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Home -> 5778 -> Chukas

יען לא האמנתם בי להקדישני לעיני בני ישראל... המה מי מריבה אשר רבו בני ישראל את ד' ויקדש בם

Sruly Schnair
In Chukas, 5778

Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the eyes of Bnei Yisrael…They are the waters of strife where Bnei Yisrael contended with Hashem, and He was sanctified through them. (20:12,13)

Had Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon HaKohen demonstrated greater faith in Hashem by speaking to the rock, rather than striking it, Hashem’s Name would have been sanctified. The Nation would have derived the message: If an inanimate rock – which does not hear, speak, or require sustenance – carries out Hashem’s command (when spoken to), surely we (humans) should do so Ramban explains that Moshe and Aharon certainly were not lacking in faith; rather the phrase should be understood, “Because you did not cause them (the people) to believe in Me;” for if Moshe would have followed Hashem’s directive as commanded,…

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Home -> 5778 -> Korach

ויקם משה וילך אל דתן ואבירם

Moshe Marcovich
In Korach, 5778

So Moshe stood up and went to Dassan and Aviram. (16:25)

Why did Moshe Rabbeinu denigrate himself to go to such miscreants as Dassan and Aviram? He was the quintessential leader of Klal Yisrael, the Rabban Shel Kol Yisrael, the nation’s Rebbe. They were nothing. Yet, he went to them. Why? Chazal (Sanhedrin 110a) derive from here that one does not sustain a dispute. If he can diffuse a controversy from growing, spreading, he should do everything possible to extinguish the flames of discord. Furthermore, one who supports a machlokes, controversy, transgresses the prohibition’ of V’lo yiheyeh k’Korach v’chaadaso, “that he not be like Korach and his assembly” (Bamidbar 17:5). Simply…

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Home -> 5778 -> Korach

וישלח משה לקרא לדתן ולאבירם בני אליאב ויאמרו לא נעלה

Moshe Marcovich
In Korach, 5778

Moshe sent forth to summon Dassan and Aviram, bnei Eliav, but they said, “We shall not go up!” (16:12)

Two words: discord and disagreement, both begin with the same letter – “D,” but the words could otherwise not be further apart. Discord is the result of a disagreement in which one or both factions take it personally. Our parsha presents a classic case in which one side made every attempt to ameliorate a disagreement but did not succeed, since the other side was insistent on taking it to the next level. When Korach rebelled against Moshe Rabbeinu, he was joined by Dassan and Aviram, Moshe’s nemeses. Our leader did everything to appease them to the point that he sent a…

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Home -> 5778 -> Korach

רב לכם בני לוי

Moshe Marcovich
In Korach, 5778

It is too much for you, O offspring of Levi. (16:7)

Korach was no fool (or, at least, that was not his reputation). Chazal say that Korach was a pikeiach, quite astute and wise. Rashi quotes the well-known baffling question: Mah raah l’shtus zeh? “What did he see that possessed him to undertake such a foolish endeavor?” He saw prophetically that among his descendants, would be: the Navi Shmuel, who was as great in his time as Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon HaKohen combined; and the twenty-four groups of Leviim who would prophesy with Divine Inspiration. Korach rationalized that with such illustrious lineage descending from him, how could he go wrong? The…

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Home -> 5778 -> Korach

ויקומו לפני משה ואנשים מבני ישראל חמישים ומאתים נשיאי עדה

Moshe Marcovich
In Korach, 5778

They stood before Moshe with two hundred and fifty men from Bnei Yisrael, leaders of the Assembly, those summoned for the meeting, men of renown. (16:2)

Perhaps we do not give enough credit to the average Jew. People are capable of deciding between right and wrong. Those who err do not necessarily lack astuteness; rather, the decision might have been more difficult than we think. Let us take the Korach controversy as an example. I say Korach, rather than Korach/Moshe, because Moshe Rabbeinu was passive. He did not enter the fray. He responded to the vitriol, but did not become a partner with Korach in the dispute. It was Korach against Moshe. It takes two participants to make a full-scale controversy. The Korach dispute had one…

