Words in the Desert: Human Calculations and the Torah Portion of Korach

This week's Torah portion depicts Korach's rebellion against Moshe and Aharon and the Divine retribution that followed. Rashi makes an extensive comment that explains the nature of the rebellion, quoted below in most relevant part:

1. Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi took [himself to one side] along with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben.

RASHI - Dathan and Abiram: ... [Korach said] Who is entitled to receive the second [position]? Is it not I, who am the son of Izhar, who is the second brother to Amram? And yet, he [Moses] appointed to the chieftainship the son of his youngest brother! I hereby oppose him and will invalidate his word ...  He dressed [250 men] with cloaks made entirely of blue wool. They came and stood before Moses and asked him, “Does a cloak made entirely of blue wool require fringes [’tzitzith’], or is it exempt?” He replied, “ It does require [fringes].” They began laughing at him [saying], "Is it possible that a cloak of another [colored] material, one string of blue wool exempts it [from the obligation of techeleth], and this one, which is made entirely of blue wool, should not exempt itself? 

Korach was very smart. His logic was flawless. There was only one slight problem: the G-d of Israel is not limited to human logic. The main issue with Korach's dispute is not that he was wrong; people make mistakes all the time. The problem was that by limiting the entire situation to logic, he was not only debasing Moshe, but also Israel, the Torah, and G-d Himself. After all, Moshe did not make any decisions on his own. G-d was the One that appointed Moshe and his brother! Moshe did not decide that a cloak of Techelet requires Tzit-Tzit any more than he decided his role as leader. Korach's challenges put him on par with Dathan and Abiram, who our sages teach us, time and again failed to see the G-d's hand in everything that took place since the first moments of redemption from Egypt. It is therefore not coincidental that Rashi's comments are placed next to both of their names.

We also must open our eyes and realize that the events of our lives are truly Divinely ordained, and not simply a product of human calculations.

Words in the Desert: Ants, Grasshoppers and the Torah Portion of Shelach

Thank you to Daniel Najman for thinking of this question in Rashi.

The Torah portion for this week includes the disgraceful account of the spies. All but two of them (Calev and Yehoshuah) went about exploring the Land of Israel in the wrong way, coming back with a negative report. Their report, and the people's reaction to it, caused the Jewish people to wander an additional 40 years, and that entire generation did not enter the Land.

A particularly puzzling part of the spies' report is a comment about how they looked in the eyes of the former inhabitants:

33. There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, descended from the giants. In our eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes. 
It is one thing to state how they saw themselves compared to them (which is bad enough), but yet a whole other level of lack of emunah to think that the inhabitants themselves saw them in the same light. How could they know?

Rashi gives an answer to this inherent question by commenting as follows:

RASHI: and so we were in their eyes: We heard them telling each other,“There are ants in the vineyard who look like people.” - [Sotah 35a]

Rashi answers the above question but raises another. Why does the description change from "grasshoppers" to "ants."

Perhaps the answer is as follows: Depending on the context, being seen like an ant can also be a very great compliment. In Proverbs, King Solomon states, "Go to the ant and become wise." (Proverbs 6:6; Perek Shirah 6:6 also!)

Grasshoppers are generally considered pests and not good for the land. Ants are generally considered good and compatible with working the land. The spies, who actually wished to stay in the desert living a completely spiritual existence, were trying to say that we did not belong in the Land of Israel.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The spies had said, "The land we passed through to explore is a land that consumes its inhabitants..." They were afraid of its physicality and did not wish to be consumed by it. They did not comprehend that this was Hashem's will. He wants us to engage with the physical and elevate it. That is how we know if our spirituality is real in the first place. 

Words in the Desert: Inverted Situations and the Torah Portion of Beha'alotcha

The Torah portion of Beha'alotcha contains a segment demarcated by two inverted nuns, the only such occurence in the Torah. Our sages remark that the nun stands for nefilah, fall, and that it is from this point on that the Jewish people begin to experience spiritual falls. Rashi's commentary on the verse follows a similar line of thinking, but it is not exactly the same:


35. So it was, whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, Arise, O Lord, may Your enemies be scattered and may those who hate You flee from You.

 
לה. וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן וַיֹּאמֶר משֶׁה קוּמָה | יְהֹוָה וְיָפֻצוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ וְיָנֻסוּ מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ:
 

RASHI: So it was, whenever the ark set out: He made marks for it [this passage], before it and after it, as if to indicate that this is not its proper place [in Scripture]. So why was it written here? To make a break between one punishment and the next… as it is stated in [chapter 16 of Talmud Shabbath , commencing with the words] “All the Sacred Scriptures.”

