KORAH - THE FUTURE KOHEN GADOL? 

 

It is generally agreed upon by the commentators that Korah and at least the 250 that accompanied him were vested with lofty souls. He - as a grandson of Kehat was a carrier of the Aron. There are numerous approaches found in the works of our Sages of how to view the forceful challenges of Korah and his cohorts. It appears as if there are at least three (Abarbanel) and possibly four rebellions occurring in our parasha. No doubt they are grouped and fused together here - in that they were all instigated by Korah. The complete list might include Datan and Aviram against Moshe; The Nesiim against Aharon; The community against Moshe and Aharon; Finally the Leviim against Aharon. The first group gets swallowed up by the earth; the second incinerated by a divine fire; the third are victims of a plague. These last two groups are undoubtedly intertwined - as the נשיאים - who offer the קטרת are consumed by a divine fire while the people who try to defend them (the community) are saved via the קטרת offering of Aharon. In the rebellion of Korah and the Leviim against Aharon we do not see any form of divine test to determine whom God prefers - nor do we see an outcome of an unauthorized challenge in terms of punishment. Insight into the nature of this rebellion initiated by Korah and the Leviim against the position of Aharon might be culled out from the Torah verses along with the teachings of our Sages. We will approach the מחלוקת as one founded upon the following Midrash (KR 11:7) “The Torah of this world is הבל compared to the Torah of the days of the משיח.” Namely - Korah correctly asserted that during the epoch of this world - the attribute of Hesed - or as we will see הבל as revealed via the כהנים is dominant. However subsequent to the transition towards an elevated messianic epoch we will find that the attribute of דין - or that related to קין - as revealed via the לויים will dominate. Korah erroneously contended that the Messianic era had descended onto the world and it was therefore his and the time of the Leviim to dominate the כהנים as the elevated servants of Hashem. 

 

HESED TAKES PRECEDENCE FOR NOW 

 

According to the Zohar in Beresheet (17) this מחלוקת  fomented by קרח is rooted in his rebellion of the creative process - Though admittedly the Creator intended to establish the world in מדת הדין - he opted instead that the attribute that would lead must be of חסד -  The former would be submissive to the latter - with אמת emanating from them -favoring חסד over דין - We see this reinforced in a different form which resulted from the sin of Adam and Havah. Hashem declares that with the advancement of Evil - there arouse through the force of unbridled דין a new rule. To arrive at truth - the rule must now be והוא ימשול בך - namely that the male which is associated with Hesed will rule over the female associated more with דין - The Zohar 3:245 reveals that the soul of הלל הזקן stemmed from the side of חסד while that of his colleague שמאי was rooted in גבורות or דין - It could be said that during the Temple era when Evil is humbled - both of these approaches towards the spiritual laws remain valid. At the close of that era when evil once again is on the ascendancy the rule must follow that of חסד - According to the Yerushalmi (Ber 1:7) (See also the Bavli Eruv 13) - The possibility of making a choice between the two was so until a בת קול -  went forth declaring that the law is as Bet Hillel - which favors חסד - and whoever acted contrary deserved death. For as we will see below - untempered גבורות - in an imperfect environment leads to a descent into death or gehinam. The Talmud (Ber 36) teaches that during the era of the אמוראים - the opinion of בית שמאי when it conflicts with that of בית הלל is no משנה - and not to be considered as a valid pathway to אמת - It is recounted that on one occasion during a dispute between them a sword was embedded in the Bet Midrash ... and on that day Hillel sat humbly before Shammai as one of his students. That day according to Talmud (Shabbat 17) was as grevious for Israel as the day on which the golden calf was made. The Torah of this current epoch where evil is still prevalent must exclusively be associated with  הבל and hesed - while that of the future is one of Din associated with קין - as this is the domain where he originated. This fact that we currently are compelled to only operate via חסד - to achieve אמת - was lamented by שלמה המלך - when he admitted הבל הבלים הכל הבל - It was clearly upon this statement - that the Midrash bemoaned that the Torah of the current era must be lowered to that of הבל - 

 

BRIDELED DIN - IS ABOVE THAT OF HESED 

 

