Parshat Korach 5784 by Rabbi Baruch Taub

good evening everybody good to see everybody here okay Pas K have three pages um three pieces for tonight uh the first is from R keski uh the PK says so Moshe warns korak he's going to set up this is the arch enemy of Moshe rabenu it's by the way this is as I might have mentioned in the in past years this is the only mlus the only difference of opinion amongst Jews where one side was 100% right and the other side was 100% wrong the only time okay um so mosha sets up a system where they're going to be bringing fire pans offering incense see whose are accepted and whose are denied and rakov comments har this was moshe's idea to put the entire future of the Torah in jeopardy by doing this we don't find we don't find that a instructed him to do this and there will be a miraculous outcome and your people will succeed and will fail it was M's idea so here's the danger Rak points out if if Moshe test fails right then Moshe is finished it's the end of Jewish history as it's supposed to be why why did mosha do this why did he put the entire future of Shalom alel the safety of the Jewish people the history of the Jew future history of the Jewish people the destruction of korak why did he do this based on on a his own his own insistence on a showdown why so say something very insightful had no choice accept to do this if that period historical moment there are still people I mean big people K was was a God who were challenging MOS Ra's leadership he had to do this test even if God would not perform the miracle which eventually defeated defeated kak and they were swall they were swallowed up in the ground if would not have done it so if he would have failed Moos would have been finished he wouldn't have been the real leader but if God didn't do anything gumc y it would be the same the same result right he had no so there was no either way either way Shar people will continue to and question his leadership he had no choice but to take the law into his own hands and do this in order to defeat in order to defeat korak and of course we know what happened the miracle took place and he defeated him the second piece is a which we might have done in the past good I think we might have a number of years ago um the question is Rashi quotes this this gor thisal um what what got into kah to try to defeat Moser Renu what what motivated him to do such a thing I mean here is chose MOS chose AR what what motivated Kor to rebel against mosenu to insist that he was right to have a position of Cl Israel not Aon as the co let's say but him as the co go others that he he challenged other positions right so what what motivated him so Rashi says an interesting thing he saw that he had future Generations that were great people shovi there were others the children of korak the children of Kor were were very holy people future generations of the Jewish people so Amari said you know I want I want leadership here right right uh sh sh anovi divided up uh the shavid Ley into different watches he had a tremendous respons ability and he came from K so he's going to explain here now this is a brilliant idea from the Sham is how how Kor had it wrong know he was convinced that he was the man because look at who my future Generations are going to be my future Generations are going to be leaders of claw Israel so therefore I have to win now right so listen to what he says a son brings marriage to a father sometimes a son can give his father a child can give a parent right why why why didn't the father have his own Why by the sun I'm G to show you an example he says from yipper if a person says I'm gonna sin all year long and onum I'm G to come to SCH I'm going to clap a whole year I'm going to do a vus right I'm just going to have a good time but on Yumer I'm gonna go to sh I'm gonna do all I'm G to d right what happens to such a Jew and really there is there is a position that we have that yum Kipper by itself provides forgiveness for a person they just the living through the experience of Yer right but here he's doing Chua everything right such a person is not forgiven oner why not yipper the existence of yum Kipper was the source and the reason and the impetus for his sinning right because there's such a thing as yum Kipper I'm going to sin because at the end of the next 364 days yum Kipper's here it'll save me right if not for he wouldn't sin I'm going to do everything I want to do now because Yumer is coming there's such a thing as yipper and I'll be saved so therefore Yer doesn't work for him this is the same idea with with says the sh the great children and grandchildren prophets and leaders that came from korak right that's why he sin in other words the reason I'm going to be successful I'm going to defeat mosenu is because I am going to I have these children and grandchildren and right so if he didn't have these children and grandchildren right so the whole siba of why he did it was because he saw he for was foretold we were children are going to be ill m but if not for that he would have been afraid he wouldn't have started up with M from here the reason whyer does not forgive because if not for the existence of young Kipper person this person this sinner would not sin but a person