Parshat Korach 5782
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha about the rebellion of Korach. The commentators understand the rebellion as being against the authority of Moshe Rabbeinu. As Rashi explains on the first pasuk Korach was jealous about the Nesi’ut of Elitzafan ben Uziel, and as the pasuk says explicitly (Chapter 16, Pasuk 10), ובקשתם גם כהונה; Korach also wanted the Kehunah. Yet, the Zohar Hakadosh teaches that Korach made a Machlokes with Shabbos. What does Shabbos have to do with the positions of authority desired by Korach?
The basic argument presented by Korach to Moshe was (Chapter 16, Pasuk 3), כי כל העדה כולם קדושים ובתוכם ד'. Korach posited that the entire community was holy and lived with Gd among them. Why did Moshe make himself above them? Moshe responded (Pasuk 5) בקר וידע ד' את אשר לו ואת הקדוש יקריב אליו. Hashem will determine who is the holy one, and as Rashi explains, who is worthy of being the Kohen.
We see a striking difference between Korach’s statement and that of Moshe. Korach said everyone is holy and Gd is among them. Hashem came to Har Sinai and revealed Himself to Clal Yisrael. The result of this experience is that there is an inherent Kedushah to all of Clal Yisrael. All are the same. Moshe tried to explain that the source of Kedushah always remains Gd. The person who is selected and drawn close by Hashem, he will serve as the Kohen. But there is no inherent Kedushah among Clal Yisrael which would automatically give anyone among them the ability to perform the Kehunah.
The Sfas Emes teaches that this is the meaning of ויקח קרח. Korach took the holiness as belonging to him. He believed that whatever he experienced was by definition his. And everybody who chooses can take it for themselves as well. There is no difference between anyone; כולם קדושים. And Moshe responds בוקר וידע ד' את אשר לו. Rashi explains that Moshe was saying there is a morning and there is an evening; they’re distinct, they have borders and they don’t overlap. Similarly, Korach needed to understand that not all are the same. There is only one source of Kedushah, and He determines who receives the task of holiness.
The Sfas Emes explains that this is the meaning of the words of the Zohar that Korach argued on Shabbos. Hashem is to Clal Yisrael as Shabbos is to the rest of the week. Shabbos is the only time which has an essential Kedushah. And the Kedushah of Shabbos impacts upon the week, both the days before it and the days after it. But Shabbos is קביעא וקיימא; it automatically occurs every seventh day and is not dependent on Clal Yisrael or Beis Din, as its representative.
This changes with the authority of Beis Din to declare Rosh Chodesh. And this is a result of a power that Gd invested in Clal Yisrael, as the pasuk says (Shemos, Chapter 12, Pasuk 2) החודש הזה לכם; Rosh Chodesh is yours. The Torah gives over to Bnei Yisrael the ability to extend this Kedushah of time from Shabbos to Rosh Chodesh and subsequently to the Chagim.
Korach argued on Shabbos as well. Just as Gd created the Kedushah of Shabbos, Clal Yisrael creates the Kedushah of Yom Tov. The Medrash Rabbah on Bereishis (90,2) teaches on the words קדושים תהיו, יכול כמוני, you might think you can be holy like Me, ת"ל כי קדוש אני ד' אלוקיכם, קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם. The Sfas Emes teaches that Korach held like the הוה אמינא, the original thought of the Medrash. Maybe your obligation to be holy makes you holy just like Me. But the pasuk continues and verifies that the holiness of Hashem is greater than ours. He enables us to experience the Kedushah and even to extend it; but He is the source and His is greater.
Korach also didn’t learn the Gemara in Beitzah 17A. The Gemara concludes that the blessing we make for the day of Yom Tov is מקדש ישראל והזמנים. Rashi on the Gemara explains that this is because Hashem instills Bnei Yisrael with holiness, מקדש ישראל; only as a result of this Kedushah is Clal Yisrael able to extend that holiness to time, והזמנים.
This is why we say in Kiddush on Leil Shabbos, תחילה למקראי קודש. The Sfas Emes explains that it expresses this same notion. Shabbos is the first of all holiness of time. The Kedushah of Rosh Chodesh and Yom Tov is an extension of the Kedushah of Shabbos. And Korach argued on this as well. Just as he argued that our experiences make us inherently holy on par with the Source of all holiness, so too the מקראי קודש we create have the same Kedushah as that of Shabbos. But Korach missed the point that any Kedushah we have in this world is an extension of the ultimate Kedushah we receive from Hashem from a higher world.
Good Shabbos
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