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Home -> 5759 -> Korach

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Korach, 5759

To the Leviim shall you speak… When you accept from the Bnei Yisrael the tithe… you shall raise from it a gift… your gift shall be reckoned for you like grain from the threshing floor… (18:26,27)

The Levi who receives his portion of Maaser from the Yisrael must, in turn, give Terumah to the Kohen.  The Torah tells us that this Terumas Maaser is considered the same as Terumah Gedolah, which is offered by the Yisrael.  Imrei Yosef cites the Zidetchoiver Rebbe, zl, who claims that this pasuk alludes to an ethical lesson for he who has been raised above his peers to be selected for spiritual leadership.  One might think that it is his virtue and scholarship, his good deeds and meticulous mitzvah observance, that effected this “promotion”.  The Torah tells him not to permit…

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Home -> 5759 -> Korach

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Korach, 5759

Fire emerged from Hashem and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who had offered incense… The fire pans of those who sinned against theirs souls – make them into beaten plates, a cover for the Altar. (16:35, 17:3)

As part of Korach’s rebellion, the two hundred and fifty men who were part of Korach’s group were to offer incense in fire pans.  They received their due punishment in that they were being consumed by a fire from Hashem.  Their fire pans, instead of being discarded, were melted and shaped into a covering for the Mizbayach.  Until now the Altar had been a hollow frame which was filled with dirt every time Klal Yisrael camped.  Now, the outside surface was to be covered with a thin mass plating composed of the sinner’s fire pans.  This is enigmatic!  Is it…

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Home -> 5759 -> Korach

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Korach, 5759

They gathered together against Moshe and against Aharon and said to them, “It is too much for you! For the entire assembly-all of them are holy.’ (16:3)

The Torah recounts a number of controversies that occurred during Klal Yisrael’s forty year sojourn in the desert.  They complained and complained.  They complained about water and about meat.  There were spies who slandered Eretz Yisrael.  Yet, after all is said and done, the one dispute that has been recorded in history as the paradigm of machlokes, controversy, is the machlokes of Korach.  Why?  At least Korach’s dispute had a spiritual dimension to it.  They questioned the Kehunah.  They sought to serve in the Bais Hamikdash and offer korbanos.  They even made use of lomdus, logic, using a Tallis made…

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Home -> 5759 -> Korach

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum
In Korach, 5759

Korach, the son of Yitzhar, the son of Kehas, the son of Levi, separated himself. (16:1)

The Torah deliberately traces Korach’s lineage back to Levi, stopping there.  Why is Yaakov Avinu not included in Korach’s pedigree?  Rashi explains that when Yaakov was reproving his two sons, Shimon and Levi, for their deplorable actions regarding the people of Shechem, he said, “Bi’kehalam al teichad kevodi,” “In their conspiracy may my soul not enter.”  Yaakov Avinu did not want his name connected to the evil that their descendants would eventually generate.  Rashi adds, however, that when the Torah mentions in Divrei Hayamim that a descendant of Korach was among the Leviim who sang in the Bais Hamikdash, it…

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