Korach 5783 - "Blossom of Snow, May You Bloom and Grow..."

(16) Adonai spoke to Moses, saying: (17) Speak to the Israelite people and take from them—from the chieftains of their ancestral houses —one staff for each chieftain of an ancestral house: twelve staffs in all. Inscribe each one’s name on his staff, (18) there being one staff for each head of an ancestral house; also inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. (19) Deposit them in the Tent of Meeting before the Pact, where I meet with you. (20) The staff of the candidate whom I choose shall sprout, and I will rid Myself of the incessant mutterings of the Israelites against you. (21) Moses spoke thus to the Israelites. Their chieftains gave him a staff for each chieftain of an ancestral house, twelve staffs in all; among these staffs was that of Aaron. (22) Moses deposited the staffs before Adonai, in the Tent of the Pact. (23) The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Pact, and there the staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted: it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne almonds. (24) Moses then brought out all the staffs from before Adonai to all the Israelites; each identified and recovered his staff. (25) Adonai said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back before the Pact, to be kept as a lesson to rebels, so that their mutterings against Me may cease, lest they die.” (26) This Moses did; just as Adonai had commanded him, so he did.

(1) ויצא פרח AND IT BROUGHT FORTH A BLOSSOM — Take this as what it literally implies.

(2) ציץ is the first stage in the growth of the fruit when the blossom has fallen off.

(3) ויגמל שקדים AND RIPENED INTO ALMONDS — This means that when the fruit was recognisable as such it could be recognised that they were almonds. The verb has the same meaning as in (Genesis 21:8) “And the child grew ויגמל, and became a full child” (i.e., able to do without its mother’s milk). This expression is frequently used of the fruit of trees, as e.g. (Isaiah 18:5) “And the blossom becometh a ripening (גמל) grape” (cf. Rashi on Genesis 40:10). — But why did it bring forth almonds? Because it is a fruit that blossoms earlier than all other fruits; so, too, the punishment of him who sets himself in opposition to the constituted priesthood comes quickly, just as we find stated in the case of Uzziah (II Chronicles 26:19) “And the leprosy instantly broke out in his forehead”. — Its translation in the Targum is: וכפת שגדין, meaning that it produced a kind of cluster of almonds, knotted together one upon the other (Aramaic כפת denotes “tied”).

(9) Adonai put out [God's] hand and touched my mouth, and Adonai said to me: Herewith I put My words into your mouth.

(10) See, I appoint you this day

Over nations and kingdoms:

To uproot and to pull down,

To destroy and to overthrow,

To build and to plant.

(11) The word of Adonai came to me: What do you see, Jeremiah? I replied: I see a branch of an almond (shaked) tree.

(12) Adonai said to me:

You have seen right,

For I am watchful (shoked) to bring

My word to pass.

(8) Adonai said to Moses and Aaron, (9) “When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, ‘Produce your marvel,’ you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and cast it down before Pharaoh.’ It shall turn into a serpent.” (10) So Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh and did just as Adonai had commanded: Aaron cast down his rod in the presence of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and it turned into a serpent. (11) Then Pharaoh, for his part, summoned the sages and the sorcerers; and the Egyptian magician-priests, in turn, did the same with their spells: (12) each cast down his rod, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed their rods.

(6) Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff [of Moses], [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs.

The Sages taught: Ten phenomena were created on Shabbat eve during twilight, and they were: Miriam’s well, and manna, and the rainbow, writing, and the writing instrument, and the tablets, the grave of Moses, and the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood, the opening of the mouth of Balaam’s donkey, and the opening of the mouth of the earth to swallow the wicked in the time of Korah. And some say that even Aaron’s staff was created then with its almonds and its blossoms.

These are the things that were made and then hidden: The Tent of Meeting, and the items inside it; the Ark and the broken tablets; the jar of manna; the rod [of Moses]; [the flask of anointing oil]; the staff of Aaron, with its almonds and flowers; the priestly garments and garments of the high priest. But the mortar and pestle of the House of Avtinus, the table, the lamp, the curtain, and the headband of the high priest – those are still kept in Rome.

(17) He made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand—its base and its shaft—of hammered work; its cups, calyxes, and petals were of one piece with it. (18) Six branches issued from its sides: three branches from one side of the lampstand, and three branches from the other side of the lampstand. (19) There were three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on one branch; and there were three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals, on the next branch; so for all six branches issuing from the lampstand. (20) On the lampstand itself there were four cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals: (21) a calyx, of one piece with it, under a pair of branches; and a calyx, of one piece with it, under the second pair of branches; and a calyx, of one piece with it, under the last pair of branches; so for all six branches issuing from it. (22) Their calyxes and their stems were of one piece with it, the whole of it a single hammered piece of pure gold. (23) He made its seven lamps, its tongs, and its fire pans of pure gold. (24) He made it and all its furnishings out of a talent of pure gold.