BS”D
Parashat Korach 5776
HaRav Nachman Kahana
The Korachs of Today
In contrast to previous grass-root’s rebellions against Moshe, our parasha records a more potentially disastrous rebellion, instigated by Korach and other formidable personalities within the nation.
Korach was one of the four Levites who merited the task of holding the supporting poles of the holy Ark during the nation’s migration to each new encampment.
It is not clear from the text when this rebellion occurred. The suggestions range from before the Mishkan was erected, to after the Miraglim’s (spy’s) sin, to the end of the forty-year sojourn in the desert. It is also not clear what Korach’s claim was, since there were various allegations against Moshe in the text, each one voiced by a different special interest group within the rebellion.
However, we do know that one segment was swallowed up by the earth, another by fire, and another by sickness.
After the rebellion was crushed and all its participants were no longer alive, HaShem commanded Moshe to collect the staffs of the twelve tribal leaders, including Aharon, and place them near the holy ark in the Mishkan, overnight.
In the morning, Moshe entered the holy precinct to find that Aharon’s staff had blossomed, which was a Godly sign that Aharon’s appointment was absolute and no man had the right to question it.
Question: Why did HaShem wait until after the death of the rebels to prove that Aharon was the chosen one by HaShem to be the first Kohen Gadol (high priest)? Had HaShem performed the miracle of the staffs before punishing the rebels they would — certainly have done tshuva (repented), with no need for severe punishment.
I submit:
Short of HaShem appearing to an individual or a group, miracles have different effects on people.
HaShem knew that Korach was envenomed with jealousy, Datan and Aviram were obsessed in their opposition to Moshe Rabbeinu, and the remaining 250 leaders were too overwhelmed by their sense of importance for a miracle to have any effect on any of the rebels.
HaShem knew that when Moshe would leave the Mishkan with Aharon’s flowering staff in hand with all that it implied, then Korach, with his sharp mind and cynical tongue, would remove any and all semblance of spirituality from the unnatural flowering of a dry staff and explain the turn of events to his advantage. If the miracle was to influence people’s views, it would have to occur when all the “Korachs” would not be there to diminish the miracle’s effect.
In fact, we today, are witnessing a similar chain of events where HaShem’s miracles are being interpreted by contemporary “Korachs”, although of a lower spiritual stature than the Biblical Korach.
There is no end to the miracles that HaShem performs every moment for His people in Eretz Yisrael. If not for HaShem’s ongoing protection, we could not live here one day. We are surrounded by hundreds of millions of fanatical, bloodthirsty, primitive Moslems of all sorts who would not miss an opportunity to destroy the Jewish State. We are witnessing HaShem’s personal intervention for His people in the Holy Land as He creates the conditions whereby Arab hate is turning inward with all the wrath they have been nurturing for generations against the Jewish nation now directed at their “brothers”.
The Shoah (Holocaust) was the end of the 2000 years of anger and punishment of the Jewish people who were exiled from our holy land to be the victims of Yishmael’s and Aisav’s sadism.
From six hundred thousand people and a ragtag army 67 years ago, to close to 7 million Jews today, with the most resourceful army in the world, we are living a life of Biblical proportions. Torah life is flourishing as never before, despite the destruction of the great Torah centers in Europe and North Africa.
Yet there are the “Korachs” among us who, for personal interests, preach that the Medina is a mere political entity, a temporary historical quirk which has no bearing on the God – Yisrael relationship.
“One should not go to the Land, nor is it permissible to say Hallel or thanks to HaShem for the Medina”. The “dry staff” of Am Yisrael is flourishing with great abundance, but the cynical spiritual leaders of the galut continue to preach dissension before their naive congregants who are more influenced by a shtreimel (fur hat worn by some Haredi men) produced from treif (non-kosher) animals than by the miraculous entity called Medinat Yisrael.
Woe to those leaders. Woe to their adherents.
An ongoing miracle setting the final stage
We are witnessing the beginning of an ongoing miracle which might very well be the stepping stone for the final stage before the Mashiach’s appearance.
It is not a miracle directed at a single event or country, like the ten plagues of Egypt or the meteorites that fell from the sky to help Yehoshua in his battle with the five Amorite kings (chapter 10). This miracle will engulf nations and continents, and at its conclusion we shall see the State of Israel emerge as the world’s dominant nation. But first some background sources:
1- Tehillim 92,8-10:
בפרח רשעים כמו עשב ויציצו כל פעלי און להשמדם עדי עד:
ואתה מרום לעלם ה’:
כי הנה איביך ה’ כי הנה איביך יאבדו יתפרדו כל פעלי און:
The wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, in order that they will be destroyed forever.
And You, HaShem, are forever exalted.
For surely Your enemies, HaShem, surely Your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be detached (severed).
