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Nehar Deah
Korach
The Sages’ Korach
The literature of the Sages deals extensively with the man Korach and
the conflict he caused withMoses and his leadership and it is no wonder
that he is portrayed in an extremely negative light and harsh words of
condemnation are voiced against him: Korach envied Moses and Aaron, he
wanted greatness for himself that he was not worthy of, was insolent and
said that “ there is not Torah from heaven and Moses is not a prophet
and Aaron is not High Priest” (Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 10:1)
and the controversy he caused is brought as a classic example of an argument
that “is not for the sake of heaven” (Mishna, Avot 5:17).His
sin was so great that Rabbi Akiva - even though there were Sages who did
not agree with him - asserted that “the followers of Korach will
not arise in the future [from Sheol and to arise in the resurrection of
the dead]” (Mishna Sanhedrin 10:3) and many similar statements.
The Sages present Korach, among others things, as an extremely wealthy
man and the phrase “as wealthy as Korach” is used even today.
Where did he get all this wealth? In the sources we find two similar answers.
According to the first: “Joseph hid three treasures in Egypt. One
was revealed to Korach, one was revealed to Antoninus son of Asviros,
and one is hidden away for the righteous in the end of days” (Babylonian
Talmud, Pesachim 119a). Joseph’s great wealth, from when he gathered
“all the money which was in the land of Egypt and in the land of
Canaan” (Bereishit 47:14) was and will be revealed in three stages,
in the past, in the present and in the future. Part of it reached (without
explanation of how) the hands of Korach, part of it to a figure who has
not been identified conclusively from among the Roman aristocracy, from
the time of the Sages, and part is still hidden as a reward to the righteous
in the world to come. Korach wealth is described by the Babylonian Talmud
as follows: “Rabbi Levi said: A load for three hundred white mules
were the keys to Korach's treasure stores” (Sanhedrin 110a), in
other words: just to carry the keys to Korach’s treasure stores
took three hundred white mules, animals known for their great strength.
Rabbi Levi continues (ibid) and asserts that the keys were not made of
heavy metal but rather from pieces of leather, which, as is known, is
much lighter. According to the other opinion, Pharaoh’s wealth reached
Korach since he was Pharaoh’s finance minister, “and he had
in his hands the keys to his treasures” (Bamidbar Rabba 18:15).
Why do the Sages wish to present Korach as extremely wealthy? It is difficult
to find a basis for this in the biblical story. There it is written that
the mouth of the earth opened in order to swallow Korach and his followers,
their homes “and every man that was for Korach and all the property”
(Bamidbar 16:32) and there is not enough in these words to find a basis
for the assertion that he was extremely wealthy.
It seems that we need to find the answer to this question in the Sages
attitude to enormous and ostentatious wealth. There are “stored
treasures that bring evil to their owners” says Kohelet ([Ecclesiastes]
5:12), that is wealth that brings its owners to boastfulness, chasing
after honor and demanding privilege beyond what is due, and wealth like
this, Reish Lakish says, was “the wealth of Korach” (Babylonian
Talmud, Sanhedrin ibid). It is difficult to know whether a specific and
definable historical character stood before most or some of the Sages
and they were aiming their words at him or if they just wished to teach
their followers a lesson that is appropriate in all times. Money blinds
the eyes of its owner and brings them to act in undesirable ways and to
rebel against all that is holy. And since Korach and his followers “limitlessly
opened their mouths to swallow and destroy the master of all prophets
[=Moses] … thus the ground will open up … her mouth and swallow
them” (Abarbanel’s commentary on this story).
We move on to a different yet similar issue. When the Sages wish to bring
an example of an evil character that mocks the commandments and denies
their divine origin, then they make use of the character of Korach, among
others. Therefore we find in Midrash Tehillim [Psalms] on the verse “Happy
is the man that … nor sat in the seat of the mocking” (1:1):
“this is Korach who would mock Moses and Aaron, what did he do?
