התנסות בהתנשאות- לפרשת קרח

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; and they rose up in face of Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty men; they were princes of the congregation, the elect men of the assembly, men of renown; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them: ‘Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them; wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?’

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy.

8 (Numb. 16:6) “Do this; take censers, [Korah and all his company…]”: What was his reason for saying this to them? He said to them, “In the religions of the nations there are many laws,¹⁷NYMWSYN. Gk.: nomoi. and many priests, and they all assemble at one time. Now as for us, we only have one God, one Torah, one justice, one altar, and one high priest; but you two hundred and fifty men are [yet all] seeking high priesthood! I also am willing in this regard.” (Numb. 16:11,) “Therefore you and all your company.” (Numb. 16:6) “Do this, take censers, Korah and all his company”: Here you have a ministry more precious than all the others. It is the incense, the most precious of the sacrifices. But a deadly poison had been put within it, through which Nadab and Abihu were burned. He therefore warned them (in vs. 7, cont.), “then it shall come to pass that the man whom the Lord chooses is the holy one,” Moses said to them, “See, I am telling you that you are not to incur guilt, [only] the one to be chosen from among you shall come out alive, and all [the rest] of you shall perish.” (Numb. 16:7,) “You Levites have gone too far”: See, I have told you a great thing! Were they not fools, in that when he gave them this warning, they took it upon themselves to offer sacrifice? They had sinned against their own lives, as stated (in Numb. 17:3), “The censers of these who have sinned at the cost of their lives.” Now since Korah was a clever man, how did he see fit to commit this folly? It is simply that his eyes misled him. He foresaw a great lineage stemming from himself, [e.g.,] Samuel, who was the equivalent of Moses and Aaron, as stated (in Ps. 99:6), “Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call His name.” Moreover, the twenty-four [Levitical] shifts would stem from his descendants, all of whom would prophesy by the holy spirit, as stated (in I Chron. 25:5), “All these were sons of Heman.”¹⁸A descendant of Korah. He said, “Is it possible that, when this greatness is going to stem from me, I should perish?” But he did not foresee correctly, since his children would repent, and those [great ones] would stem from them. But Moses did foresee well. [Korah] therefore participated on this assumption, when he heard from the mouth of Moses that they all would perish, but one would escape, as stated (Numb. 16:7) “then it shall come to pass that the man whom the Lord chooses is the holy one.”

The court tells the witnesses: Therefore, Adam the first man was created alone, to teach you that with regard to anyone who destroys one soul from the Jewish people, i.e., kills one Jew, the verse ascribes him blame as if he destroyed an entire world, as Adam was one person, from whom the population of an entire world came forth. And conversely, anyone who sustains one soul from the Jewish people, the verse ascribes him credit as if he sustained an entire world. The mishna cites another reason Adam the first man was created alone: And this was done due to the importance of maintaining peace among people, so that one person will not say to another: My father, i.e., progenitor, is greater than your father. And it was also so that the heretics who believe in multiple gods will not say: There are many authorities in Heaven, and each created a different person. And this serves to tell of the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as when a person stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to each other. But the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, stamped all people with the seal of Adam the first man, as all of them are his offspring, and not one of them is similar to another. Therefore, since all humanity descends from one person, each and every person is obligated to say: The world was created for me, as one person can be the source of all humanity, and recognize the significance of his actions.