2- Bereishiet chapter 11 regarding the generation of the Tower of Bavel:
) ויהי כל הארץ שפה אחת ודברים אחדים:
(ב) ויהי בנסעם מקדם וימצאו בקעה בארץ שנער וישבו שם:
(ו) ויאמר ה’ הן עם אחד ושפה אחת לכלם וזה החלם לעשות ועתה לא יבצר מהם כל אשר יזמו לעשות:
(ז) הבה נרדה ונבלה שם שפתם אשר לא ישמעו איש שפת רעהו:
(ח) ויפץ ה’ אתם משם על פני כל הארץ ויחדלו לבנת העיר:
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
HaShem said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
So HaShem scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
3- Midrash Tanchuma (parshat Beha’alotcha)
…אמר ליה הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה אספה לי שבעים איש, למה שכנוסן של צדיקים הנייה להם הנייה לעולם אבל כנוסן של רשעים תקלה להם תקלה לעולם.
HaShem said to Moshe, “gather together for me 70 men (to serve as the Sanhedrin). And the midrash asks: “Why? (did HaShem say “for me”? and answered) to teach that the unity of righteous men is pleasurable for them and for the world, whereas the unity of evil men causes displeasure for them and for the world.
4- Midrash Yalkut Shimoni Micha (553):
ר’ ישמעאל אומר חמש אצבעות של יד ימינו של הקדוש ברוך הוא כולן לשם גאולה… וכל היד בה עתיד הקדוש ברוך הוא להשמיד את בני עשו שהם צריו ולהכרית את בני ישמעאל שהם אויביו שנאמר תרום ידך על צריך וכל אויביך יכרתו:
Rabbi Yishmael says, “The five fingers of HaShem’s right hand (as it would be) are intended to bring the final redemption (and the midrash enumerates what each finger will do) but the entire hand will be utilized to — destroy Aisav who are HaShem’s enemies, and to eradicate the children of Yishmael (Arab Muslims) who are HaShem’s enemies, etc.
5- Midrash Yalkut Chadash Eretz Yisrael 24
כשמת יצחק, אמר עשו ליעקב, בא ונחלק כל מה שהניח אבינו, ואני אברור לעצמי כי אני הבכור. אמר יעקב, רשע לא תשבע עינו בממון, מה עשה, הניח כל עזבון אביו לצד אחד, וארץ ישראל לצד אחד. הלך עשו אל ישמעאל להמלך בו, אמר ישמעאל, הכנעני והאמורי בארץ ויעקב חושב לירש את הארץ, טול אתה כל כסף וזהב שהניח אביך ולא יהיה ליעקב כלום. הלך עשו ועשה כן, והניח ארץ ישראל ליעקב. אמר לו יעקב, לך מארץ אחוזתי. מיד פנה עשו כל אשר לו והלך לו מפני יעקב אחיו,
And when Yitzchak passed away Aisav said to Ya’akov (his brother): “let us divide our father’s estate, and I as the first born have the right to choose first”. Ya’akov suggested to divide the entire estate in two. On the one side all of the material wealth and on the other side Eretz Yisrael. Ya’akov gave Aisav the right to choose first. Aisav went to Yishmael his father-in-law to seek advice. Yishmael said that the land of Canaan is filled with many nations so there is no chance that Ya’akov would ever be able to achieve its ownership. Therefore, take for yourself all the wealth and Ya’akov will be left with nothing.
From these sources we conclude:
1- HaShem permits evil peoples to rise in stature and power which will eventually cause their downfall.
2- The concentration of power by evil peoples will cause them and the world great pain.
3- The descendants of Aisav and Yishmael are the enemies of HaShem.
4- Yishmael and Aisav will never rest as long as Ya’akov is in Eretz Yisrael.
The Descendants of Aisav
The 28 nations that make up the European Union are for the most part descendants of Aisav (each one has the color red in its flag). Europe has been, and is, the seat of anti-Semitism in principle and in deed. The European intellectuals and politicians who would not soil their hands by putting a can of hydrogen cyanide into a gas chamber have no qualms about creating an Arab state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River to permit the Arabs to finish what Hitler began.
Again Aisav and Yishmael against Ya’akov.
The 28 States that compose the EU are now in the process of laying down a timetable for Israel’s retreat to the 1967 borders and to agree to an Arab State, under the threat of economic and political sanctions.
HaShem saw that the concentration of power brought about by these 28 rogue states has reached its limit, and the time has come for it to crumble and collapse from within.
The first domino to fall is the United Kingdom, chosen for this exclusive “honor” by virtue of its betrayal of the Jewish nation. During the Mandate period, the brutish-British encouraged the Arabs to riot and murder Jews in Hebron, Yerushalayim, Tzfat and Tiberius to be used as a pretense to limit or halt Jewish emigration to the holy land despite the Balfour Declaration and the San Remo conference. England was the willing partner of Hitler in the Shoah.
We shall soon see the slow and painful dismembering of the EU, which instead of realizing their intentions of joining the European countries into a United States of Europe, will deteriorate into individual nations with extreme fascist governments. And from there the world will be a different place.
Our rabbis have taught that Ya’akov and Aisav cannot co-exit; when one falters the other will gain power. The demise of Aisav is imminent, as is the rise of the Jewish nation to the greatest of heights as predicted by our prophets.
Shabbat Shalom,
Nachman Kahana
Copyright © 5776/2016 Nachman Kahana
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