who is overcome with his passions his negative Passions person who wants to sin for forget about he'll anyway he doesn't know the is gonna but that'll it'll limit what he does right so here's what happened to the to korak and his people so this is exactly what what korak's misstep was the tra tredy of cor was well because of my children and my grandchildren everything is going to be going to be great V so so I'm gonna stop with this but I I see that I some of it did not come out there's a couple of paragraphs missing basically B korak did chuva the children of korak did Chua that's why they were so great and that's why great people came from from Kor but you see the the idea here is this idea that if a person says I'm going to sin all year yum Kipper will save me yum Kipper doesn't work why because yum Kipper was the reason why he in so here too the reason of his future lineage is why he why he why he did what he did K without that lineage possibly he wouldn't have done it okay let's go to this uh third piece this happens to be from um my safer Kona and it's a piece it's an essay really that I developed from r salv his leaders Ru and other places the children of Ru what what did do right he took 250 judges rubu most of them for were from his his neighbor Ru the tribe of ruen was right next to he took the best the cream of the crop with him then it says these are the leaders of the of the people listen to what he did right Rashi brings this this med now we know that the main part of the Talis is the tius and we know that the main part of the tius is Theus tus thread right so you have white threads and you have the blue blue thread of Theus so he he dressed these people hundreds of people in a Talis completely made of not the tius the Talis itself and they stood before MOS they said to him tell me which is completely made of are you obligated to put cus on it or not of course you are you have to have they laughed at him you're telling me right that a a Talis with one thread two strands of TUS of blue it makes the that's completely made of is no good Rashi brings this what was what was what were the what was what's the metaphor here there was something behind K was not a stupid man he was a great person he was a great thinker and um what was he thinking so we present here that discusses this particular story why did he use as to push his to push what was he what was what was his argument there's a metaphor here there's something about the white tius and the blue tias and the Garment of tias that that korak is pushing here so he writes like this he says like this in a general way Tor is divided up into two two Dimensions one dimension there are many ideas in Torah which are readily acceptable we understand them they make sense not to steal not to murder not to kill right tells us that these ideas make sense that's one dimension of the Torah on the other side is another dimension of Torah there are many areas of Tor which are really mysterious to us we really don't understand that all right so what is what is he going to say here it would appear he wants to suggest that the two colors of the tias represent these two dimensions of Torah a the the blue and the white come to explain this dialectic the two dimensions of Torah the white those area that area of Torah that can be explained simply right the heart can accept it the mind can accept it right that's white it's white it's clear it's pure is also was white it's covered over right it's not simply white anymore it's been it's been colored right is dealing with the mysterious the hidden which are beyond the immediate grasp of human logic and SE right it's it's kind of colored it's colored it's a different we take the simple the simple wo and we color it we give it a new dimension an additional Dimension kind of a mysterious Dimension over the page this understanding of the is explained in the now by the way I should I should maybe make a contemporary comment today there are Kal wearers and there are nonis wearers right so who's right right who's right is someone right someone wrong you know this this is something that really has come full circle in our time but a couple of hundred years ago there was a the original rebba that that brought into into the world and um this this U this Reba um went and developed tus and in his time some 10,000 started to wear um to wear tus and of course it was not accepted by by many sources there's a whole literature Pro and against the bottom line today I will tell you that there the the proofs on either side from kazal line up fairly against each other and I think think that the bottom line is in and I once actually heard this from was rash and he was uh at the head of the OU Kus uh ravenet and he wrote a Chua on Tris and the bottom line is he said that one is not allowed to tell somebody who's wearing Tris they can't and one is not allowed to tell someone tell someone who's not wearing that they have to in other words there's a legitimacy to both opinions there's a lot to go into we're not going to go into the subject but one is either way is one Superior than the other well each side will tell you maybe it's superior but you cannot say that you're not allowed to wear Tas or you're not allowed to have