02 Jul KORAH: THE CRACK IN THE DAM

Parashat Korah tells the
story of the quintessential
mahaloket – fight. The
story is that of the
rebellion led by Korah,
who set out to challenge
the authority of Moshe Rabbenu.
Learning this story can teach us so
much about why and how we need to
avoid fighting.
At one point in the story, Moshe sends
a message to two of the leaders of the
rebel group – Datan and Aviram –
asking them to come meet. Moshe’s
intent was to try to talk things out and
hope to make peace.
But Datan and Aviram refused. They
sent a nasty message back to Moshe,
saying that no matter what, they were
not coming to meet with him.
The Midrash says something startling
about Datan and Aviram’s response. It
says that they went so far as to tell
Moshe, “Even if we will end up going
to Gehinam and being punished forever

because of this, we’re not ending this
fight. We don’t care about anything.”
It is very possible that the Midrash
does not mean to say that Datan and
Aviram actually said this. Rather, it
means that at a certain point during this
fight, Datan and Aviram realized that
they were wrong. They understood that
Moshe Rabbenu did not make himself
the leader out of arrogance and
selfishness. But it was too late. Once
the fight got started, there was no
turning back.
A fight is like a crack in a dam. Once
there is a crack, the water starts flowing
through it until eventually the whole
dam falls apart, and there’s a destructive
flood. The same is true of a fight. Once
a person gets into a fight, it is so, so
difficult for him to back down. He feels
compelled to persist, to keep going, to
stand his ground, to take the fight to the
bitter end, NO MATTER WHAT!!!
This is why fighting is SO VERY
DESTRUCTIVE. Because people can’t

stop. Once they get started, they’ll
sacrifice everything to win the fight.
They’ll even ruin their lives.
Rav Haim Palagi writes that he never
saw a fight that did not end destroying
lives. Rav Haim Shmulevitz writes that
he has seen yeshivot which were able
to withstand the greatest tests and
challenges. But when a fight starts in a
yeshiva, it almost always ends up
destroying it.
This is why Korah’s revolt ended in
such a dramatic fashion – with the
ground opening up and swallowing the
rebels. Hashem wanted to show that
there is nothing more destructive than
fighting. So He did something drastic,
something completely out of the
ordinary, to show just how destructive
fighting is.
The lesson for us is not to let this crack
open, not to let the fight start.
When we hear something hurtful, or if
there’s something we disapprove of or

don’t agree with, we need to think very,
very carefully before turning it into a
fight. Far more often than not, IT JUST
ISN’T WORTH IT. Whether it’s with a
spouse, another family member, a
friend or a business associate, we need
to be so careful not to let the crack open
in the dam.
Because once it does, destruction will
almost invariably follow.
Let us always remember the great
danger of fighting, and do everything
we can to maintain peaceful relations
with the people around us.