Here is an excerpt from my English Literature paper about "Korach's Rebellion":
Based on the Ramban’s explanation, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev explains the rebellion of Korach. The decree that any male over twenty would not be permitted to enter into the land of Israel negatively influenced the nation’s love toward Moses and caused them to have second thoughts about his leadership abilities. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak writes in his book Qedushat Levi, that the reason for the disruption in the relationship was because once the decree was made, there became a division in the nation of Israel between those who would be permitted to enter into the land of Israel and those who would die in the desert before reaching Israel. The Hebrew word for desert is midbar (מדבר), which is closely related to the word for speech, dibur (דבור). This corresponds to the existence of the Torah on the level of speech, to the extent that Moses had the ability to speak to God and receive the Torah from Him, and ask Him anything that he needed to know. There is another aspect of the Torah which relates to the physical influence of the Torah which are all of the laws that are done by physical people using physical things. This aspect of the Torah corresponds to the land of Israel. That is why Moses, who never made it to Israel, was able to win in battle through prayers alone (Exodus 17:12 Rashi ad loc), whereas Joshua, the Jewish leader who conquered Israel, had to fight physical battles. When Korach realized that he was not going to ever enter into the land of Israel and that he was going to die in the desert, he created a mentality for himself that the only part of the Torah is the one that is relevant to the desert, and that is the Torah of speech. That aspect of the Torah would only be relevant to Moses who had the ability to speak to God and learn the Torah from Him. However, for the rest of the people who are unable to talk directly to God and learn the Torah from Him, the Torah becomes irrelevant. That explains why Korach was killed by the ground opening up and swallowing him. The ground is representative of the physical world, and his being swallowed up by the ground was showing that the existence of the Torah in the physical world does indeed exist. All of the commands of the Torah are fulfilled by using the things found in the world, and that is why in Korach’s death he was totally consumed and swallowed in by the world.
Do you think it is too Chasidic?
Based on the Ramban’s explanation, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev explains the rebellion of Korach. The decree that any male over twenty would not be permitted to enter into the land of Israel negatively influenced the nation’s love toward Moses and caused them to have second thoughts about his leadership abilities. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak writes in his book Qedushat Levi, that the reason for the disruption in the relationship was because once the decree was made, there became a division in the nation of Israel between those who would be permitted to enter into the land of Israel and those who would die in the desert before reaching Israel. The Hebrew word for desert is midbar (מדבר), which is closely related to the word for speech, dibur (דבור). This corresponds to the existence of the Torah on the level of speech, to the extent that Moses had the ability to speak to God and receive the Torah from Him, and ask Him anything that he needed to know. There is another aspect of the Torah which relates to the physical influence of the Torah which are all of the laws that are done by physical people using physical things. This aspect of the Torah corresponds to the land of Israel. That is why Moses, who never made it to Israel, was able to win in battle through prayers alone (Exodus 17:12 Rashi ad loc), whereas Joshua, the Jewish leader who conquered Israel, had to fight physical battles. When Korach realized that he was not going to ever enter into the land of Israel and that he was going to die in the desert, he created a mentality for himself that the only part of the Torah is the one that is relevant to the desert, and that is the Torah of speech. That aspect of the Torah would only be relevant to Moses who had the ability to speak to God and learn the Torah from Him. However, for the rest of the people who are unable to talk directly to God and learn the Torah from Him, the Torah becomes irrelevant. That explains why Korach was killed by the ground opening up and swallowing him. The ground is representative of the physical world, and his being swallowed up by the ground was showing that the existence of the Torah in the physical world does indeed exist. All of the commands of the Torah are fulfilled by using the things found in the world, and that is why in Korach’s death he was totally consumed and swallowed in by the world.
Do you think it is too Chasidic?
Hate to point this out srul-
ReplyDeletethe phrase you have in line 7 ("the reason.....was because....") is actually not English. Mine bruder can back me up on this one, as can many of my friends who know that this mistake drives us Zlotnicks crazy (thanks to father Zlotnick who has been correcting us for years).
I would like to thank a dear friend of mine who brought this post to my attention, knowing that i would be all over this error. He chooses to remain anonymous, so for the purposes of this comment he will be known as Joshua S....no wait, thats too obvious.........J. Schwarz
thanks zlou. it is not too late to change it.
ReplyDeletezlou, if i may correct you for a moment, the father always corrects me but i dont care. you're the one that cares
ReplyDelete