20 Jun PARSHAS KORACH KORACH GOT A BAD DEAL

The first two words of
theparsha— Vayikach
Korach [and Korach
took] — are
problematic. There is
no indication
whatsoever throughout
the entireparshaof what exactly Korach took.
It is a strange way to begin a story with an
ambiguous action by the main “actor” in the
narrative. Chazal themselves struggle to
interpret the meaning of this phrase.
The Talmud [Sanhedrin 109b] elaborates:
Reish Lakish interprets “Korach took a bad
deal for himself” (Korach lakach mekach rah
l’atzmo).
This begs the question. If someone
purchases a car which turns out to be a lemon,
that is a bad purchase (mekach rah). If
someone purchases real estate that has just
been flooded, that is a bad deal. In these
cases, at least a person received something in
exchange for his money — a car that is
always at the mechanic or a piece of land that
is under water, so we can call it a “bad deal.”
However, Korach did not receive anything
here. He did not wind up with a bad purchase
or a bad deal. He lost everything he had and

received nothing in exchange!
The sefer Be’er Yosef cites an idea from a
sefer Zayis Ra’anan, which attempts to
explain the teaching of Reish Lakish. Rashi
here quotes a Medrash: “Korach, who was a
clever individual, what did he see in this
foolish scheme?” Korach was not a fool. Far
from it — he was a very intelligent individual.
Why did he agree to this deal? There were
250 people, only one of which could be
Kohen Gadol. Those are terrible odds. It is
the worse than playing Russian roulette.
Russian roulette is a “game” involving a gun
with six slots for bullets. The person puts in
one bullet and spins the cylinder. He puts the
pistol to his head and pulls the trigger. There
are at least five chances out of six that he will
walk away alive. Even so, someone who
plays the game is foolhardy, to put it mildly.
Even more so, if someone changes the odds
such that instead of having a 5 out of 6 chance
of surviving the competition, the person has a
250 to 1 chance against surviving the
competition, certainly the person must be
suicidal to participate in such an endeavor.
What did the wise Korach see that tempted
him to take part in this crazy experiment?

The Medrash continues, “His eyes
mislead him. He saw a chain of great
lineage descending from him. He
prophetically saw that the great Shmuel
HaNavi would descend from him,
about whom the Torah writes, ‘Moshe
and Aharon among his priests, and
Shmuel among those who invoke His
Name.’ [Tehillim 99:6] Karach
assumed ‘In his (Shmuel’s) merit I will
escape.’” The Medrash says that
Korach further foresaw through Ruach
HaKodesh [Divine spirit] that he would
have among his descendants 24 families
(mishmaros) of descendants who would
participate in the Bais Hamikdash service, all
of whom would possess Ruach HaKodesh.
Korach concluded from this prophetic
vision that he himself was a world class
righteous individual (Tzadik yesod olam) and
therefore he was willing to take his chances
with the “Ketores challenge.” He went ahead
with the wager and lost his life.
The Medrash said that his prophetic vision
was imperfect. The Zayis Ra’anan asks —
why in fact did the merit of having such great
descendants not save Korach?
Before sharing his very interesting
answer, I would like to preface it with
the following thought. The Alter of
Kelm once asked why is there such a
thing as “the sanctity of the first born?”
What is the source of this sanctity? The
Alter explains that the source is the
fact that the first-born participated in
one of the greatest manifestations of
Kiddush HaShem in the history of
mankind. The Ribono shel Olam came
down to Egypt, saved the first-born
Jews, and killed out the first-born
Egyptians. This was a sanctification of
G-d’s Name. The Almighty rewards
participation in a Kiddush HaShem. He
does not withhold reward from any
creature. Although they were
completely passive, the Jewish
firstborn were the vehicles for
accomplishing a Kiddush HaShem and
even passive participation in a
Kiddush HaShem generates reward.
The Zayis Ra’anan explains Korach’s
mistake. Korach saw that Shmuel was
going to come out from him. He saw
that 24 mishmaros were going to come
out from him. However, his mistake
was that he did not realize that he
merited the reward of having such
great descendants because he created a
Kiddush HaShem. Korach’s Kiddush
HaShem was that he challenged the
authority of Moshe Rabbeinu and
caused a public validation of Moshe
Rabbeinu’s authenticity through a
miracle from Heaven such that the
entire nation arose to proclaim,

“Moshe is true and his Torah is true.” Korach
caused all this to happen.
Korach’s mistake was that he did not know
which came first — the chicken or the egg.
He thought, “I must be special, because
Shmuel will be my great grandson.”
However, the only reason Korach merited
having Shmuel as a descendant is because he
caused a Kiddush HaShem (albeit not the
way he intended). Never again would anyone
question the authenticity of Moshe
Rabbeinu’s leadership. Korach’s intentions
were malevolent and he did what he did for
the worst reasons in the world but the bottom
line is that a Kiddush HaShem is a
Kiddush HaShem and the Almighty does not
withhold reward from anyone who
participates in the sanctification of His Name.
Korach thought, “I earned this reward (of
great descendants) because of who I am.” He
was wrong. He earned the reward because of
what he (unexpectedly) did. This is what
Rashi means when he says, “his eyes
deceived him.” A person sometimes sees
cause and effect, but he mistakes effect for
cause and cause for effect because “his eyes
deceive him.”
Thus far, we have quoted the idea of the
Zayis Ra’anan. Based on this teaching, the
Be’er Yosef says, we can understand the
words of Reish Lakish (“Korach took a bad
deal for himself.”) We asked, “What kind of
deal did Korah make, he was left with
nothing?” The answer is, no — he made a
deal. The deal was ” Shmuel haNavi comes
from me; 24 families of descendants of
Kohanim who possess Ruach HaKodesh come
from me.” It was a great deal. Would we not
all love to have a grandson like Shmuel
haNavi?
Sure. It was a great deal. However, what
price did he pay for this deal? The price is
that he stews in Gehinnom [Hell] and every
thirty days they reissue his sentence. He gave
up his “This World”. He gave up his “Next
World”. He burns in Gehinnom. Was it worth
the price? No. It was not worth the price.
Losing all of your material and spiritual
wealth in this life and in the afterlife is a bad
deal regardless of what the person receives in
exchange.