From: Netvort@aol.com <netvort@aol.com>

To: "joshhoff@aol.com" <joshhoff@aol.com>

Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012, 01:44:50 AM EDT

Subject: Netvort: Korach 5772 – Special Birthday Edition

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By Rabbi Joshua (territorially known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

Dedicated to the refuah sheleima of Tzi Avraham ben Miriam

This week’s parsha gives an account of the rebellion of Korach and his followers against the leadership of Moshe and Aharon. Most of the rebels were miraculously killed by God in punishment of their defiance of Moshe and Aharon, but some were spared. For example, in parshas Pinchas, after relating that Korach, his company, and his two hundred – fifty followers died, the Torah tells us that “the sons of Korach did not die” (Bamidbar 26:10-11). Interestingly, as Rav Eliyahu Schlesinger points out, in his work, Eileh Hadevorim, there is a series of Psalms attributed to the children and descendants of Korach that make reference to Yerushalayim and its special character. For example, chapter 48 of the Tehillim, which is recited as the song for the second day of the week, begins with the declaration that “Great is the Lord and much praise in the city of our God, Mount of His Holiness. Fairest of sites, joy of all the earth, is Mount Zion…” What, asks Rav Schlesinger, is the connection between the sons of Korach and Yerushalayim? In order to understand this connection, he says, we must take a closer look at the nature of Korach’s rebellion.

The midrash, as cited by Rashi, says that Korach assembled two hundred fifty men and clothed them in cloaks that were completely dyed with techeiles, which is commonly translated as a blue color. He brought them before Moshe and asked him if the cloaks were obligated in tzitzis. He answered that they were, and they began to laugh, asking if it’s possible that a cloak of a different color is exempted through one strand of techeiles, while a cloak that is completely techeiles cannot exempt itself? This question, explains the Maharal, was symbolic of Korach’s entire rebellion against Moshe and Aharon. Korach argued that the entire nation is holy, and therefore, they did not a leader, just as a cloak that is completely blue is not require a blue strand to exempt it.

Rav Kook, in his work “Oros” says that Korach was actually correct in saying that the entire nation is holy. His mistake was in failing to recognize that there are different levels of holiness, as reflected in the boundaries that separated Moshe from the Elders and the Elders from the rest of the nation, at Mount Sinai. These boundaries were carried over into the encampment in the wilderness, which is divided into the camp of the Mishkan, or the Divine presence, camp of the Levites, and the camp of Yisroel, since, as the Ramban says, the encampment around the Mishkan in the wilderness was meant to carry over the experience of Sinai into everyday life on a more hidden level.

Based on this understanding of Korach’s rebellion, says Rav Schlesinger, we can understand the connection between the sons of Korach and Yerushalayim. The gemorah in Bava Basra says that there is a special place above Gehinom set aside for the sons of Korach, and they are still proclaiming there “Moshe is true and his Torah is true, and they (meaning, ‘we’) are liars.” Thus, the sons of Korach repented, rejecting Korach’s attempt to obliterate different levels of holiness. When it comes to Eretz Yisroel, as well, there are different levels of holiness, and Yerushalayim is holier than the other cities in the land. Although Rav Schlesinger does not mention it, this is especially true according to the Rambam, who says that, for a number of halachos, Yerushalayim has the status of the Beis Hamikdash. This is why, according to Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt”l, it is still necessary to say the prayer of ‘Nacheim’ on Tisha B’Av even though it refers to Yerushalayim as a desolate place. Although on the physical plane, this description does not seem to hold true today, on a spiritual level as long as the Beis Hamikdash has not been rebuild, it does hold true. Thus, when the sons of Korach proclaim that their father and the other rebels were liars they are proclaiming that there are different levels of holiness, both in regards to people and in regards to territory.

Perhaps, we can add to Rav Schlesinger’s remarks another aspect of Yerushalayim that the sons of Korach acknowledged through rejecting the campaign of Korach and his minions. King David, in chapter 122 of Tehillim, proclaims that “the built-up Yerushalayim is like a city that is joined together; for there the tribes assembled – the tribes of God, who are a testimony for Yisroel – to give thanks to the name of God.” Yerushalayim, then, is the place where all Jews are united, in contrast to the efforts of Korach who caused dissension in the camp. By rejecting these efforts of Korach, his sons were adapting the unifying aspect of Yerushalayim, and, for that reason, in the chapters of Tehillim that they composed they proclaimed the virtues of that city.