without that's very short um representation of what's going on today and how we have to how we have to view it not to be critical of someone who wears it or someone who doesn't wear it because in a certain sense they're both right it lines up on both sides okay all right let's continue so he's quoting here gor which has to do with it's a kind of a little bit of a poetic gamor which you might have heard before theor theor teaches us the following why do we wear the the blue is similar to the Sea y the sea is similar to the heaven and theak is similar to the so there's a sort of associative nature to theis right but it's it's more than associative you know um there's a certain mystery to this color this this color which was which was created in a very very specific way that t comes out comes to us right and it and it covers over a simple white thread and there's mystery in the that this color makes a difference to us but the sea also right the sea is is beautiful but the sea also has a mystery to it right there no there's no red light or green light in the sea there's no there's no road signs in the sea right the sea is is an open right it's open it's a mysterious place so you can't live in the sea forever right although I hear that there there are people that spend their life I saw an advert M for a six-month um boat cruise six month boat cruise there's a story I read you can't make these things up that this woman decided she told her children she's going to be going on cruises for the rest of her life it's cheaper than than taking all her money and putting it into uh a senior citizen um Assisted Living place right but the sea is a mysterious place right and the shamayim is even more mysterious right no one can live in shamay and the well that's the throne that's the most mysterious right so there's a kind of mystery with the is plugging into right these things are beyond our real understanding ultimately the way we make the is not simple right he's saying this here he says it that you know the yam has no boundaries There's No Boundaries in the sea person cannot survive in the sea who make it has the purpose of you know it surrounds the the the inhabited lands right and the Sea surrounds the in the inhabited parts of the earth within which we're allowed to live but you don't live in the sea if we say that about the sea certainly about about the heavens it's beyond the world right we can't how long can you stay in the in the sky how long can a plane go in the Sky the ultimate is the Throne of Glory of which is above and above and beyond any any understanding that we have right sois really represents these illogical the illogical dimension of Torah the the the mystical dimension of Torah and this the regular C represent the logical part of Torah right so here he goes into the point the thread of that we're commanded to put in our not just to tell us that there are areas that are mysterious to us that's they appointed says there there it's designed to teach us how to get to an understanding of these mysterious items of this mysterious dimension of Torah how do we conduct ourselves how do we deal with an issue that we don't understand how does a Jew trying to to decipher Torah how does he understand what this mystery of Torah where do I get an answer what do we do that our limited understanding excuse me we can't we got we're a we're we hit a wall right we don't understand purpose of is to that we should remember to bring to our mind and our understanding that we are obligated to keep them in every situation even if we don't understand them but what's the solution next paragraph in order to be to confront and come to terms with these mysterious circumstances that represents the mites that we that are Beyond us kind of we need a r everybody needs a r every we need a teacher the whole process of Torah is that every gener ation needs a teacher every Jew needs someone to teach him Torah we need some a personality somebody who is on a higher level than I'm at that he'll hand us lend us a hand that he'll he'll open up our eyes to what is happening what we what is a mystery to us he will help us to discern it and understand it it's important to point out the importance of our having a relationship with with Torah Scholars it's not only when the that person has a ro and the r passes away so it's not I don't have a rub anymore no it's it's not only in his lifetime but it's in your lifetime even if one rebi passes away what should he say he should think how would my rebi act in this circumstance I'm confronted with a situation a situation whether it's an ethical situation H situation how would my re how would he deal with how would he deal with this problem this this emergency situation that I have before me this is Brother salvation bringing this all up with the we're coming to K and Moshe right this idea the central Motif that the Jewish people cannot survive without a morer without a r without a who will help us understand the mysterious dimensions of Torah right this was at the center of the M that K had with M who he wanted to get rid of the position of the of the leader of the of the co let's say of the Moshe Ru right he says you take too much upon yourself every Jew is Holy says K and God dwells