21 Jun KORACH: NEVER STOP TRYING TO AVOID CONFLICT MOSHE’S SUPER-RATIONAL ATTEMPT FOR RECONCILIATION

The Mutiny
The narrative is
dramatic, tragic, and
unmistakably Jewish.
Four individuals —
Korach, Dasan,
Aviram, and On son of
Peles — lead a mass mutiny against Moshe, the
leader of the Jewish people, and his brother
Aaron, the Kohen Gadol.
“They gathered together against Moshe and
against Aaron,” the portion of Korach records,
“and said to them, ‘It is too much for you! The
entire community is holy, and G-d dwells
among them, why do you exalt yourselves
over the congregation of G-d?”
Moshe responds to Korach in brief and
moving words. He attempts to persuade
Korach, who happens to be his first cousin,
that Aaron was appointed to his position by the
instructions of G-d. Nepotism was not a factor.
“Then Moses sent word to summon Dasan
and Aviram,” the Torah records. “But they
said, ‘We won’t come! Is it not enough that
you [Moshe] brought us out of [Egypt], a land
flowing with milk and honey, just to kill us in
the desert?! What right do you have to set
yourselves above us? Even if you would gouge
out our eyes, we shall not come!’”
These are bold and vicious words. Clearly,
Dasan and Aviram won’t surrender. They are
determined, together with Korach, to
overthrow Moshe and Aaron.
As usual in the wilderness, G-d intervenes.
He decides to wipe out the rebels who are
attempting to invalidate Moshe as the leader of
the Jewish people and the communicator of
G-d’s law. G-d instructs Moshe to announce to
the entire community, “Withdraw from the
pavilion of Korach, Dasan, and Aviram.” A
tragic fate awaits them.
But before Moshe moves to execute G-d’s
instruction, the Torah inserts an unexpected
scene in the narrative:
“Moshe stood up and went over to Dasan and
Aviram.”
Why? Didn’t G-d instruct him to ensure that
everybody withdraws from their dwellings?
What exactly did Moses do when he
approached them? It seems as if Moshe himself
is disobeying what he was told to do!
The text leaves the answer to our imagination,
but the message is clear. Moshe was attempting,
one last time, to persuade Dasan and Aviram to
terminate their crusade. He made one last
attempt to save their lives. It was to no avail.
They would not be moved.
The Talmud, commenting on this scene,
states: “From here we learn that one should
never keep up a quarrel.”
Yet here is the simple question: Must we
derive this noble injunction from this incident?
Hasn’t the Torah already stated explicitly,

“You shall not hate your brother in your heart…
You shall love your fellow as yourself!” Does
this straightforward commandment not teach
us already that we ought never to maintain a
quarrel or perpetuate a dispute, but must
always attempt to eradicate strife? Why would
the Talmudic sages feel compelled to derive
this injunction from the particular ambiguous
verse, “Moshestood up and went over to Dasan
and Aviram”?
A Profile of Quarrelers
To understand this, we must examine the
profiles of these two quarrelers, Dasan and
Aviram. The Torah reports four incidents about
these two men, sufficient material to capture
the nature of their relationship with Moshe.
Incident number one, at the beginning of
Shemos, takes us back some 70 years, to
Moshe’s youth.
“Now it came to pass in those days that
Moshe grew up and went out to his brothers
and looked at their burdens. He saw an
Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his
brothers. He turned this way and that way, and
he saw that there was no person present; so he
struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
He went out on the second day, and behold,
two Hebrew men were quarreling, and he said
to the wicked one, ‘Why are you going to
strike your friend?’ And the man retorted,
‘Who made you a man, a prince, and a judge
over us? Do you plan to slay me as you have
slain the Egyptian?’ Moshe became frightened
and said, ‘Indeed, the matter has become
known!’”
Who were the two Hebrews quarreling with
each other? The Talmud and the Midrash
deduce from the wording that they were Dasan
and Aviram.
Incident number two occurs shortly after
Shemos when the heavenly Manna begins
falling daily in the desert to nourish the
wandering Jews:
“Moshe said to them [the Jewish people],
‘Let no one leave over any of it until morning.’
But some men did not obey Moshe and left
over some of it until morning, and it bred
worms and became putrid. Moshe became
angry with them.”
Who were these men that betrayed Moshe’s
instruction? The Midrash deduces from the
wording, yet again, that it was Dasan and
Aviram.
Incident number three occurs one year later
when the spies returned from the Holy Land
and dissuaded their brethren from the
motivation and willingness to conquer and
settle the Land of Israel:
“The people wept that night. All the children
of Israel murmured against Moshe and Aaron,
and the entire community said to them: ‘If only
we had died in the land of Egypt… Why is G-d
bringing us to this Land to die by the sword?’”