Rashi states that the nuns "make a break between one punishment and the next." There's only one tremendous difficulty with this statement: there is no evidence of any punishment immediately preceding the demarcation. Only after this line does the Torah mention that the Jewish people complained and that this was evil in Hashem's eyes, which caused a fire to burn in the camp. Before, there is no mention of punishment, neither in this portion or the one prior. It is even hard to remember the last time punishment was mentioned at all, except perhaps for the Torah portion of Bechukotai (in the Book of Leviticus!), which is discussing future punishments.

The answer to this question lies perhaps in the fact that we do not really understand what is meant by punishment and what is meant by a spiritual descent.

Immediately prior to the above verse, the Torah describes how Moshe tried to convince Yitro, his fahter-in-law, to come to the Land of Israel with them, but that (at least for now) he refused and returned to his home. This itself can be considered a punishment, because having Yitro with them was a tremendous honor. He after all, was someone who had tried every single idol worship and rejected all of them to accept G-d alone. His departure showed that the Children of Israel had failed to make a significant lasting impression on him that would have made him truly leave everything behind and fully join them, just as he had done initially. Yitro's excitement did not last, which was perhaps an indication that it was never fully there to begin with.

Similarly, the text indicates that the Jewish people themselves were not on such a high spiritual level as they imagined. Our sages teach us that when they departed from the "Mountain of G-d," they were actually willingly trying to escape from G-dliness. This also is the greatest punishment.

When a person sins and is punished, do not think that the sin appeared out of the blue. Rebbe Nachman teaches that the sin is a true indication of your actual level! You might have thought you were much higher than that, but the reality is that you were never so high. The proof is that you now sinned.

The positive side of this is that it leaves no reason to be sad because of sin. Now that you know your true level, you are free to restart your Divine service in a much more true and real way, without delusions of grandeur. Start again, fully trusting in Hashem's mercy and realizing that both the sin and the punishment are actually a FAVOR that G-d does for us, taking us out of our inverted sense of greatness and helping us land on our feet.    

Words in the Desert: Brides and the Torah Portion of Nasso

This week's Torah portion continues the counting of the Jewish people (specifically the Levites), and contains the laws of the Sotah (wayward wife) and the Nazir (the holy nazirite, who abstained from wine and from cutting his hair). It also describes the completion of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and the offering of the princes of each one of the Twelve Tribes.

In the middle of the Torah portion, Rashi makes a fascinating comment on the following verse:

1. And it was that on the day that Moses finished erecting the Mishkan, he anointed it, sanctified it, and all its vessels, and the altar and all its vessels, and he anointed them and sanctified them.

א. וַיְהִי בְּיוֹם כַּלּוֹת משֶׁה לְהָקִים אֶת הַמִּשְׁכָּן וַיִּמְשַׁח אֹתוֹ וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ וְאֶת כָּל כֵּלָיו וְאֶת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְאֶת כָּל כֵּלָיו וַיִּמְשָׁחֵם וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתָם:

RASHI: And it was that on the day that Moses finished: Heb. כַּלּוֹת. On the day the Mishkan was erected, the Israelites were like a bride (כַּלָּה) entering the nuptial canopy.

The comparison of Israel as G-d's bride, entering the nuptial canopy, sounds familiar. The giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai is often compared to our wedding with G-d. Here, however, the Torah discusses a much later event, after the giving of the Torah, the sin of the golden calf, and the forgiveness we received on the following Yom Kippur.

In life, we have more than one opportunity to be like a bride entering the nuptial canopy. As Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches, every moment is an opportunity to start again, from the beginning, in a brand new relationship with G-d and with the world.

Perhaps that is why the Torah specifically used the word כַּלּוֹת in the plural instead of כַּלָּה in the singular. To be a Kalah does not need to be a one time thing. Each of us can be Kalot, starting anew again and again, just as we will receive the Torah again, just like the first time, on Shavuot.

Words in the Desert: Being Dear to G-d and the Torah Portion of Bamidbar

B"H

1. The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert, in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the land of Egypt, saying.  

RASHI: The Lord spoke... in the Sinai Desert... on the first of the month :Because they were dear to Him, He counted them often. When they left Egypt, He counted them (Exod. 12:37); when [many] fell because [of the sin] of the golden calf, He counted them to know the number of the survivors (Exod. 32:28); when He came to cause His Divine Presence to rest among them, He counted them. On the first of Nissan, the Mishkan was erected, and on the first of Iyar, He counted them.

One of the most essential lessions from the opening verse for the Book of Bamidbar (Numbers) is that no matter what, in our ups and in our downs, Hashem we are always dear to Him.