amongst all of us who are you how dare you position yourself above the people of God what was his argument everybody can every Jew every Jew has the ability the heart the mind he can determine which way to go he has doubt or in personal life he can s every Jew has the right to solve it himself what what makes you special a whole Talis that's blue you're telling me that the Talis with a little two two threads of of TUS right is more is Holy but the whole Talis no the whole Talis the whole CL Israel every Jew we don't need that that thread of of right and Hashem is with every Jew if man is so great that every Jew is special to the how dare you put yourself in such a position do we not have the ability go to the last page don't we have the the basic the basic potential and qualities we can learn Torah too everybody can can can solve these problems what does the have what do you have that we don't have that was the whole idea with this versus the strings of that if would be compared to a tal completely made of of the all they need put on that Talus right every Jew can have that right not wrong answered him there will all always be areas in life that are beyond our understanding the only way to get to the the root and solving those problems is to have that thread of other words that put the Rob is in a position to bait is in a position to pasin that there's a problem we don't have an answer we have to have faith in the power of Torah that the B that the is going to pasin and resolve the problem Oh and will take me from that place of confusion just the way that the the sits the sits of the of the the the thread right which go beyond the the clothing the beggar the private human being who's wearing it it goes extends Beyond it has a view into the future it has an ability and the word seats is from from to look seats is to to look there's a view that that the Torah has through the leadership of Torah to find that answer at o this IDE this you can find this in in the rabis the words of the Coen will protect knowledge seek out Torah from that a rebi right if your rebi appears to you like an angel seek Torah from him if not don't seek Torah from him but the Rob has to be viewed by you as a Mal now who who's that how does how do we understand that one right that's that's pretty you know if that's what Rabbi salv is telling us we've got a problem we've got a big problem so how do we solve the problem so let me end here the last two paragraphs from Mori Weinberg RAB Weinberg my re what does it mean that a is compared to an angel how can a r be compared to an if you don't if you see your rub as an angel go after him listen to him if you don't see him as an angel don't go after him what is he saying so says Weinberg like this is a servant of the he has no the Mal only has the will to do what Theon wants him to do he's a servant of Theon right that's by the way one of the arguments that when the MIM were upset that mosha was given the Torah told mosha to argue with him and he said to them do you have a you don't have a Torah demand mans a human a human being who's going to Grapple with all these principles and make himself into a better person make the world into a better person right by by defeating his his negativity right with the positivity of Torah but amalik doesn't have that problem right a Malik is purely a servant of the he's got one an angel has one goal to do exactly what God wants him to do the purpose of the Mal is to be a faithful servant a faithful agency of to pass over the will of God is the way it's supposed to be over to the people in this world now you're going to look for a rabbi look for a rebi look for a teacher right what do you looking for I want someone to teach me Torah is he giving you over what he learned from his rebi Tor is about M there a tradition right or is he reforming the Torah that he received from his re from the past generation and even more so from the generation before right IM if that's the way it is a re a teacher has to be giving you over faith giving us over Faithfully the Torah that he received from his rebbi who received from his rebi who received who receiv received from Moshe Ru based on this we understand so that's what it means right if he seems to you like a in the sense that he presents to you the M the true Christine M of Torah without any changes without any any reforming of the Torah that's a rebi that's a teacher that you should seek Kar takes from the the spiritual World etc etc so this is this is that this is what this is what was at stake with Moshe and with Kor Moshe insisted it's not about me it's about the M it's about not ating from what gave us and's whole idea was to to create that that that Gap uh in in the leadership in the Torah leadership and it would have destroyed CLA Israel without that that c Torah that we are supposed to have okay that's it for this evening on Wednesday we're going to do benching with a something that we've been advertised for the last few weeks things have come up we didn't weren't able to give it but that the do you bench on a coast do you not PCH a do you have to say or do you not have to that's what we're going to discuss on Wednesday okay have a great week everybody all the best thank you for your patience