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Home -> 5778 -> Shelach

ויהיו בני ישראל במדבר וימצאו איש מקשש עצים ביום השבת

Moshe Marcovich
In Shelach, 5778

The Bnei Yisrael were in the wilderness and they found a man gathering wood on the Shabbos day. (15:32)

The Maharal m’Prague (Gur Aryeh), notes that the mekoshesh eitzim, one who gathered wood on Shabbos, carried out his act of contempt during the second Shabbos of the Jews in the wilderness. Apparently, they observed the first Shabbos. Chazal teach (Shabbos 118b) that had they observed two Shabbosos, they would not have experienced the bitter exile. Shabbos is the great panacea which would have protected them. Why did the mekoshesh desecrate the second Shabbos? He acted for the sake of Heaven (or so he believed), in order that people would realize that Shabbos observance was serious business. When they would…

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Home -> 5778 -> Shelach

כי תבאו אל ארץ מושבתיכם אשר אני נתן לכם

Moshe Marcovich
In Shelach, 5778

When you will come to the Land of your dwelling places that I give you. (15:2)

Chazal (Midrash Rabbah 17:3) ask why Eretz Yisrael was called Eretz Canaan (after the pagan tribe that inhabited the land prior to the Jewish nation’s arrival). It is not as if they were a nation whose moral demeanor was something of which to be proud. Their spiritual affiliation was paganism. So why did they warrant such distinction? Chazal attribute their distinction to the fact that, when they heard that Klal Yisrael was on the way to evict them from the Holy Land, they cleaned up the land, preparing it for its new inhabitants. Hashem said, “Since you prepared the land…

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Home -> 5778 -> Shelach

וישכמו בבקר ויעלו אל ראש ההר לאמר הננו ועלינו אל המקום אשר אמר ד' כי חטאנו

Moshe Marcovich
In Shelach, 5778

They awoke early in the morning and ascended toward the mountain top saying, “We are ready, and we shall ascend to the place of which Hashem has spoken.” (14:40)

The other night, the entire nation had been trembling with fright, weeping incessantly (and unnecessarily) with bitter tears, demonstrating abject fear that they would be forced to ascend to Eretz Yisrael and conquer its inhabitants. Suddenly, their attitude changed. Not only were they now prepared  to go into battle – they went. We all know the outcome of that ill-fated trip, but what prompted them to go? What happened to the trembling, the fear? How did it dissipate overnight? Horav Reuven Karlinstein, zl, addresses this question, but first, he describes the scenario (based on Chazal) which so captivated Klal Yisrael,…

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Home -> 5778 -> Shelach

כל נשיא בהם

Moshe Marcovich
In Shelach, 5778

Everyone a leader among them. (13:2)

The word Nasi, prince, leader, is comprised of four letters which, when separated, make up two words which are opposites of one another. Nasi – nun, sin, yud, aleph: within these four letters are the words yeish, which means “there is,” and ayin, “there is naught.” Otzar HaChaim sees this as an allusion to the quality of a Nasi’s character. The Nasi who considers himself to be a yeish (there is; he is something), in actuality, has nothing; he is an ayin. The Nasi who views himself through the eyes of humility, who sees himself as an ayin, is thus…

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Home -> 5778 -> Shelach

שלח לך אנשים

Moshe Marcovich
In Shelach, 5778

Send forth men, if you please. (13:2)

Rashi notes the words Sh’lach lecha, “Send for yourself,” suggesting that the lecha, for yourself, is superfluous. The pasuk should have said, Shlach anashim; “Send men.” What is added by lecha? Rashi explains that Hashem was intimating that He had not commanded Moshe Rabbeinu to send spies: Ani eini metzavecha; “I am not commanding you to do this. It is up to you – if you want to do it – then you may send.” Sometimes a person predetermines his decisions. He is not going to change, to give in, to concede that he might be in error. Nothing will…

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