Gathered together the people […] and began to speak before them
words of jest [=bitter and evil words of mockery], and said: there is
a widow in our neighborhood and with her two orphan girls and she had
a field and she came to plough it - Moses said to her ‘You shall
not plow with an ox and an ass together’ (Devarim 22:10), she came
to plant - he said to her ‘You shall not sew your field with mixed
seed’ (Vayikra 19:19), she came to harvest and make bales - he said
to her leket, shichecha u’peah [portions of a harvest that must
be left for the poor], she came to thresh - he said to her: give me terumah
umaaser rishon umaaser sheini [priestly tithes on produce]. He justified
the laws to her and she gave to him. What did the poor woman do? She sold
the field and bought two ewes in order to dress from their wool and to
benefit from their produce [=offspring]. When they gave birth - Aaron
came and said to her: give me the firstborn, as this is what the Holy
One, blessed be He, said, ‘Ever firstborn that your cattle and sheep
give birth to, remember to consecrate it to the Lord your God, etc’
(Devarim 15:19), he justified the law to her and she gave him the newborns.
The time of shearing came and she sheared them, Aaron came and said: give
me the first of the shearing. She said: I do not have strength to stand
up to this man, behold I will slaughter them and eat them. Since she slaughtered
them, Aaron came and said to her: give me the forelimb, the tongue and
surrounding area and the stomach [which are supposed to be given to the
priests], she said: even after I slaughtered them am I not saved from
your hands? Behold they are consecrated! He said to her: if they are consecrated
- they are all mine, as it is written ‘Everything that is consecrated
in Israel will be for you’ (Bamidbar 18:14) and he took them and
went and left her to weep over her two daughters”.
We have here a harsh satire of the commandments. According to Korach,
Moses from the house of Levi and Aaron the priest invented all the commandments
in order to make the lives of the people hard and to exploit them by taking
the many gifts that are due to the priests and the Levites. It seems that
in the days of the Sages too there were people who felt that the yoke
of the commandments was too heavy or that the priests and the Levites
were enjoying a preferential status that they were not really entitled
to, and the Sages, who could not agree to such a distorted view of Torah
law, preferred to give expression to ideas like this while defining them
as evil words of mockery and by making them the words of the great heretic,
Korach.
In other words: Both in emphasizing Korach’s wealth and presenting
his negative attitude towards God’s commandments (such as are found
also in many other Midrashic traditions that are not dealt with here),
Korach serves the sages as character from the past through which many
issues dealt with in those times could be examined. The Sages were not
particularly interested in the past unless it helped them to understand
the present and to prepare their students and followers for the future.
When the Sages wished to discuss the social dangers involved in extreme
wealth and the requirement to accept the divine origin of the commandments
as ‘Torah Mishamayim” [Torah from Heaven], they found wide
scope within the story of Korach’s rebellion.
Professor Avigdor Shenan
Hebrew Literature Department
The Philosophy of the Sages - When was the “Mouth of the Earth”
Created?
The fate of Korach and his followers is described in this Torah portion
as follows: “And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them …”
(16:32). This action by the earth gained special attention in the Mishna.
In the Tractate of Avot [Forefathers] 5:6 (see discussion of the Torah
portion Shemini for further details on this tractate) it is written: “Ten
things were created on Sabbath eve, at twilight. They are: the mouth of
the earth and the mouth of the well; the mouth of the donkey and the rainbow
and the manna and the staff and the shamir and the script and the inscription
and the Tablets…”.
These are the things, with the exception of the “mouth of the earth”
that were created at twilight:
[2] The mouth of the well - Bamidbar (21:16) tells of “the well
which God said to Moses - gather the nation and I will give them water”.
According to homiletical literature, this well descended miraculously
to the children of Israel in the dessert and when they came to the land
of Israel the well became submerged in the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).
The words “the mouth of the well” are probably a reference
to the legend that this well said shira (poetry/song, for example the
Song of the Sea), as is written in Bamidbar 21:17 “Spring up well,
answer her” (and if there is need to answer her, she must have
spoken first).
[3] The mouth of the donkey - Balaam’s donkey who spoke with him,
as is written in Bamidbar 22:28: “And God opened the mouth of
the donkey…”
[4] The rainbow - which appeared to Noah after the flood (Bereishit
9:13)
[5] The manna - the “bread from the heavens” that the children
of Israel ate in the dessert (Shemot chapter 16).
[6] The staff - Moses’ rod with which he performed signs and wonders
in Egypt and when they departed (Shemot chapters 4, 8, 14). According
to the legend, this rod was given to the first man, Adam, and afterwards
passed through the hands of Seth (Adam’s son), Chanoch, Shem,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. After his death the staff remained
in Pharaoh’s palace and eventually reached the hands of Yitro,
Moses’ father-in-law, and from there to Moses. The staff will
in the days to come be passed on to the Messiah.
