Chazal teach us in this week's portion that any rebellion
against Hashem and His Torah originates in a rejection of the
Torah leaders and the transmitters of Torah to our people. "A
brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city,"
says Shlomo Hamelech in Mishlei. This, say Chazal `in
Bamidbor Rabba 18:1), refers to Korach, who quarreled
with Moshe and rebelled.
Korach did not deny Hashem nor did he deny the divinity of
Torah. On the contrary, he rose up and said, " `The entire
community is holy, and Hashem is in their midst.' All of us
heard Hashem declare at Sinai that He was our G-d. Then what?
`Why must you raise yourselves above the community of
Hashem?' It is not as if only Moshe heard Hashem speak at
Sinai. Everyone heard the commandments, so why must you lord
it over us? Upon hearing this, Moshe was thoroughly shaken"
(ibid.).
Moshe was not horrified because of the offense to him and his
brother Aharon's honor by Korach's accusation. Rather, he was
shaken by their denying their faith in the Torah and its
eternity for all generations.
The Malbim explains: "Thus will you know that Hashem sent me
to do all these deeds, and it was not innovated from my own
heart."
And the Malbim continues:
"For the basic principle upon which the Torah's truth and
integrity is established throughout the generations is by
virtue of the fact that Hashem descended onto Mt. Sinai
before the entire people and revealed Himself through signs
and wonders. Everyone heard Hashem speak just as one hears a
fellow person speak, and [they heard Him] say that He was
investing Moshe as His emissary to transmit the Torah, which
is eternal, to the Jewish people, forevermore. He commanded
the people to believe in all of the mitzvos which Moshe would
subsequently teach them, as transmitted directly from Hashem
and not as some fabrication of his own mind. The commandments
are all divine in origin.
"But Korach and his evil company dared deny, in Moshe's very
lifetime, that he was Hashem's messenger and prophet, thus,
in effect, denying the entire Torah. For just as they
challenged Moshe as to the divine appointment of the
Kohanim uleviim, so might they reject any other
particular in the Torah just as easily. In other words, by
tampering with one aspect, they were challenging the very
divinity of the entire Torah for all coming generations."
Their treacherous cry of, "Why do you take so much upon you?"
embodies the seed of destruction for the entire Torah. There
is no Torah without Moshe Rabbenu as its direct receiver and
conveyor to the subsequent generations, one to the next. One
cannot declare a real relation towards the sanctity of Torah
without accepting the validity and authority of those who
transmit Torah and their sanctity. The cry "Why do you set
yourselves above us" has one denotation; it is a rejection of
Moshe Rabbenu as the receiver of Torah from Hashem, and this
heresy is tantamount to treason against Hashem. This is what
the Midrash states: "That he went against Moshe and
Hashem."
*
Moshe was appalled, for if Korach denies `only' this, that
"Moshe received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to
Yehoshua . . . ", then there is no value or meaning to his
admission that "All heard at Sinai `I am Hashem your G-d . .
. ' " Either both are true and valid -- or neither have any
meaning. The one follows from the other and any denial of the
prophet is a rejection of the One Who invested him with power
and authority. "And the people spoke against Hashem and
Moshe." This verily comes to teach us that whoever speaks
against the faithful shepherd, is rebelling against the One
Who created the world (Mechilta Beshalach 6).
Contesting one aspect is the same as demolishing the entire
structure of faith upon which our people have relied
throughout the generations, for everything is Torah from
Sinai, "from the One Who revealed Himself at Sinai" (R'
Ovadia of Bartenura, Pirkei Ovos 1:1). What relevance
does shmittah have to Sinai in particular, if all the
commandments were given at Sinai? [To teach that] just as the
laws of shmittah were transmitted there in full
detail, so were all the other commandments transmitted fully,
generally and in particular, at Sinai (Rashi, Vayikro
25:1).
