Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, my friends, and welcome back for this week's episode of the Practical Parsha podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Cohen. I hope you are well for this week. I'm back in the Practical Parsha podcast studio, AKA my desk. And God willing, we're going to get this episode out earlier than other weeks, so I won't have to record in camp where I'll be heading to this afternoon.
[00:00:25] So here I am.
[00:00:27] And just a quick thought I want to share with you before we begin. Two things, really.
[00:00:31] Number one is that, you know, as you know, I drop, in the beginning of the week a rebroadcast. I do that for people so that they can start their week with the Parsha. And I feel for myself that the episodes that I've made in previous years, it's good content, so I'd like to reuse it. So if you could give people a head start on the Parsha, I'm all for it. So I drop it on Sunday and then Thursday, right? Hopefully it could be earlier than Thursday, but usually it's Thursday. I'll drop a new episode.
[00:01:05] So a lot of times I remember what I have said in the past years, but sometimes I need a review to make sure I'm not repeating ideas.
[00:01:15] So today I listened to my, you know, the rebroadcast from Parshas Korach, which actually is not from last year, but it's actually from two years ago.
[00:01:25] And I just have to tell you that for me, it was a hizuk. It was a strengthening.
[00:01:31] You might ask why. Why did I feel this little strengthening from listening to my episode? It wasn't necessarily the content. The content was good, but for me, it just gives me a message, and I think I like to share this message with you as well, that two years ago, really, I started podcasting close to four years ago, but the Parsha, Practical Parsha is about two years old, like I mentioned. And to hear myself two years ago and to hear myself now, there's no comparison. You know, I don't think I was bad then, but I feel like I've gotten so much better, thank God. And I think the message is, is that when you work on something and you practice and you put your effort forth, God willing, you'll see the results. And especially when it comes to spirituality, when it comes to pursuits, to become closer to Hashem and to do things for the honor of Hashem, um, if you put your effort forward, Hashem, uh, is going to give you success and help you get to your goal. So for me, I was very happy. It showed me that I put in the effort over the last two years. And Baruch Hashem, thank God, God has helped me improve to become a better podcaster, a better speaker.
[00:02:48] So that's that little spiel on that end. And number two is I'd like to dedicate this episode this week, uh, in memory of my grandfather, my father's father. His name was Reb Shlom Yehuda Ben Reb Avram Yitzchak.
[00:03:04] His neshama should have an aliyah. Today is actually his yard site.
[00:03:07] And I hope that I'm making him proud, God willing, in Shemayim, in heaven. I hope he's getting nachas.
[00:03:14] I actually named after him. My name is Shlomo Yehuda. I'm named after my grandfather. I was actually the first grandson that was named after him. So I always feel a special connection, especially to this grandfather. So his neshama should have an aliyah. And this week's episode is dedicated in his memory. And before we begin, as always, if you have any questions, comments, or maybe you'd like to tell me your thoughts on how I've improved, or maybe if you think I haven't improved, um, you could say it nicely, though, to send me an email. I always love emails. I could be reached at Rabbi Shlomo kon k o h nmail.com I'd love to hear from you. This week's Parsha is Parshas Korach. Now, Parshas Korach primarily deals with the rebellion of Korach against Moshe Rabbeinu, which happened in the desert. Korach, who's one of the leaders of the tribe of Levi, starts a insurrection against Moshe Rabbeinu. And the commentaries tell us that Korach was a great man. He was a, you know, very scholarly. He was a big Torah scholar. And in some aspects, he was even greater than Moshe Rabbeinu. But he made a fatal mistake, which we're going to get into a little bit later in the podcast. Is that the cause of his grievance against Moshe Rabbeinu? Although he thought it was a righteous cause, he didn't realize that deep down, what was pushing him to challenge Moshe was his jealousy of Moshe Rabbeinu. It wasn't because, you know, things weren't necessarily fair. It's because he was jealous. Now, the Parsha tells us about this rebellion that Korach has with Moshe Rabbeinu. He gathers elders and different tribes to come to Moshe Rabbeinu and say that uh, he's the real leader. Moshe Rabbeinu tries to not let this turn into a fight. He tries to appease Korach. He tries to, you know, he davens to Hashem. But he's left with no choice. He has to show the nation and show Korach that he is the chosen one from Hashem. And he challenges Korach to a, uh, duel. But this is not the type of duel which you're thinking of, that, you know, in the. In the OK Corral. This is a different type of duel where Moshe Rabbeinu challenges Korach to bring ketorah, to bring a ketores, the incense offering. And whoever's ketorah will be accepted by Hashem, whichever one the fire will come down from heaven to consume. He'll be the chosen one. And Moshe Rabbeinu does this. The fire comes down and takes Moshe Rabbeinu's Ketorah, and miraculously, the ground opens up, swallows everything that Korach has. Him, his family, his followers, and he's gone. The Parsha continues with Hashem, uh, reaffirming Moshe and Aaron's leadership.
