KORACH ON THE WAR PATH

  Korach has declared war on both Moshe and Aharon claiming that they have surreptitiously usurped the position of leadership.  And, apparently, he is not alone.  He has been joined by Datan, Avirum, On ben Pelet, all of tribe Reuven and 250 of his “closest” friends.  As always, we were there for the beginning of this confrontation and this is how it went down.

Korach- Moshe, you and Aharon have taken too much upon yourselves.  After all we are all holy people.  Hashem, Himself, called us a holy assembly.  What makes you think that you are better than us or have a better connection with Hashem that merits that you be the leader and your brother the Kohain Gadol?     

Moshe- Korach, you claim that I am acting on my own behalf, but that is blatantly false.  I am only following the orders of Hashem.

Korach—Please Moshe, spare me the self righteousness.  I’ll prove that you are making the rules up.  Tell me Moshe Rabbanu, if I have a garment that is dyed totally with techailet (bluish-green color) does it still require one strand of techailet on the tzitzit (fringes)? 

Moshe- The halacha is quite clear in this matter.  Any 4-cornered garment, regardless of its color, requires tziztit and therefore one strand must be colored with techailet.

Assume that I have a room filled with seforim (holy books), does it require a mezuzah?

Moshe—Again, the halacha is quite clear. Yes, the room needs a mezuzah.

Korach- Do you realize how illogical your answers are. You have proven that you must be the originator of these laws for they make no sense.  Hashem clearly would not have enacted such  ridiculous laws.   It is time that you step off of your high horse and relinquish the power back to the people.  For just as a room filled with seforim needs no mezuzah, for the whole room is holy, and a garment that is fully dyed with techailet doesn’t need a cord of techailet, for the whole garment reminds us of shamayim (heaven), so also since we are all a holy congregation, we don’t need a leader to rule over us.

Just remember Korach, just as there is only one Hashem and one Torah, there is also only one Kohain Gadol. 

Understand, you are not challenging Aharon’s position or my leadership, you are challenging Hashem.  If you are truly ready to do that and chance dying, then be here tomorrow morning, incense in hand. The choice is yours. 

Korach- Your threats do not scare us.  We will be here tomorrow morning and in front of the whole people, you will be deposed in shame.

 REBBELION SQUASHED

  I’ll bet you’re happy that you didn’t take sides in Korach’s argument.  It didn’t take too long for the results to come in.  Datan and Avirum, along with their families were swallowed by the ground.  It was scary to watch the ground open its mouth under their camp and then close it leaving no remnant behind, with the exception of their screams from below.  The other 250 rebels were burned when they offered their incense.  Their fire pans, which became holy as a result of their being offered, will be used to cover the copper mizbe’ach, as a reminder and warning to others who want to challenge Hashem in His choice of the Kohanim and Levi’im as the only group to serve in the Mishkan.