Furthermore, all of the good practices, the ethics of
middos umussar in Pirkei Ovos, were also
transmitted at Sinai, as the Rav explains in the beginning of
the tractate. "I say this because this tractate is not
arranged in a mitzva-by-mitzva sequence like the other orders
of the mishna, but it is made up only of principles of
character improvement. The sages of the nations also composed
works of self-refinement as they saw it, in terms of living
within a civilized society. This is precisely why the
tana began this tractate with: `Moshe received the
Torah from Sinai,' to teach us that middos umussar are
not a product of their own thinking, of philosophical
inquiry, but are also pure Torah that was transmitted at
Sinai.
The sanctity of the Torah spreads its protective wings over
the trusted transmitters of Torah in each generation, for
they do not innovate anything on their own. Their role is the
very antithesis of Korach's apostasy which came to divide the
faithful ones from the Torah, like Korach who denied that
Moshe Rabbenu received all of his instructions and directives
straight from Hashem. They are the link in an unbroken chain
from Yehoshua, who received from Moshe. In Judaism, there is
no difference between the transmission itself and the
transmitters of Torah in each generation.
This notion, that there is no connection between the message
and its conveyor, is a wholly alien idea to Judaism. The
teachings of gentile philosophers are the fruit of their own
minds and do not even obligate those who set them forth. The
poems of a gentile writer or the essays of a philosopher can
be completely detached from their own respective
personalities or the personal examples they set in real life.
This has been shown countless times throughout world history.
Poets who produced the most sublime works were drunkards,
while philosophers whose essays soared on lofty planes were
depraved in their personal lives and actually practiced the
very opposite of what they preached.
This should be no cause for wonder, since ethics produced by
the human mind or heart are directed outward, to others,
while Jewish ethics are plumbed from the holy Torah and first
absorbed into a person's being and fully incorporated into
his essence, the heart and brain of those who toil in Torah,
who nullify their individual being to Torah. Whatever they
absorbed and innovated through total submission of their
intellect to Torah is then transmitted to their disciples and
followers. Thus, in every generation is revealed the glory
and splendor of Torah and its transmitters, the holiness of
the Torah and the sanctity of those who convey it, as one
single bloc, without differentiation.
"The man who merits Torah knowledge [that is, whose intellect
is like the seed sown in a field and it unites with wisdom to
become one], walks among men and appears to be mortal like
all the others. In truth, he is a veritable angel living
among mortals, living a life of sublimeness and nobility; he
is exalted above all praise" (Chazon Ish, Kovetz Igros
13).
*
The sanctity of the transmitters of Torah is embodied in
Jewish chinuch in every possible manner. The rebbe in
the cheder bequeaths it to his charges at the
beginning of each mishna he teaches them: "Says the
tana of the mishna . . . " The actual teaching
of the mishna is not the only thing of importance.
Also significant is who taught it, who transmitted it for all
generations. In many places, it was instituted to recite the
preface, "Said the holy tana of the holy
mishna." Holiness is not restricted only to the text
but also to the very one who taught it.
This is how our generations were raised and this is what
guaranteed an authentic transmission across the millennia.
The Jewish child drew the content of the Torah into his being
together with the hidden codes of its sanctity. Thus he was
able to grasp that the Torah is not a mere study or science,
G-d forbid, not a silent bookcase which one can approach
grossly and coarsely, with dirty hands and muddied boots. The
Torah is a living entity that operates and activates, that
requires special transmitters to bequeath it properly. These
can only be people who have already indentured themselves to
it to become an integral part of it to the point that they
are verily living Torah scrolls.
We have absorbed this knowledge into our very fiber. Such
sublime figures were our revered tanoim, amoroim, rabbonon
savorai, geonim, rishonim, acharonim, and all the others
who taught Torah. Only they were able to bequeath the Torah
to those willing to accept its teachings. "If the master
resembles an angel of Hashem, then he should seek Torah from
his mouth. If not, he should not seek Torah from him" Moed
Koton 17a). Torah is not a branch of science, a school of
study. It is self education, training, self perfection; it is
a guide for life that encompasses every minute, every stage,
from birth on. Teaching it is possible only by one who has
purified himself and refined himself to the level of angels,
and whose intellect has been transformed into an intellect of
Torah.