[00:06:06] And finally, the Parsha concludes with the gifts to the Kohanim as well as the ties to Leviim to the Levites. The first idea I want to share with you today takes us to the beginning of the Parsha, with Korach starting this rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu. And the Parsha begins with Vayikach, Korach ben Yitzhar, ben Koss, ben Levi, Vedasan, Vaviram, B' Nai ben Eliyahu, Ve' Oin, ben Peles, ben Ruven, Kairach, the son of Itzar, son of Kohas, son of Levi, separated himself with Dasan and Aviram, sons of Eliav, and on son of Peles, the offspring of Reuven and Rashi, right away notes that the wording, the first word of the Parsha is Vayikach, Korach that Korach took.
[00:06:54] And he explains that this wording of Vayikach, which is like taking, maybe is not so appropriate for the situation, but obviously it's teaching us something. What is it teaching us is that when Korach came to have an argument with Moshe Rabbeinu, he. He wasn't coming because he had righteous intentions. He was coming for his own sake. He was coming for his own honor.
[00:07:13] Now, the question I want to deal with today and try to get a little clarity in maybe we've. I think we've talked about this on, uh, last year's episode, really two years ago, Is that what happened here? How did Korach go wrong?
[00:07:28] What caused him to start a civil war in the Jewish people, or almost a civil war?
[00:07:34] We know that the Jewish people, they went out of Egypt, right? They had that whole experience of the 10 plagues in Egypt, the miracles of the Mun, you know, uh, sort of similar to my question last week, a little bit like, how could Korach ever question the validity of Moshe Rabbeinu's leadership? He also experienced going out of Mitsrayim, going out of Egypt. He also experienced the plagues.
[00:08:01] It seems very clear. You look at the Torah, who the real leader is, who Hashem wants to be the one to lead the Jewish people. Where did it come into his mind to think that he should be the one to lead the Jewish nation?
[00:08:16] How is it even possible to think that? So the answer to this question lies in the trait of envy.
[00:08:26] And Rashi points out that it seems that although Korach was a great person and he did have a level of ruach, huh, Hakodesh, he had some type of divine inspiration where he did see that his offspring will be leaders. He made a mistake. He made a mistake. He thought it was him, but he didn't realize it was his offspring later on. And what caused him to err so greatly was this trait of envy.
[00:08:55] Now we know in Perk Yavos it teaches us hakina ha taiva vehakavod motsiyen asa adam min haolam.
[00:09:05] That jealousy, lust and desire for honor drive a person from this world.
[00:09:16] They cause a person to go out from this world. Now, the wording there is very interesting.
[00:09:22] You know, it could, say, make a person crazy, it says, cause a person, drive them from this world.
[00:09:30] And the commentaries tell us there that usually when the yetzer hara, uh, when the evil inclination tries to get us to do averos to sin, he doesn't tell us to do outright bad things. He won't do that to us. But rather, what does he try to do to us? He tries to do small things to get us to slowly deviate from the path. Like today we do this, and the next day a little bit more.
[00:10:00] And we slide. There's a slide. You know, I have, uh, my Rebbe, he should be Gesund. He always says, you don't have to ask yourself, is something wrong or not wrong?
[00:10:11] You have to ask yourself, what's next? Meaning if you do something and you know you have a decision to make, should I, you know, Should I do this or should I not do this? You have a question. Is it the correct thing or not the correct thing? Sometimes the question you need to ask yourself is, what's next? Meaning even if it's okay, you know, something else might. It's a slippery slope, and the next thing might be not okay. And that's how the Yetzer Hara, uh, works. That's how the evil inclination works. He doesn't get us to do outright bad things because he knows people. You know, we view ourselves as good people. We don't want to view ourselves as bad. If a person does bad things, it's very hard to think of yourself as good. So he gets us to do slowly, slowly, slowly. He doesn't get us to rob a bank. He'll get us to, like, maybe it's okay. I'll just, uh. I don't have to return the change, or I don't have to. It's okay. I'll just give a little less change. Or, uh, it's okay if I do, uh, this small thing of. It's not really stealing. And then the next thing is a little bit more, a little bit more until a person gets to a point where they're robbing a bank. But my point, I'm just taking it to the extreme, but that's how normally the modus operandi of the Itzahara is. Now, there is an exception to that.
