jewish people. Time and time again.
[00:08:14] Time and time again, when the Jewish people made mistakes, Moshe Rabbeinu would pray to Hashem to stand up for them, right?
[00:08:23] Who in their right mind would go up against such a leader?
[00:08:29] Doesn't make sense logically.
[00:08:32] And, uh, the answer to this is that because of this drive for honor, there was no logic to Korach's thinking. It was just envy and jealousy. And therefore that's what it means. He's removed from the order of the natural world. But when it comes to these three traits, people don't think naturally. They don't think regularly. I believe the lesson for us is very clear that when we act or something's bothering us about someone else, or we want to do something, we want to tell somebody how we feel about them. Maybe we want to tell them off, or we want to correct somebody, or we have certain feelings about the way someone else is doing something.
[00:09:15] What's the source of that? What's really bothering you? Me. What's getting under our skin? Is it because it really bothers us, or there's some jealousy that's under all the coatings there, and we're sugarcoating it with other things to rationalize why we want to do something? Because if it's envy, it's something that can cause us to do something illogical. And actually, Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbi Twersky, brings down in this idea. That's why, uh, he saw this. He saw what was driving Korach, and that's why he tried to delay him, to make that his, you know, to push him off a day till the next day. Maybe he'll let envy will wear off and he'll think logically again of like, what am I doing? I'm challenging Moshe. He tried to push him off. And I think the lesson for us is clear is that if we have some something that is pushing us to act, let it sit. Don't just act.
[00:10:11] We have to be careful that the actions we do is not sourced in jealousy or envy, uh, because it will cause us to do illogical things.
[00:10:22] Second idea I want to share with you today also focuses on this back and forth of Korach and Moshe.
[00:10:29] We see that when Korach challenges Moshe Rabbeinu, he constantly goes back to this idea that everyone is holy, Kulam kedoishim, that all the Jewish nation is holy. And therefore, pretty much what he's trying to bring out is that why is it just you and your brother and your nephew?
[00:10:51] The Jewish people are a, uh, holy people.
[00:10:54] And, you know, why are you making yourself better than everybody else? And that's part of the theme that Korach is using to challenge Moshe Rabbeinu. We see it repeat itself a few times in the Parasha. And on the flip side, when it comes to Moshe Rabbeinu's response to Korach, what is he focusing on to answer him back?
[00:11:19] He doesn't mention the holiness of the Jewish people.
[00:11:23] That's something which is given.
[00:11:25] But what does he focus on? He focuses on whoever Hashem shall choose, whoever G D picks, that is the one. He is the one who's the leader.
[00:11:37] That's how Moshe Rabbeinu speaks back to Korach. When they're going through this whole back and forth where Korach's challenging him. And Moshe is trying to, you know, talk him out of this. He's telling him, saying. Saying, I'm just appointed by Hashem. I'm not choosing. I'm following God's instructions of what he's telling me to do. He says, I should be the leader. I'll be the leader. I don't want to be the leader, but I'll be the leader. He says, aaron should be the Kohen. Gadot should be the high priest. That's what I'm going to do, whatever Hashem tells me to do. And that's it. There's nothing more and there's nothing less.
[00:12:13] Now, it's interesting. There's an interesting idea we see from this, is that where did Korach make a mistake, and what was Moshe Rabbeinu trying to correct him in?
[00:12:25] So I saw, brought down from Yosha Bereshe Olaveitchik, that Moshe Rabbeinu is trying to convey this message to Korach that true, the Jewish people have holiness and everyone is holy.
[00:12:38] And it's not. We're not trying to exalt ourselves over the people. But personal merit is also important.
[00:12:46] It's also something to focus on. And Moshe Rabbeinu was trying to tell him, is that I didn't want this job. Hashem chose me because of whatever merit I had. And it's not just the holiness of the nation that everyone is holy. It's because we did something. You know, obviously, Moshe Rabbeinu didn't want it, but he did something. He had a merit. He had a zechus.
[00:13:09] And therefore Hashem chose him.
[00:13:11] Not that him and his brother were better than anybody else. They didn't think that they were better. It's because they were chosen by Hashem to do this job. And they were fulfilling the mission that Hashem had given them.
[00:13:21] That's it.
[00:13:23] The lesson for us, I think, is very clear.
[00:13:27] We could sometimes think, why is someone you know in this position?
[00:13:33] Why is. Maybe it's a higher position than me. Maybe why does this person have a. Have a place of prominence?
[00:13:40] Why is this fellow the leader? He's the same as me. I know what he really does.
