29 Jun HAIR AND MONEY

Our Sages tell us that

Korach was one of the

wealthiest members of

the nation. In fact, the

Gemara states that

Korach had 300 mules

carrying just the keys to his treasuries.

Yet, despite his wealth, he was

dissatisfied. So much so that he made

the foolish and catastrophic mistake of

leading a revolt against Moshe

Rabbenu. How did this happen? What

led Korach, who had so much, to do

something so foolish, for which he lost

everything, including his life? The

Midrash explains that at the time when

the tribe of Levi was set aside as the

special tribe that would serve in the

Mishkan, Hashem had Moshe perform

a special ceremony to “purify” the

Leviyim for this role. This included the

removal of all the hair on their bodies.

Korach was a Levi, and so all his hair

was removed. When his wife saw this,

she said to him, “Look what Moshe is

doing! He made himself the leader and

his brother the kohen gadol, and now

he made you bald. Why do you put up

with this?” Korach listened to his wife,

and made the fatal mistake of

launching a revolt. Why was Korach’s

hair such a sensitive point? Why

would this, in particular, drive him to

lead a revolt against Moshe Rabbenu?

Hair is something extraneous to the

body, but which is attached to the body.

Many people relate to money the same

way. There is nothing wrong with

having money, or with having a lot of

money. There is also nothing wrong

with wanting money, or with wanting a

lot of money. There is, however,

something very wrong with being

attached to money, with being

consumed by the pursuit of money,

with making one’s happiness or the

value of his life depend upon his

money or his material standards. For

too many people, money is like hair –

extraneous matter which they keep

attached to themselves, which they

make part of their being. G-d decided

to set aside one special tribe, the tribe

of Levi, that would be devoted to

spiritual pursuits. As part of their

consecration ceremony, they were

required to remove their hair, to detach

themselves from materialism, to show

that money must never be seen as an

essential part of our being. This was

Korach’s wife’s complaint. She

wanted to Korach to fight to keep his

“hair” attached to himself, to keep

money and material pursuits part of

who he was. There’s an expression that

goes, “Money is a very

good servant, but a terrible master.”

Money is great when it serves us,

when it enables us attain things that

help us enjoy life. But, as in the case

of Korach, it becomes terribly

destructive when it takes

over our lives and controls us, making

our happiness dependent on it. Let us

try to keep money external to our

beings, and always ensure that it

serves us, instead of controlling us.