[00:11:22] The exception is these three traits that are listed in Hakina Ha Taiva Vehakavod.
[00:11:32] Jealousy, lust, and desire for honor. When it comes to those three Midos to those three character traits, then the rules of the game change in those situations, when it comes to our envy or desire for immoral things.
[00:11:51] So then the Yetzer Hara, he doesn't try to get us to do things small, small, small. Those urges are so powerful that he'll get us to do crazy things that we wouldn't have ever thought we would have done, right? How many people, because of their desire, they just ruined their whole lives by, you know, their desire for lust or their desire for honor. They did crazy things, right? And it wasn't like, uh, it just. They just. They lost it. They totally lost it. But when it comes to envy, envy is the same thing as well.
[00:12:26] Jealousy has the power to totally overtake the rational thinking of people that we could. Everything could make sense. But somehow we'll do crazy things because we are jealous, because we envy another.
[00:12:42] And that's what happened to Korach.
[00:12:45] Korach had this trait of kinna, of jealousy, of Moshe Rabbeinu. So even though Moshe Rabbeinu was clearly the one that Hashem, uh, wanted to lead the Jewish nation, and all the miracles that happened, the outright miracles that happen with Moshe Rabbeinu, he wasn't the one who did it, but he was the one who. He was the messenger, right? They happened through Moshe Rabbeinu, it was clear.
[00:13:13] But yet, since there was this underlying trait of Kinna, it blinded Korach, and he did this crazy, illogical thing which ended up with him getting swallowed up into the ground, lost forever.
[00:13:27] Now the question is, how do we not be jealous?
[00:13:31] How do we not have envy?
[00:13:35] And the answer to this, I believe, is twofold. Number one, when we realize that everything we have is from Hashem, our situation, our circumstances in life.
[00:13:48] So then there's nothing for me to be jealous of, meaning when I know that, that what someone else has, there is no way I can have it if it's not meant for me. And what I have, no one can take it away if it's destined for me. So then the reason for jealousy falls away.
[00:14:06] Additionally, focusing on what we have instead of what we're missing is a sure way to keep ourselves satisfied, happy and not jealous, what we're lacking. Because when we focus on what we have, we appreciate all the blessing in our life. We're happy, we're content.
[00:14:28] But if we're always focusing on what we're missing, so then we're never going to be happy. And we'll always be envious of everyone around us. It tells us in Perkevos Ethics of the Fathers teaches us Ezu Usher Hasameach Bechalko, who is a rich person, someone who is content with their lot.
[00:14:47] And that's something that, you know, a sure bet, an easy method, a tested method for us to not be jealous. You know, I think there's different types of people, different types of character traits, and different people who have different strengths, different weaknesses. But the point is that we all have jealousy to some degree. Some people more, some people less.
[00:15:08] But to work on it, I think, focusing on the things that we have, and everyone has good things going in their life, the more we focus on the things that we have, the blessings in life we have, the less we need to focus on what we're missing, the happier we will be, and the less jealous we will be as well. The second idea I want to share with you today focuses in on one aspect of the rebellion of Korach against Moshe Rabbeinu. So when Korach came to Moshe to challenge him. He said to him, you know, the posse reads, umaduatis naasu akala hashem, vayishma Moshe, vayipa la panav. This is part of the posse. It says, when Korach came to Moshe and he accused him of grabbing the leadership, he says, why do you exalt yourself over the congregation?
[00:15:58] And the posse continues, vayishma Moshe, vayipala panav. Moshe heard and fell on his face.
[00:16:08] Now, the pasuk is very interesting because first Korach comes, challenges. Moshe says, you're taking everything for yourself. Moshe hears and falls on his face. We'll see what that means. And then after that, he reprimands Korach.
[00:16:26] So Rabshneir, Zalman, Liadi, the altar Rebbe, the balatana, right? He says he teaches that from this verse we see something very important.
[00:16:37] That when Korah came to Moshe Rabbeinu and criticized him, what was Moshe's first reaction?
[00:16:44] Did he get angry and scream at him back? Did he say, you're wrong?
[00:16:49] He was silent. He thought for a second, and he went to go contemplate.
[00:16:54] Perhaps Korach is right.
[00:16:58] Maybe I am being in leadership. Maybe I did something wrong.
[00:17:03] That was his first reaction. It wasn't getting on the defensive. It wasn't criticizing him back.
[00:17:10] And the balatanya teaches us something very important when it comes to criticism. When people come to criticize us, what is our first reaction? Now, naturally, a first reaction for I think most people, including myself, is that you automatically get defensive.
