Korach , Meraglim & The Anti-Zionist Tzaddikim

 

It is important to understand  that Korach was no common rabble-rouser, and his supporters were no common street-urchins. The two hundred and fifty people who rallied to Korach’s call were “princes of the congregation, those called to the meetings, men of renown” (16:2).

That is to say, “they were the most distinguished of the community; ‘those called to the meetings’ – they were skilled in determining leap years and months; ‘men of renown’ – famous throughout the world” (Sanhedrin 110a).

Rashi (commentary to Sanhedrin 52b, s.v. למה תלמיד) states unequivocally that these 250 men were תַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים, talmidei chachamim; and the Metzudat Zion (commentary to Ezekiel 23:23) calls them “gedolim” – Torah-leaders of the generation.

But maybe this should not be all that surprising: after all, Korach and his gang were continuing in the footsteps of the meraglim, who were also among the greatest Torah-leaders of the generation, and who so recently had led the nation into disaster by rejecting the Land of Israel.

Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal Hy”d (1885-1945), in his seminal work “Em ha-Banim Semeichah”, has fascinating insights into the spies’ character and the implications for today.

Rabbi Teichtal, who was initially fervently anti-Zionist, changed his views entirely during the Holocaust; he wrote “Em ha-Banim Semeichah” while on the run from the Nazis in 1943, and was murdered on a train transporting prisoners from Auschwitz to Mauthausen on 10th Sh’vat 5705 (24th January 1945).

He wrote:

“The holy Zohar and the Shelah explain that selfish motives caused the spies to commit [their sin]. They feared that they were fit to be princes [only] in the desert, but once they enter the Land of Israel new princes would be appointed. Let this be an instructive lesson.

"Even the greatest gadol in Torah and righteousness should not trust himself when he opposes the movement to build the Land. He should not think that his intentions are fully for the sake of Heaven, for he is certainly no greater in Torah and righteousness than the princes whom Moshe sent. Consider and study this well and you will see that it is the truth” (Chapter 3).

He continues: 

“Moshe chose the wisest and most righteous men to be the spies. Nevertheless, the Midrash refers to them as “foolish messengers” since they spread an evil report about the Land. The same is true today. Our tzaddikim are certainly no more righteous or learned than the spies were… "

Rabbi Yosef Chayyim Sonnenfeld z”l derived from the words of the Shelah that even tzaddikim can be spies” (Chapter 4:18).

A few pages earlier, Rabbi Teichtal cites Rabbi Yosef Chayyim Sonnenfeld’s precise words: 

“The Shelah says that the spies were tzaddikim. Thus even tzaddikim can be spies!” (Chapter 4:16).

And if tzaddikim can be spies, then tzaddikim can also be rebels against the authority of Moshe.

When the spies chose their own prestige over the Land of Israel, the generation was condemned to remain in the desert, and all men over the age of 20 years were doomed to die in the desert.

When Korach and his gang threatened to return to Egypt rather than accept Moshe’s authority and to continue the trek towards the Land of Israel, thousands were killed: at least 250 who were with Korach who were swallowed into the ground (Numbers 16:31-33), another 250 who were killed by fire (v.35), and 14,700 in the plague (17:14).

When the tzaddikim, the Torah leaders of the generation, choose their own prestige over the Torah, or over the Land of Israel, or both, the entire nation inevitably suffers. Thus it was with the meraglim, and thus it was immediately afterwards with Korach and his gang, and thus has it been even since.

Even in our own time, we have seen how even among the greatest tzaddikim and the greatest of the Torah sages there have been those who preferred money, power, and prestige to the Land of Israel . There was a Litvishe Gadol who instructed the MK of Shas to vote for the Oslo Accords.

And we saw, only too clearly, the stark horror of the results – the thousands of Jews murdered in terror attacks, the tens of thousands crippled and scarred for life, the unspeakable anguish of survivors at funerals and after.

This Gadol later retracted when he saw the devastation that these Accords created.

It was too late!

Ever since the yearly cycle of Torah readings was standardized towards the end of the Second Bais Ha'mikdash era, and the fixed calendar as calculated by Hillel II, we read Parashat Korach either on the first Shabbat of the month of Tammuz, or else (as this year 5782) on the Shabbat in which we announce the month of Tammuz in the coming week.

So as we prepare to enter the month of Tammuz, we begin to hear the ominous approach of the Three Weeks of mourning for lost Land and lost Holy Temple. This is the generation of return to the Land; and it is in our hands to make this also the generation of rebuilding the Holy Temple.

For sure, the spies and Korach and his gang are yet in our midst, the tzaddikim and Torah leaders who still oppose the return to the Land and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.

We are only too familiar with the debunked arguments from people as diverse as the meraglim, Korach, and Dathan and Aviram they state:

"it is forbidden to hasten the redemption; (I remember when the Satmar Rebbe said that Chabad's slogan "we want Moshiach now" is hastening the redemption.)

the Jewish nation is not yet ready for the Holy Temple; (this argument was also used by the Gedoilim from Baval refusing to make Alyah to rebuild the second Bais Ha'Mikdash)

we must relinquish parts of the Land of Israel for the sake of pikuach nefesh (saving lives); life is holier than land;

 it is forbidden to rebel against the nations. 

All these arguments are all excuses not to make Aliyah and have been answered time and again. 

But if, as Rabbi Teichtal Hy”d said, even the greatest gadol in Torah and righteousness should not trust himself when he opposes the movement to build the Land, then likewise even the greatest gadol in Torah and righteousness should not trust himself when he supports giving parts of the Land of Israel to a murderous enemy – especially if his personal prestige depends upon that withdrawal.

And neither must he trust himself when he opposes rebuilding the Holy Temple.