*
If we examine it, we see that every breach in the bastion of
holiness and each threat to the existence of Judaism always
began with an undermining of the authority of Torah leaders.
This applies to this present day and age, when all kinds of
people and movements declare that Torah is not "the monopoly
of the orthodox," that it belongs to everyone. This sounds
very nice on the surface, for would we not wish everyone to
identify with his heritage? But the thorn soon appears with
its prickle: they discredit the traditional leaders and
transmitters of Torah. They relegate them to "just one
representation of Judaism, one interpretation," the orthodox
one, giving legitimacy to other faces, such as Conservatism
and Reform Judaism and simple pluralism, so they argue. But
this is how the ill- fated, venomous, so-called Enlightenment
began, and which Reform took over. The root of this evil lies
in the original sin of Korach, "Why must you raise yourselves
above." Moshe Rabbenu understood the implications of this
accusation -- and was duly shocked.
This has been the repeated method of the traitors to Judaism
who veil their heresy by directing their poisoned barbs
against the transmitters and teachers of Torah, and rail:
"Why must you be so high and mighty?" This is the python
cunning of the evil one, to subvert by presenting a false
image of Torah, and to accuse Torah leaders of making their
own interpretations and rules, and setting themselves as
superior.
The Torah's unique nature is that one who is arrogant and
egotistic can have no portion in Torah. The precondition of a
Torah scholar is that he be humble, submissive, self
effacing. "Torah cannot have any endurance except with one
who completely nullifies himself" (Sotah 21b).
Haughtiness is the very antithetical sin -- of Torah's
opponents. "Torah cannot endure by the coarse of spirit"
(Tanchuma Ki Sovo 3). The transmitters of Torah do not
innovate anything of their own; they only delve and plumb the
depths of Torah, while those who challenge them say whatever
moves them. "The wicked are slaves to their hearts, while the
righteous' hearts are in their command" (Bereishis
Rabba 34). The very life struggle of the servants of
Hashem is their ongoing battle against their evil drive, not
to think or say anything that is not anchored in the truth of
Torah.
The underlying principle here is the measure of submission
which a person must strive for. "Torah can only endure with
one whose spirit is lowly." Moshe Rabbenu rejoins the
Leviim, "Hame'at . . . Is it but a small thing for
you . . . "
Our holy works interpret this homiletically: "You should
diminish from yourselves." You should make yourselves small
and lowly. And herein lay Korach's big mistake. He was
actually a smart person, as the Midrash testifies. But
his vision, "his eye," misled him. "He saw a great chain
descending from him: Shmuel, who was compared to both Moshe
and Aharon" (Tanchuma Korach, Rashi 5).
The first Admor of Husyatin zy'o dwelled on the
singular conjugation: "Only one eye led him astray." The eye
that operated properly to see the greatness of the Creator
performed its function. Not so the second eye, which should
look downward and see his own lowliness and shortcoming. This
eye did not function as it should have and saw, instead, the
great descendants which he would produce.
*
Korach boasted of the great person he was destined to produce
and yet he accused Moshe and Aharon of being proud and
haughty. This is the very manner of those others who
challenge Torah leaders. They transfer their very fault to
others, to the truly faithful, the guardians of the faith,
and do not hesitate to accuse them of the very sin of which
they are guilty, themselves.
This repeats itself in modern times, as the Reform and their
ilk bombard the walls of the Torah bastion with empty
assaults for the sake of pluralism, for not adapting with the
times. They are aided and abetted by those in power who call
themselves religious. The former kippa-wearing
minister, Professor Yaakov Ne'eman, may not subscribe to
their ways but he calls for the faithful to "seek what unites
and not what separates and polarizes." At whom is he aiming
his honed barbs? Not at the Reform and Conservatives, you can
be sure, who, in the course of the years, have already
severed millions of Jews from all levels of the nation from
any connection to their heritage. No. He is addressing the
rabbonim who, in his words, are causing the schism to broaden
rather than to narrow.
