In this week’s Parsha we read about the מחלוקת of קרח with משה רבינו, and the severe punishment that קרח ועדתו suffered when they were swallowed alive by the earth.
We’ve been reading for the last several פרשיות about punishments that כלל ישראל suffered for their עבירות such as the punishment given to the דור המדבר following the episode of the מרגלים, where they were to die on the מדבר over a 40 year period. In all these episodes the punishment was given in a natural fashion. It’s only by עדת קרח that an entire new creation was made to punish them, as the פסוק says
אם כמות כל האדם ימותון אלה…לא ה’ שלחני ואם בריאה יברא ה’ ופצתה האדמה את פיה…וידעתם כי ניאצו האנשים האלה את ה’
Why was it nessasary in this episode to create an entire new בריאה?
The נתיבות שלום explains:קרח came with a complaint : כי כל העדה כולם קדושים
Every Yid is great as we were told by מתן תורה:
ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש
Why then are you משה making yourself greater than everyone else?
His mistake was that while everyone has the potential for greatness, the structure in which the world was created is that there is a hierarchy of משפיע and מקבל. The heavens are משפיע rain to the earth so plants can grow. A husband is משפיע to his wife. And the same is true in רוחניות. A Rebbe is משפיע to his תלמיד. And the only way a Yid can grow is by having a Rebbe to learn from. This dates all the way back to מעמד הר סיני, where הקב”ה gave the תורה to משה רבינו. As the משנה says משה קבל תורה מסיני ומסרה ליהושע ויהושע לזקנים
The structure of תורה comes about from a מסורה of Rebbe to תלמיד and this structure is ingrained in creation. So when קרח came and spread doubt on this structure and challenged the need for a Rebbe he not only was חוטא but actually spread doubt on the whole structure of the creation which was set up in a way of משפיע and מקבל. As such he was punished through an entire new creation as well.
This teaches us the importance of having a Rebbe and learning from them. This can be done by becoming close to a Rebbe and also by reading about צדיקים and learning from their ways.
We’ll conclude with a beautiful story about the great צדיק the Tosher Rebbe זצ”ל. One Pesach night as he concluded his preparations for the סדר and was about to start, a poor unkempt and emotionally unstable man walked in to the house and asked to join. He was given a setting at the table when they realized there were no extra 3 מצות for him to have for making his own המוציא. Without thinking twice the Rebbe gave the poor man his own מצות. The גבאי who related this story remarked: ” the Rebbe would prepare his מצות for an entire year. He would harvest the wheat shortly after last year’s פסח. Then grind it with special כוונות.Then guard it the entire winter, and finally bake his מצות on ערב פסח with great עבודה. With all the עבודה he invested into them, he gave it all away, so that another Yid can fulfill the מצוה.
Such are the ways of our leaders whom we can all learn from!
Weekly Parsha Shiur 