Dear You,
Summer has begun! No more classes, and my summer plans are under way. I always love the summer because the weekly parshiyot go back into story-mode. At the beginning of the year, all we learn is the Bereshit stories. Then, we have a stretch with very few stories - like zero to none. And as the summer begins, the stories return with it. And that is not to say that one part of the Torah is any better than other parts. I'm just saying that I like stories. And I think we all do. So this week, I would like to share a story with you. However, I will first provide some background information and ask a question.
In Parashat Korach, there is a huge dispute between Korach (and his entourage) and Moshe. Moshe Rabbeinu and Korach are first cousins. Korach is very very upset at Moshe. To give you the full picture, I will give you the family tree.
Yaakov's third son was Levi. Levi had three sons, and one of them was Kehat. Kehat had four sons: Amram, Yitzhar, Chevron, and Uziel (that's oldest to youngest - Amram was the oldest and Uziel was the youngest). Amram had two sons: Aharon and Moshe. Yitzhar's son was Korach. Uziel's son was Elitzafan. That may be confusing, so take a minute to go over it - maybe even draw a real tree, whatever works.
Now, Moshe is the leader of the Jews. Aharon is the Kohen Gadol. Korach was very upset that Moshe took both positions for himself and his brother. Korach felt that he deserved some leadership, too! After all, why is Moshe any better than Korach? In any event, when Hashem was appointing leaders over the different tribes with Levi, He appointed Elitzafan as the leader of Kehat. When Korach learned about this, he was furious. Remember, Kehat has four sons. Amram was the oldest, so it makes sense that Amram's sons should receive leadership positions before the others. It makes sense for Moshe and Aharon to be leaders before Korach. But, since Amram has only two sons, the next leadership position should go to Yitzhar's son, which is Korach. [Remember, Yitzhar is the next oldest brother.] Yitzhar's son was Korach. So Korach should receive the next leadership position. But who does receive it? Elitzafan. Elitzafan is Uziel's son - Uziel is Amram's and Yitzhar's YOUNGEST BROTHER! Why is Moshe skipping over Korach? [I hope you got that - I even confused myself.]
So Korach starts arguing. He gathers a group 250+ important men, and he gets them to all be against Moshe and Aharon. To make a long story short, how does it end? Basically, the ground opens up and devours/swallows Korach and his entire assembly. He was basically buried alive. Except no one had to bury him - the earth just took care of that. Pretty cool, huh?
The question I would like to deal with is, why was this his punishment? Why did he have to be swallowed by the earth? Why did the ground have to open its mouth and devour Korach and his entire assembly? There are many other possible punishments that Korach could have received. To answer this, I would like to offer a story. [I heard the following answer in a shiur, given by Rabbi Eli Mansour.]
Once upon a time, there were two neighbors, John and Bob, arguing over the borders of their yards. John built a fence, and Bob disagreed with the location that he put it. There was actually a whole segment of land that each neighbor thought belonged to himself. So what do they do? As all good Jews do, they took it to the rabbi. John says to the rabbi, "The land belongs to me." Bob says, "No! The land belongs to me." After hearing them out, the rabbi says, "I have an idea. Let's just go ask the land!" John and Bob look at each other, each one knowing what the other is thinking - this man must be crazy. But despite the ridiculousness, they agree to go ask the land itself.
So they go to the property. The rabbi looks at them and says, "Give me a moment." He approaches the land, bends over, and places his ear right by the land. After about a couple of seconds, the rabbi starts laughing uncontrollably. He stands up and brushes the dirt of his clothing. And finally the moment of truth. The rabbi says, "John says the land belongs to him, Bob says the land belongs to him, but the land says that you both belong to it. I suggest you settle this amongst yourselves, because if you keep on fighting over whom the land belongs to, the land will show you both who the real owner is."
At the very beginning of the Torah, Hashem tells Adam, "כִּי-עָפָר אַתָּה, וְאֶל-עָפָר תָּשׁוּב" - "For you are dirt, and to the dirt you shall return" (Bereshit 3:19). Hashem tells Adam, and consequently, to all of mankind, that we are made of dirt, ground, earth. And one day, (morbid thoughts) we will return to the earth. We were put in this world for a limited amount of time. We have tasks to accomplish. We have a potential to maximize. We were not put here to move backwards. We were not put here to waste our time and others' time with useless arguments that come about because we are power hungry. Eventually, we will all end up six feet under. But while we are above the earth, we are blessed with the opportunity to achieve, to perform, to succeed. But if one wastes his time with arguments - fights that are completely a waste of time and energy - then he is basically wasting his life. If he is wasting his life, then what's the point? Why be above the land? Why not go to where he will eventually end up? It's not like he's doing anything up here anyway. So the earth fast-forwards, and just opens up.
That's exactly what happened with Korach. Once it was clear that he wasn't interested in achieving, but only in arguing and causing fights, the earth realized that he no longer serves a purpose here. So the land just opened up and swallowed him.
Be'ezrat Hashem, may we all take advantage of the short amount of time that we have here. May we spend our time with productive tasks and not with useless arguments that only make us move backwards. And Be'ezrat Hashem, if we don't pursue leadership and if we are not power-hungry, then we will all receive a lot of reward, because we will only be achieving.
Thank you for you time,
Yours truly,
Avraham Adam Sabzevari
For questions, comments, criticisms, or suggestions, please email adamsabzevari@gmail.com. We are awaiting your feedback. :)
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