“And one man said to his brother, ‘Let us
appoint a leader and return to Egypt!”
Who exactly was this man who spoke these
words to his brother? Here again, tradition
teaches that it was a conversation between
Dasan and Aviram.
Finally, the fourth incident recorded above,
tells the story of how Dasan and Aviram not
only rejected Moshe’s plea that they come to
see him but went so far as to call him a killer.
Professional Rabble-Rousers
These four incidents paint a fairly accurate
picture of Dasan and Aviram’s characters.
They were not idealistic adversaries, disputing
Moshe for ideological reasons: the fact is that
they quarreled between themselves too,
independent of Moshe. Nor were they driven
by envy, seeking the power and prestige
possessed by Moshe: the fact is that they
fought Moshe long before he became a leader.

Dasan and Aviram, it appears, were rabble-
rousers who would not miss an opportunity to

fight Moses, even if they stood to gain nothing.
They were forever determined to undermine
Moshe and his authority. They even had the
audacity of suggesting that Moshe was a killer
and that he would poke their eyes out, as
though he were a sadist. Dasan and Aviram, it
seems, despised Moshe because he was their
opposite: he stood for everything they loathed.
It is thus astonishing that after all of these
incidents, after an animosity that persisted for
close to 70 years, and even after G-d
instructed Moshe to ensure that everybody
departs from their midst, “Moshe stood up and
went over to Dasan and Aviram” to try and
assuage their ire against him. This makes little
sense. One could imagine some Jews
suggesting to Moshe that his behavior was
humiliating and futile. “You know, Moshe,
that these guys loathe you. For seven decades
they haven’t missed an opportunity to
campaign against you. Even as you invited
them to discuss peace, they responded with
nasty words. Moshe! For the sake of your
dignity and G-d’s dignity, it is below you to
approach them.”
“Do not be kinder and wiser than G-d,” they
must have argued. “If G-d commanded you to
stay away from them, just stay away.”
Boundless Dedication
Yet here we are allowed a glimpse into what
made Moshe the human being he was. Here we
encounter the gigantic heart of Moshe. His
dedication, loyalty, and love to every single
member of his people knew no bounds. Even
as his fiercest and lifelong enemies were
engaged in an intense battle against him, he
would not give up on the chance of seeking
peace with them and saving their lives.
Ultimately, it is this verse — “Moshe stood up
and went over to Dasan and Aviram” — that
demonstrates to us why the mutiny against
Moshe was so profoundly wrong. It was

Moshe’s uncompromising identification with
his people, no matter to what depths they
might have fallen, that made him qualified to
have all the power he had. Only a human being
so selfless and humble can be trusted with so
much power. Moshe’s extraordinary dedication
to his people turned him into the authentic and
quintessential Jewish leader.
Only Peace
Now we can understand the Talmudic
comment that “From here we that learn that
one should never keep up a quarrel.”
The Torah instruction “You shall not hate
your brother in your heart… You shall love
your fellow as yourself” merely suggests that
one should not foster animosity in one’s heart;
one must expose and deal with his or her
grudges, and ultimately learn to love his fellow
human being, since, on a deeper soul- level,
we are children of one G-d.
But how about when you feel that somebody
really has issues with you and is addicted to
the hate? What about when you can justly
assume that no matter what you will do, this
person will never change? Why not just write
him off and accept the quarrel as an immutable
fact of life? Why not make peace with the state
of war?
This is what Moshe taught us at the
moment when he “stood up and went over to
Dasan and Aviram.” “Never keep up a quarrel.”
Despite the fact that he could have rightly
assumed that his adversaries would not change
their position, he did not allow any assumptions
based on past experiences to stop him from his
peace efforts. Moshe knew that fighting and
animosity among Jews was a malignant
disease, and he would not give up the slightest
opportunity to stop it!
In his Tanya, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
states: “Each and every soul of the house of
Yisroel contains within it something of the
quality of our teacher Moshe.” This means that
we, too, are empowered to emulate Moshe’s
example at least in some small fashion. To
become comfortable with disunity and
fragmentation is a tragedy. We must never
cease to confront our arrogance or insecurity
and strive for peace even with people we can
easily write off.
To be sure, if someone is endangering
someone’s life, or causing damage, you have
to create the proper boundaries and stop the
abuse and evil behavior at all costs. Never
allow your idealism to allow innocent people
to suffer. But whatever we can do to help
people repent, and whatever we can do to
generate peace and love, even if it requires
extreme humility and sacrifice, it is well worth
it.