בס”ד
Korach (Numbers 16-18 )
Bamidbar, 16:3: “And the gathered against Moshe and Aaron and said to them: ‘This is too much for you, for the enter community is holy and Hashem is within them. So why do you elevate yourself over the Congregation of Hashem’?!”
Gemara, Shabbos, 119b: “Jerusalem was destroyed only because they equated the katan (small) with the gadol (great)”
In the beginning of the Parsha, Korach, seeking to usurp Moshe and Aaron, poses a clever argument – every Jew is holy, every Jew has a relationship with G-d, so why do you elevate yourselves above them? With this argument, Korach was perhaps the first of many to adopt the egalitarian outlook – that everyone is equal and should be treated equally.1
As is often the case with false outlooks, there is some truth to Korach’s words – indeed it is true that every Jew is holy and has his own relationship with G-d. However, the Be’er Moshe2 starkly outlines the disastrous consequences of this approach.
He cites a Gemara that states that Jerusalem was destroyed only because they equated the small with the great.3 The Gemara brings proof of this from a verse: “And the nation will be like the Kohen…”,4 meaning that non-Kohanim will want to be like Kohanim. The obvious question is why was equating the small with the great such a serious sin that it resulted in the Destruction of the Temple?
The Be’er Moshe asks further that this Talmudic statement seems to contradict another statement in the Gemara that Jeruasalem was destroyed (in the time of the second Temple) because of baseless hatred (sinat chinam).5 Which one was the ultimate cause of the Churban. Moreover, if the prevailing attitude was that everyone was the same, then on what basis did they have mutual resentment and hatred?6
The Be’er Moshe answers that this question is based on the mistaken premise that when one believes everyone is the same that there will not be baseless hatred. The truth is the exact opposite: When there is a prevailing mindset that everyone is the same, that is when there will be baseless hatred. Because, each person will argue that if we are equal then why are you above me, “why do you get more honor than me, why do you have more privileges than me?”
In the words of Rabbi Yissachar Frand:
Baseless hatred and egalitarianism are two sides of the same coin. Why are you the boss, the leader, the rabbi etc? I am as good as you are! The Be’er Moshe brings an example:a A person has a body. Every part of the body is important. But not all body parts are the same. Given a choice between losing a pinky and losing one’s heart, what would a person choose? The pinky, the finger, and even a leg are not limbs without which life cannot be sustained. However, a person cannot live without a heart or without a brain. We are all one body, and all body parts are working with one goal – to keep the person alive. But there are differences. There is a hierarchy of priority, of importance.”
This is not to say that the pinky is of no importance. Rather, the pinky has its role and it can fulfill its potential, so-to-speak, by fulfilling that role to the fullest.
The same is true with regard to the Jewish people. The very success of the Jewish people is that there are different roles for different people. Not everyone is supposed to be the leader, not everyone can be a Kohen, and not everyone merits to be a Torah scholar. In the time of the Destruction, people did not accept this fact, which lead to jealousy and ultimately baseless hatred. This was exactly what happened in the story of Korach. His argument that everyone was holy was the direct cause of the terrible dispute that caused so much harm to the Jewish people at that time.
This issue continues to cause harm to the Jewish people – when people don’t accept their standing, they can become jealous and resentful, leading to hatred and dispute. When people are willing to accept the idea that there are leaders and there are followers; people who are supposed to make the decisions and people who are supposed to accept the decisions, then society can function.
This does not mean that each person cannot strive for greatness, just that each person’s greatness is only dependent on their free will, not on the external honor, respect or power that they receive from others. May we all merit to reach our own potential, and not worry about the position of our fellow.
By Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen
Notes
- Of course, in truth, Korach did not believe in egalitarianism at all, rather he wanted to be the leader himself, and the argument of equality was merely an excuse with which to attack Moshe and Aaron.
- Cited by Rabbi Yissachar Frand.
- Shabbos, 119b. The Gemara there brings a number of causes of the Churban but we are focusing on this one alone.
- Yeshaya, 24:2.
- Yoma 9b.
- The Be’er Moshe seems to assume that the Gemara in Shabbat is also referring to the Destruction n of the second Temple.
WEEKLY TORAH PORTION,
The Guiding Light
by Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen
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