At the time this statement was made, the media did not reveal
to which rabbis he was referring. But that was really
superfluous. He was actually attacking all of the Torah
leaders and teachers throughout all generations, especially
this present one, since they categorically ruled against any
association in any form with those elements who destroy
Torah. "The Reform movement boastfully presumes to Judaism.
It is not truly so, in the least. Reform is rather a kind of
Christianity without the cross." These acerbic words were not
said by some "fanatic rabbi," but by the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi
Herzog zt'l, who was appointed to office by the
Zionist parties at a rabbinical assembly in Jerusalem on
Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul, 5716.
This is a telling fact that those stubborn dissident
religious elements who defy the halachic ban on cooperation
with the Reform all originate from the Mizrachi movement, a
movement whose prime sin is its rejection of the authority of
Torah leadership and discipline under them. They produced the
Hapoel Hamizrachi, which boasted a slogan of "Holy Rebellion"
against gedolei Yisroel who forbade any collaboration
with those who reject the authority of Torah in Eretz
Yisroel. These include those who already rebelled against the
halachic ruling of the American and Eretz Yisroel Torah
leaders forty years ago, which banned sitting together with
Reform elements in any joint institutions or organizations.
This is the also the greenhouse that nurtured Professor
Ne'eman and provided him with the "inspiration" to tout his
offensive ideas against our leaders.
*
When we wish to understand what brings an observant Jew, who
even carefully adheres to a regimen of daily Torah study, to
such an outspoken attack against Torah rabbis, while offering
sanction and protection to the disloyal desecraters of all
that is holy and sacred in our faith, it is clear that it
originates in the grave sin of haughtiness, self importance
and self deception. This leads people to think that they are
cleverer than those who determine the halocho, very
characteristic of those who have never subjected themselves
to the authority of gedolim, which is why they are so
assertive and arrogant when they come into office and
power.
Submission is the underpinning of all acquisitions, including
Eretz Yisroel itself. One cannot storm with self
righteousness and lift a hand against Toras Moshe and the
transmitters of Torah in each generation. Ne'eman went one
step too far. In a short period, he leaped from the obnoxious
labeling of yeshiva students as parasites to accusing our
rabbis of divisiveness and quarrel-mongering. And from there,
to the grave sin of taking the side of the Reform and
demanding a site for their ritual "service" by the very
Kosel, the sacred remnant of Beis Mikdosheinu.
The lack of humility and subjugation can lead to the worst
kind of deterioration. The sin of ego which is expressed by a
man standing for what he believes, even when he is contrary,
and sometimes with superiority, to the consensus of what our
sages, throughout the ages, have learned and taught, ruled
and determined, is the insidious root of all sin.
"And there shall not be any like Korach and his company"
(Bamidbor 17:5) -- this is the lesson which the Torah
seeks to teach us from this portion. "That there be a
remembrance lest there arise any other dissenter to the
mission of Moshe and of his Torah, like Korach and his
company" (Malbim). The single, most effective antidote
against similar deterioration is embracing the trait of
humility and subservience, as is brought by the Admor of
Ozhorov ztvk'l, in his work, Be'er Moshe, Parshas
Shelach:
"The saintly Rov of Lublin z'l wrote in his work,
"Divrei Emes" on the verse, "And you shall view the land,
what it is -- P' Shelach" that this denotes humility,
like "And `what' are we [after all]." This is why the holy
land was called Canaan, from the root of hachno'o,
submission. We also find in the Sheloh (Lech Lecho)
that whoever lives in Eretz Yisroel must always bear in mind
its name of Canaan, submission. The Chida similarly brings
this in Nitzotzei Oros (Zohar part III, 159b) on "to
tour the land of Canaan -- which was given to those who
submit themselves before Hashem and do His will."
