ANTI-RELIGIOUS COALITIONS
“And Korach the son of … took, along with Dasan and Aviram” (16:1)
Korach was very wealthy, whereas Dasan and Aviram were poor. In normal circumstances Korach would have deemed it beneath his dignity to associate with them, but for the sake of deprecating Moshe he was willing to join forces with them.
Rav Yonasan Eibeschutz explained Chazal’s statement that “Talmidei Chachamim increase peace in the world” (Brachos 64a) to mean that the talmid chacham acts as a catalyst causing those who hate religion to coalesce for the purpose of persecuting him. In our time too, we see anti-religious elements who have nothing in common other than an anti-Torah platform forming alliances against religious people.
KORACH'S MISTAKE
Korach, on the one hand, possessed Ruach Hakodesh: he saw that Shmuel was destined to descend from him. Moreover, he was genuinely convinced he was right in the dispute with Moshe. If it were otherwise, he would not have willingly consented to Moshe’s suggestion to be tested by bringing ketores. On the other hand, Chazal (Yerushalmi Sanhedrin Perek Chelek Chapter 1) say that Korach was an epikores. How can we understand this discrepancy?
Korach was indeed righteous, but he thought that instead of punctiliously observing mitzvos a person should rather focus on the rationales behind them. Thus, he asked Moshe, “Does a cloak made entirely of blue wool require tzitzis, or is it exempt?” Moshe replied, “It does require tzitzis.”
Korach and his associates laughed, saying, "Is it possible that in the case of a cloak made of another material, one string of blue wool exempts it, and this one, which is made entirely of blue wool, should not exempt itself?” (Rashi on 16:1).
Korach’s reasoning was that since the purpose of the mitzvah of t’cheles was to serve as a reminder of the Kisei Hakavod, it stood to reason that a tallis made entirely of t’cheles should automatically produce fear of heaven, and should therefore be exempt from tzitzis.
Similarly, when he asked “Is one obligated to affix a mezuzah to the entrance of a house full of seforim?” He meant to say that since the reason behind the mitzvah of mezuzah is to remind ourselves of Hashem at all times, in a house full of holy books we are in any case aware of Hashem’s Presence constantly.
This outlook was also responsible for his warped opinion regarding the appointment of Elizafan as nasi. Knowing that he himself was greater, he could not understand why he had not been appointed to the position of nasi.
Even though initially Korach was righteous and had good intentions, since he did not accept the yoke of Heaven upon himself to act in accordance with Hashem’s will, but only when it made sense to him based on the reasons for mitzvos, he deteriorated to the extent of fighting against Moshe and becoming an epikores.
TACTICS OF BAAlEI MACHLOKES
And they stood up before Moshe. (16:2)
People who have an agenda to generate machlokes are in the habit of displaying outward respect for the object of their dispute, thereby attempting to convince bystanders that they have nothing personal against him.
Here too, Korach and his allies made a point of standing up for Moshe to show that they respected him, but merely objected to Moshe’s appointment of Aharon HaKohen, who, they argued, was not as great as Moshe claimed, and therefore his appointment had merely been an act of nepotism. In other words, their main purpose in standing up was to make their humiliation of Aharon more palatable.
The worst type of lashon hara is when people start off praising the object of their scorn in order to cushion their subsequent slander. The Chazon Ish noted that we say in the Yom Kippur Katan prayer, “I was stringent regarding that which You are lenient about, and I was lenient regarding that which You are stringent about.”
In the first phrase, what is wrong with being stringent when we do not have to be? This refers to a person whose main motivation is to be lenient when he should be stringent (the second phrase), but in order to pretend that he is particular about mitzvos, he makes a point of being stringent when he does not have to be to “compensate” for his custom of being lenient when he should not be.
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