[7] The shamir - a wondrous worm, with whose help, according to the
legend, the stones for building the Temple were chiseled out) since
“no metal tool was heard in the [Temple] while it was being built”
[Kings I 6:7]).
[8-9] The script and the inscription - a number of explanations were
given for these two words, but it is clear that they are connected to
the letters that were on the two tablets [Moses brought down] and the
way in which they were written.
[10] The tablets themselves, which according to certain legends were
made of a precious stone, the sapphire.
These ten things are all wonders, things that deviate from what seems
to be the consistent nature of the order of creation. They were created
in the last minutes of the sixth day of creation, with the conclusion
of the creation of the world, very close to the start of the first Sabbath.
Twilight, is a short time of confusion and it is probably specifically
this time, with its lack of clarity, together with the fact that it
was the last time in which something could be created - is the most
fitting time for the creation of things that seem to stand outside the
rules of nature. This is to emphasize, that already during the creation
of the world, the creator knew the necessity for future deviance from
the laws of nature and he implanted them within the creation itself,
to teach that even that which seems to man to be a wonder which deviates
from the laws of nature is actually part of the reality of the creation.
Characters - Don Isaac Abarbanel
Don Isaac Abarbanel - a biblical commentator, philosopher and public
figure - was born in Portugal in 1437 and died in Italy in 1508. He was
an expert in biblical commentary and Jewish philosophy, in Roman and Greek
writings and in the writings of the founders of the church and in Christian
theology and this knowledge made him part of medieval humanism and made
him a true renaissance man.
When his father died, Don Isaac inherited his position as the finance
minister of the King of Portugal, Alfonso the Fifth. While he served in
this position he developed the economy of Portugal, while seeing to the
needs of the Jewish community in various issues, such as donations of
money for ransoming prisoners. King Juan the Second, who came to power
in Portugal after the death of Alfonso the Fifth (1481), wanted to neutralize
the political power of the various noblemen and to set up an absolute
monarchy. Therefore the nobles rebelled and the rebellion failed. Don
Isaac was suspected of having supported the rebellion, was sentenced to
death in absentia and was forced to flee to Spain (1483). There he worked
in the service of King Fernando and Queen Isabella. He worked on their
behalf collecting taxes and even loaned them large sums of money. When
the king and queen publicized the decree to expel the Jews from Spain
(1492) Don Isaac tried to have the decree annulled and even cancelled
the royal debt to him, but to no avail. At the time of the expulsion he
moved to Naples and even was active in the royal court, until the city
was conquered by the French (1495) and he was forced to go into exile
with the king, to the city of Messina. The rest of his life was spent
in various places in Italy (Corfu, Naples) and he died in Venice and was
buried in Padua.
During his life Don Isaac repeatedly expressed regret that he worked
in the service of flesh and blood kings and did not dedicate enough time
to Torah studies and to writing. Despite this, it seems that at every
stage of his life, between exiles and countries, he found the time to
dedicate to Torah studies and to produce a significant list of literary
works. When he fled to Spain he lost a commentary that he had begun to
write on the book of Devarim and he was forced to reconstruct it while
dwelling in Spain. In this country, before he was appointed to serve in
the king’s court, he managed to write a commentary on the books
of Joshua, Judges and Samuel, since he felt that most of the commentators
had not given these books enough attention and that his political experience
could aid him in interpreting them correctly. When he reached Italy he
wrote his commentary on the books of Kings and Isaiah and also commentaries
on the Passover Haggadah (“Zevach Pessach” [The Passover
Sacrifice]), and on tractate Avot (“Nachalat Avot”
[The Portion of the Forefathers]). Slightly later he composed his commentary
on the Torah and some of the books of the prophets and also a number of
books where he discussed the writings of the Rambam (Maimonides),
presented his viewpoint on redemptions and set down his views on the nature
of the Jewish religion. Among them are two works, “Yeshuot Meshicho”
([The Salvation of His Messiah], 1498), where he interpreted the happenings
in his times as an expression of the ‘birth pangs’ of the
Messianic times, and his examination of the book of Daniel, “Ma’ayanei
Hayeshua” ([The Wellsprings of Salvation], 1496), in which he even
predicts the date of the end of days in the year 5263 (1503). These two
works played an important role in encouraging his generation, especially
those exiled from Spain, who needed an explanation for their suffering.
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