[00:17:31] You'll say something back. You'll want to say something back for sure. Criticizing me. How could you do that? But we see from Moshe the correct way to act, that even when someone criticizes us, we have to think for a minute.
[00:17:43] Perhaps there's something true in what they're saying. Only after Moshe had thought about it and contemplated and realized that Korach was incorrect, only then did he reprimand him.
[00:17:55] But the point is that when people give us positive, constructive criticism, for sure, we should try to internalize it. I mean, uh, sometimes even that is a difficult thing to accept.
[00:18:07] But even in a situation where we get destructive criticism, I mean, it does hurt. It definitely hurts.
[00:18:14] We should try to think for a second.
[00:18:17] Is this something which is true? Is there some part of this that's true? Just the process. We don't have to believe it and internalize it and make it part of us. That for sure it's true. But just to think for a moment.
[00:18:29] So two parts. When there's positive, constructive criticism, we should Definitely try to process and to think and to incorporate, to see how we could be better, to see if it's true and even when it's destructive.
[00:18:44] To think for a moment. I wouldn't think for too much, because sometimes if we think too much, uh, about criticism, it'll eat us up for longer than it should.
[00:18:53] We should just think maybe perhaps there's some kernel of truth in there. And that's something we see from Moshe Rabbeinu.
[00:19:01] The last idea I want to share with you today takes us to the end of the story of Korach with Moshe. Now, after Korach challenges Moshe and they have this duel of the Ketorah, a miracle happens, and Korach is swallowed up into the ground with all his followers and all of his assets.
[00:19:24] Now, the Torah tells us there's a prohibition against making arguments that comes from Korach.
[00:19:32] The posse reads as Zikaran, levne yisrael leman asher la yikrav ish zor asher uh loy mizara aron hulahaktir ketorahs lifne hashem vloye kekorach fecha adoso kasher diber hashem biyad Moshe lo as a reminder to the children of Israel, so that no alien who is not of the offspring of Aaron shall draw near to bring up the smoke of incense before Hashem, that he not be like Korach and his assembly as Hashem, uh, spoke to him through Moshe. So from here, there's a general prohibition against making a quarrel, making a fight. Now, Rav Chaim Shmulavitz brings down a very interesting explanation of this verse, because if you read the verse literally, it could be translated as follows.
[00:20:28] And there will not be a quarrel like Korach and his followers again. And Rabbi Shmuel explains that. What does that mean? What's the lesson here that we could take out of this is that the quarrel of Moshe and Korach was an argument where Moshe Rabbeinu was 100% right and Korach was 100% wrong.
[00:20:54] And the posse is telling us there will not be a argument like that. And the Parsha is telling us that there will be no other quarrels like that. And I think the message here is, is that when we are involved in a fight, you know, all too often there's arguments in families between friends, and usually always both sides say they're right, and quarrels can get out of control. But sometimes it's more worth it to be wrong than to be right or to have peace. And to be wrong.
[00:21:33] Because even if you're right, is it really worth it to not have peace, to not have shalom?
[00:21:41] And I think when we have an outlook, you know, like this and that, it's not always about being right. You know, you could be right and what would you rather be? Would you rather be correct, right and unhappy, or would you rather be, quote, unquote, wrong but happy?
[00:22:02] So if we have the outlook of realizing that we don't always have to be right, but we got to get along, so then I think when we have arguments or we have disagreements, so it could keep the focus, what would I rather have? Would I rather have a relationship with my family member or would I rather be right?
[00:22:22] Would I rather have a friend, or would I rather be right?
[00:22:25] So if we have this outlook, so then we're going to come out ahead in the long run. Because Korach, his fight ended up with him being swallowed up in the ground. And that's really what Machlokos is. It consumes everything around, doesn't make distinction. And I think if we have that outlook of just trying to keep the peace, we're going to get much further in life and have much more success. And I think in general, like I mentioned before, the biggest blessing a person can have is if a person has peace, peace between himself, peace between his family, and peace between everyone around him. And I think sometimes, even though it's a hard thing to do, ultimately when you make that apology when you think you didn't have to, or you give in when you really didn't have to, you feel good about it. That feeling you have is worth more than the feeling you'll have to be right. And I think this is something we should keep in mind throughout our life, all the time. And we learn from Korach that it's not always about being right, it's about keeping the peace. So with that, I'm going to finish with today's podcast. I hope you enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out, feel free to send me email at Rabbi Shlomo Kon K O H nmail. Com. Have a great day.