[00:13:44] The point is, is that every person is in the place that they're supposed to be. Because Hashem put them there. And that in of itself is something that we need to respect.
[00:13:56] And even when it comes to the person at the DMV who's giving you a hard time, whatever it may be, the person in leadership that you're dealing with, the bureaucrat in the deep state in the government that's trying to give you your approval for weeks and weeks and weeks, and you're just waiting for it, there's a certain level of respect that we need to have to remember that Hashem put that person there for whatever reason, Hashem chose that person to be there to give you the hard time.
[00:14:28] That's something we have to remember and respect and to internalize, to not think that, oh, I'm better off than them, I should be there. It's not that they're better than us. It's because God chose them to be there. And that's it. We could be theoretically better, or, uh, who knows? But that's not the point.
[00:14:47] For God, in his ultimate wisdom, has chosen that that person in the DMV should be there right now to give you that hard time. And that's something we need to respect and recognize.
[00:14:59] And I think when we do that, it sort of.
[00:15:02] I think it causes. Going back to the first point, it makes us less envious, and it gives us a realization of how the. An appreciation of how the world runs, gives a certain sense of serenity and calm to realize that this is all in Hashem's plan. The next idea I want to share with you continues in the story of Korach, but a different part of it. We see in the Parasha that when this back and forth is happening between Moshe and Korach, Moshe davens to Hashem.
[00:15:34] He prays to g D to not listen to the evildoers prayers, to not listen to their prayers, not to accept their sacrifice. Which is an interesting conversation in its own right, which I have talked about on previous year's episodes. Like, why would Hashem listened to their prayers? Which is an interesting point. But either way, we see that in his prayer, when Moshe is speaking to Hashem, he's davening.
[00:15:59] He says he's vayicha lemoshem me' od vayomer m el Hashem altefen el minchosam loy chamor echad meem. Uh nasosi heresi es achad mehem. This distressed Moshe greatly. And he said to Hashem, m do not turn to their gift offering. I have not taken even a single donkey of theirs, nor I have wronged even one of them.
[00:16:20] So Moshe Rabbeinu is saying, please don't listen to them. I never wronged them. I never did anything bad to them.
[00:16:26] So the meshechochem explains on this. We see something very deep here when it comes to true humility.
[00:16:34] Normally, for a regular person, it's not so hard to look humble. When you're dealing with people that are of lower stature than you, or not as smart as you, or not as wealthy as you. It's easy to have the humility then, because you're dealing with people that are underlings in some way. Not that we're better, God forbid, but any person can have humility for people that are not on the same level as them.
[00:17:06] Where do we know and how do we know if someone has true humility?
[00:17:12] How does it come out?
[00:17:14] We see from the pasuk here that it comes out. True humility comes out when a person is dealing with his peers, you know, more specifically people on the same level as him or people even greater than him, right? Because there's this natural desire, natural tendency to want to show that you're better than the guy who's the same as you, and to the people that are greater than you, to show them how smart you are, how great you are.
[00:17:43] So it's much harder to be humble in those situations. You want to tell them about your accomplishments.
[00:17:51] Because when it. When you're dealing with people who are greater than you or the same as you, you want to show that you're better. You're all, you know, they look the same as you, and you want to show them that you're better. And that's what Moshe Rabbeinu was saying here. He's saying, uh, we're dealing with great people.
[00:18:07] The mutiny that Korach led was with the leaders of Klal Yisrael, with the leaders of the Jewish people.
[00:18:14] And Korach himself was a great individual who made a tragic mistake. But Moshe was saying to Hashem, I never did anything against them. I never did anything negative towards them.
[00:18:26] Even the people that were greater than me or on the same level as me.
[00:18:30] It showed Moshe Rabbeinu's true humility, that no matter who he was dealing with, he always stayed who he was.
[00:18:38] And I think this is a very important thing for us to internalize.
[00:18:42] I can think of myself in certain situations, and I could relate to this, because when you're dealing with your peers, there is a much more stronger desire to say who you are and what you do and how great you are.
[00:18:57] That's not. You know, humility is when you stay humble even around the people that are the same as you, or even around the great people. That's how you know true humility from falsehood. The last idea I want to share with you today takes us to the end of the episode of of Moshe and Korach and his followers.
[00:19:20] So after the offering, the ketorah of Moshe Rabbeinu is accepted. Moshe Rabbeinu goes on the offensive a little bit, and it's a little bit out of character of Moshe Rabbeinu. But he says in the posse, what does he say? It says, Moshe says, through this shall you know that Hashem sent me to perform all these acts, that it was not from my heart, right? What had just happened with the ketorah miraculously being accepted, this fire coming down and taking Moshe's ketorah, Moshe's incense.