The קהלת יעקב cites an Aggadic teaching from the Talmud (Bekhorot 58) - Ben Azzai said that all the scholars of Israel are merely like a קליפת שום - the peels that protect garlic - except for this קרח or bald one. It is obvious that he wanted to convey to all the greatness of R. Akiva as it relates to the corrected soul of קרח - It is obvious that this קרח or bald one refers to R. Akiva as his son is called R. Yehoshua Ben Korha. He like קרח the Levi stemmed from the side of גבורות - however unlike the combatant of Moshe - R. Akiva was able to keep the גבורות elevated and reached a perfected state. Ben Azzai refers to the Rabbis as merely the protective shells of garlic. To appreciate this the Kehilat Yaakov (Akiva) takes us to a Gemara (Nidda 17) “Amongst dangerous things are שום קלוף - a garlic bulb devoid of the peel - in that an evil spirit rests upon them. Garlic is from the גבורות - We know that the negative forces have access to unbridled gevurot -When sweetened however they ascend above the Hasadim to a level called רצון העליון - in the secret of the teaching - “It was the intent of the Creator to establish the world on the attribute of justice - עלה במחשבה לברוא במדת הדין - Hence שום - or garlic has the same numerical value as רצון - It was the intent for creation to be established on Middat HaDin. But during the Creative process - it was related (on the 2nd day of separation) that we cannot survive living in its unmitigated form. Hence it was on the third day of כי טוב that it was advanced that the world and אמת be established via a mitigating judgement with Hesed.  The Rabbis are the protective barrier קליפת שום in the secret of חסד - which is to protect the גבורות in order that the נחש the evil serpent and his cohorts should not have access. בן עזאי - who also stemmed from the גבורות -lauded R. Akiva whom he viewed as perfecting the roots of קרח and sweetened the left side associated with the Leviim. Hence the Talmud (Yev 62) teaches that R. Akiva went south (to the side of hesed to sweeten the גבורות -) to teach the 5 students who would establish the Torah in Israel. 

 

TORAH OF THE NEXT WORLD 

 

When the Gevurot are sweetened they are considered more elevated and precious than Hasadim - Based on this קרח opined that the גבורות had already been sufficiently sweetened and elevated - hence he argued למה תתנשאו אתם - Why have you (Aharon) who stem from the חסדים continue to lead ? Aren’t the גבורות higher ? And Moshe said בוקר ויודע הויה - only during the גאולה - there will be a Torah from גבורות - and not now when the קליפות are still שולטים - It appears to me that the Midrash recounts these claims of קרח that the protective barriers are no longer relative. We know that ציצת form an אור מקיף - to protect the wearer from negative forces and the מזוזה stands as a protection at the doorway. These claimed קרח - are not necessary in an era when the קליפות are subdued - and the גבורות - have ascended above the חסדים - Moshe countered that the peel of the garlic (the scholars who are from the roots of hesed and protect the holy gevurot from negativity) must remain in its place. The time of redemption from negativity still has not arrived - and any attempt to elevate Din to the status of אמת is wrought with danger -leading the adherents to attach themselves to evil or גיהנם - Admittedly in the future the law will be as בית שמאי - when the evil husks will have been subdued giving rise to the elevated state of the tempered גבורות - The Rama Mifano - אם כל חי - asserts that קרח who took from that side - will in fact be the כהן גדול - in the secret of the final letters of צדיק כתמר יפרח - which spell his name. His initial approach was to sever himself from being tempered from the right side of hesed - and subduing himself to Aharon. He refused to admit to the leadership of Moshe who represents תורת אמת - which is the harmonic balance needed in this world. His Tikun as detailed in the Talmud (BB 74) only comes from generations of calling from פי הארץ - that indeed he had not established אמת - but rather severed the גבורות from the three column balance - with hesed on the right and gevurah on the left and Emet in the center. His only chance for ascent is for him to chant משה אמת ותורתו אמת - That his Torah - still mandates our protection from the negative forces in the form of צצית and מזוזה - For hesed to rule over gevurah - this establishes Emet. Through this - in the future he and the newly tempered gevurot will ascend - and all (not only those from Aram Soba Lol) can proclaim אמת מארץ תצמח - That truth will ascend from the ground. This rule that gives preference to Din over Hesed and Female over Male can be found in a obscure teaching concerning the Tefillin according to the order advanced by R. Tam. The Tikune Hazohar refers to the Tefillin that places the parashiot beginning with והיה side by side as those related to עולם הבא - According to R. HaAri (SK) one should meditate on the name יהה״ו when wearing these tefillin. In the future the גבורות associated with the final ה׳ of יהו״ה will ascend above the Hasadim related to the ו׳ - in the secret of אשת חיל עטרת בעלה - and the law or the spiritual function of the universe will operate on the attribute of Din. The law will follow the House of Shammai and perhaps will even see Korah as the Kohen Gadol. 

 

Shabbat Shalom 

 

Victor Bibi