Korach – Boundaries

In this week’s פרשה Moshe gives the people a sign by which they will know that he was sent by Hashem. He says if קרח and his people die a natural death then I was not sent by God, but if the ground opens under their feet and swallows them, then you know that I have been sent by Hashem. The word that is used for the ground opening is פצתה. That word is not very common in general and is only used twice in the entire תנ”ך regarding the ground opening up. One is here, and the other is by the story of קין and הבל. After קין kills הבל, Hashem says that he will be cursed from the ground that opened to take in the blood of הבל, and the word there is also אשר פצתה את פיה.

And if you look through the stories there are other linguistic parallels as well.

1- In our פרשה, Moshe gets mad at the people (ויחר למשה מאד) and tells Hashem not to accept their קרבנות. By קין we have the reverse, Hashem doesn’t accept his קרבן and then he gets mad (ויחר לקין מאד).

2- Moshe falls on his face twice in the story of קרח when he is confronted by their עבירות, but both of those “fallings” are followed by either a verbal defense of the people or by action to defend them. קין falls on his face after he realizes his עבירה but does nothing about it.

3- After קרח is swallowed the פסוק says that the people raised their voices (נסו לקולם) about קרח being swallowed. And Hashem famously tells קין, קול דמי אחיך צועקים אלי מן האדמה, that the “voice” of your brother’s blood is calling out to me. Interestingly the גמרא says that רבה בר בר חנה heard קרח calling out from the ground משה אמת ותורתו אמת.

4- The פסוק says that קרח was ויאבדו מתוך הקהל, and הבל was also lost from the kahal of humanity so to speak.

I think if you examine these parallels, that these stories seem to be inverses of each other. Whatever קין did incorrectly was redone by Moshe but done correctly. Moshe commands the ground to do the very thing that it had once been cursed for doing, and yet when Moshe does it is used as a proof that he is on the same side as Hashem.

What is the significance and message for us of these stories being compared to each other, and why are they inverses of each other?

קרח made the mistake of thinking that we don’t need boundaries in life. He said to Moshe, we are all holy, we all saw Hashem at הר סיני, and we should all be able to interact with Him without a כהן גדול. The problem is that we need boundaries to exist in the world and to have a relationship with Hashem. There is something about our relationship with Hashem that needs to be held with awe and reverence, something that should be guarded.

קין’s mistake started before he killed his brother. His real mistake was that he was jealous of הבל. And the only reason he was jealous was because he didn’t realize that they each had a separate mission in life. Hashem accepted the קרבן that הבל brought which means that הבל was meant to serve Hashem by having his קרבן accepted. And Hashem didn’t accept the קרבן that קין brought which means that קין was meant to serve Hashem by not having his קרבן accepted. They each had their own mission. But קין didn’t realize this and therefore he overstepped the boundary that existed between him and הבל.

I think the reason these two stories are paralleled by the Torah is to show us the importance of boundaries. Moshe argued to קרח that we need boundaries, and the reason is because of what happened to קין. Without boundaries I will be jealous of everyone else and not realize that I need to operate my life within the specific set of boundaries that I was given.

If you look back to what Hashem defined Adam’s mission as, it was both to work and guard the land, לעבדה ולשמרה. The way to be עובד and שומר is to both cultivate a relationship but also to keep boundaries. Only if I see boundaries clearly can I extend myself fully within those boundaries.

And that is why Moshe was able to command the ground to open to swallow קרח and make him lost from the people. Moshe was tying back to that original mistake that קין made with the ground and showing that קרח was making the same mistake. Our relationship with Hashem needs to be guarded and kept sacred. And that means that there are tiers of those who can come closer and those who need to stay farther away. Throughout the Torah Moshe shies away from tasks that he thinks are not his תפקיד (he didn’t think it was his job to go to מצרים to take out the people, and Hashem needed to convince him), but when something does fall within his boundaries he handles it to his absolute fullest (he even stood up to Hashem on many occasions when he felt it was the right thing for him to do). So Moshe is the one that is able to inverse קין’s mistake and use the ground swallowing people up to show that Hashem is the One who sent him on this mission of leading the nation. These are the boundaries that Moshe lived in.

And, if you look at the second half of the פרשה, it is a redefining of what he roles of the kohanim are. Since קרח challenged them, they needed to be reaffirmed in their positions. And when the Torah sums up the mission of the kohanim, it says, ושמרתם את משמרת הקדש, they shall guard the holiness which needs guarding. And the entire section is full of this word שמירה. The undertone of the kohanim’s mission was to guard that which needed guarded. To disprove קרח and קין that nothing is holy, and to show that to truly cultivate something you need both to work and serve it, as well as to guard it and hold it sacred.