[00:19:57] Moshe still has to reaffirm himself even more to say, it's not from me, it's Hashem. And this is how you're going to know. It's not enough that the fire came down and took his ketoras. But even more than that, it says, Loy Hashem shulkani vembria yivra Hashem upatso adam um veskolasher lohem vayer duhayem shoela vayodatem ki ni at suhano shem.
[00:20:32] He says, but if Hashem will create a phenomenon, if these die like the death of all men and the destiny of all men is visited upon them, then it is not Hashem who has sent me, right? He's saying that if Korach and his followers, if they just die regular, it's not me. But if Hashem will create a phenomenon and the ground will open, uh, its mouth and swallow them, and all that is theirs, and they will descend alive to the pit, then you shall know that these men have provoked Hashem.
[00:21:03] Moshe seems to be very, very strong right now.
[00:21:08] He's, you know, it's not enough that he wins this duel where his ketorah is accepted, but it's one step more than that. He says, if they just die like regular men, it's not Hashem who has sent me, but rather they're going to die an abnormal, terrible death.
[00:21:27] They're going to be swallowed up in the earth alive. And then everyone will know that it's Hashem who chose me to be the leader.
[00:21:36] Question is, this is so out of character for Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu is always defending the Jewish people. We See, earlier in this whole story, Moshe, you know, he didn't want to get into this duel with Korach. He tried to not have a showdown. But over here now, once he's in the situation, he's forced to act from a position of strength.
[00:21:59] And it's even more than that. The Al Shaykh explains that Moshe Rabbeinu was, you would say, cruel to give this description of how they're going to die. And he was very strong.
[00:22:15] But this cruelty was really kindness.
[00:22:20] And the analogy that's given by the Al Sheikh to help us understand this is that if a person, God forbid, has a limb that is severely infected, the gangrene, the doctors have no choice but to amputate in order to save a person's life. Sure, they don't want to do that. You would say, maybe it's cruel for the doctor to cut off a person's body part. But in essence, he's doing the most, the highest level of compassion because he's saving his life by doing this act.
[00:22:48] The lesson is here clear that sometimes when we want to deal kindly with people, we have to act in ways that might seem cruel.
[00:23:00] And I think this idea is very hard for us as Americans or Westerners.
[00:23:06] Society at large really can't comprehend this idea. But I think it's very, very, very logical if you think about it a little bit.
[00:23:13] We know if, uh, a child is playing with matches, you have to be strong with him. Because if the child lights the match, he could harm himself and many, many others.
[00:23:25] Similarly, if, uh, a child runs into the street, to be strong with him, you have to act cruel. But it's not cruelty. It's real kindness. It's kindness because you love the child. You don't want them to harm himself or to harm others.
[00:23:40] Moshe Rabbeinu, when it comes to the story of Korach, he saw that this rebellion was picking up steam. And if it would pick up steam, the entire nation would be destroyed. And in order to stop this mutiny in its tracks, Moshe Rabbeinu had to act strongly. He had to act with quote, unquote. I don't want to call it cruelty, but what maybe seems cruel, but really it was not cruelty. It was kindness. Because he loved the Jewish people is because of his love.
[00:24:09] That's what caused them to act with this decisiveness and stringent measures. And the lesson for us is very clear that when it comes to kindness, we have to at times, use approaches that seem strict.
[00:24:27] But we have to be careful, because if we use a strict approach, when we need to be soft, we're committing a sin.
[00:24:36] And if we use a soft approach when we need to be strong, we're also committing a sin. The point is that we have to use our seicha. We see in the parsha, different scenarios call upon us to use kindness in its different forms.
[00:24:53] Sometimes we must be strong, sometimes we must be soft.
[00:24:57] But ultimately, what really is the main factor is not about necessarily being strong or soft and what's going to guide us. It's our, uh, what's inside of our heart. What is driving us to act the way we're going to act. What's driving us to be strong? Is it love for a person or is it anger? What's driving us to be soft? Is it because we're compassionate or we're afraid to stand up to somebody who we need to tell them that they're doing the wrong thing, so we're just going to be soft?
[00:25:26] It's what's at the source, the core of our being, what's at the essence of our drive. And that's a lesson we see from Moshe Rabbeinu in the Story of Korach. So with that, I'm going to finish for today's podcast. Hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments or would like to reach out, feel free to send me email at Rabbi Shlomo konkohnmail.com have a great day.
