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When Moses assembles the people in the desert for the second time in forty years, as we read in Parashat Pinhas, the description is totally factual and dry – a list of names, no historical descriptions. But there is one cardinal difference between the assembly recorded in Parashat Pinhas and those that preceded it. The list of the sons of Reuben contains one anomaly – when Datan and Aviram are mentioned, the incident in Parashat Korach is recalled, with the addition "and the sons of Korach did not die." This is most surprising, because no mention is made of many other things that occurred in the desert, such as the episode of the spies or the golden calf. Yet this one jarring note is inserted, the story of Korach. Last week, in Parashat Shelach, we discussed the episode of the spies and the transgression which is less often recalled, that of the people who decided nevertheless to enter the land without the sanction of God – the 'ma'apilim'. Sometimes a misdemeanor doesn't appear to be particularly serious, but in this case it was no less severe than the sin of the spies.

The Torah now turns to the story of Korach. During their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the children of Israel were tested time and again, but never more severely than now. Moses was often angry with them, but he always interceded, prayed, or appealed to God – whether it was Miriam's leprosy, the sin of the Golden Calf or the episode of the Twelve Spies. But in this case he refuses to appeal – it's the only instance of Moses completely losing his temper. His only entreaty is that God should refuse to accept the offering of Korach and his henchmen. He further requests that their prayers should go unheeded – this is totally out of character for Moses. He sets a test for them. And to cap it all, he wants them to be punished.

The text reads as follows (Numbers 16:15, 28-35): "And Moses was exceedingly angry, and said unto the Lord, 'Respect not their offering.' Rashi asks whether this means simply that when they make their offering it will not be accepted. Or, he suggests, this means that when the offering of the people is presented, which belongs to all Israel, including the sinners, Korach and his band should no longer be regarded as part of that 'tzibur', the public. They are to be excluded from 'Klal Yisrael.' "I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them… And Moses said, Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things, for I have not done them of my own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord makes a new thing, and the earth opens her mouth and swallows them up, with all that pertains to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, when he finished speaking these words, that the earth that was under them split asunder. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, with their houses, and all the men that were with Korach, and all their belongings. They and all who were with them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at their cry, saying, Lest the earth swallow us also. And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who offered incense."

There are several points that require clarification. Firstly, what is meant by 'the common death of all men?' The ten spies died a natural death, and the people saw and understood. Three thousand people who had worshipped the Golden Calf died likewise, and the people saw and understood. For forty years, following the sin of the spies, the 'generation of the wilderness' died out, and the people saw and understood. Why was in necessary for Korach and his followers to die an unnatural death?

'But if the Lord makes a new thing' – Rashi says this refers to hell (Gehinnom). If it already exists, because there have already been people deserving of this fate, well and good. But if not, now is the time to bring hell into existence, says Rashi.

"…then you shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord." It is not I whom you have provoked, but God. We don't yet understand what it is that Korach and his henchmen have done, but we are aware that it is something so huge and significant that none of the punishments meted out until now will suffice.

After the enormity of this episode, the people could have been expected to say, 'We have seen the punishment of God, and we repent.' Instead we read (Numbers 17:6): "But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have killed the people of the Lord." I repeat my question: What exactly are Korach and the others guilty of, to deserve such an unusual death? In what way have they provoked the Lord? And the result has been to further distance the people, to foment more rebellion, more crisis, and more anger. The people had just witnessed two hundred and fifty of their number being literally swallowed up by the earth – we would expect them to be stunned and shocked. Instead, they are rebellious and angry – why? At this point, God sends a plague among them. The two hundred and fifty men who were killed for offering incense – that was just the beginning. "Now those that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside those that died in the matter of Korach" (17:14). It's quite possible that if the earth hadn't swallowed up the transgressors, all of this could have been avoided – the anger, the bitterness and the rebelliousness. So, to put it bluntly, what good did it do? Nearly five thousand people perished, two thousand more than those that died because of the sin of the Golden Calf. To put this in proportion, bear in mind that thirty six men died in the Battle of Ai, which was regarded as a catastrophe.

Now, after the plague, we could hope that perhaps things would settle down and the normal order of things would be restored (Numbers 17:15): "And Aaron returned unto Moses, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the plague was stayed." God then told Moses to take one rod from the prince of each tribe – the rod that blossomed would indicate that its owner was chosen by God. The princes brought their rods and when Aaron drew forth his rod it had budded overnight, bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. This is a far cry from the previous episode wherein the earth split asunder and the people were beset by plague. It would appear that now, finally, the people would be become calm.
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels, and you shall quite take away their murmuring from me, that they die not. And Moses did as God had commanded him. And the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whoever draws near to the tabernacle of the Lord shall die – shall we be consumed with dying?" These are the words that conclude the episode of Korach. What follows are the mitzvot of the parashah. But this does not necessarily indicate that the people entirely accepted the situation.

I still do not understand the sin itself. What did it consist of? This must be understood. It's quite plain that a terrible sin occurred, but I don't understand why it required a 'new thing' as punishment. Why didn't Moses see fit to utter even a single prayer? And the most difficult question of all – in Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy), Moses reviews all the events of the past forty years of wandering in the desert, for the benefit of the new generation who are poised to enter the Promised Land. The sin of the Golden Calf takes up almost an entire chapter. The sin of the spies is described in detail. We would have expected an exhaustive description of the Korach episode, since it is the only attempt at rebellion in forty years. But when we turn to Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy), there is no such description. Finally, in chapter 11, we read as follows (Deuteronomy 11:2-9):

"And know you this day, for I speak not with your children who have not known, and who have not see the chastisement of the Lord your God, His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm, and His miracles and His acts, which He did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; and what He did to the army of Egypt, unto their horses and to their chariots; how He made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord destroyed them unto this day. And what He did unto you in the wilderness, until you came to this place. And what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliav, the son of Reuben. How the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel."

We read of the plagues upon Egypt, followed by the parting of the Red Sea, and immediately afterwards we have a reference to Dathan and Abiram. What did they do? Nothing. But this passage appears as part of the section on signs and wonders manifested by God. What does Moses want us to remember from this episode? Korach himself isn't even mentioned. We have an entire parashah named for this 'tzaddik', but here the reference is only to Dathan and Amiram.

We opened, if you recall, with a reference to Parashat Pinchas, which contains a reference to Dathan and Amiram. It tells us that ".. the sons of Korach did not die." In the Book of Psalms, King David refers to the story of Korach – he, too, refers to Dathan and Amiram, without mentioning Korach. Yet again, we are not told exactly what the sin consisted of.

In Sefer Devarim, among the list of wonders and miracles, we are told that 'the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up' – is this the only lesson that we are meant to learn from the entire incident?

"But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which He did. Therefore you shall keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land, that you are going to possess, that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers and to their seed, a land that flows with milk and honey."

It seems to me that we must first understand the sin of Korach and his band, but before we go into it, I want to return to the verses with which we opened. Moses says: "Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things, for I have not done them of my own mind." The purpose of these acts is to endorse the appointment of Aaron.

The Rambam, who formulated the Thirteen Principles of Faith, wrote: "The eighth principle is that the Torah is from heaven. It is as follows: we believe that the whole Torah now in our possession is the same that was given to Moses our teacher, peace be unto him. In other words, it came to him in its entirety from the Almighty…" (The Lord spoke to him, but I don't understand how). "…And it is not known precisely how it came to him, but it came unto Moses, peace be unto him. And he was like a scribe to whom all is dictated and he records all the events of the time, the stories, and the mitzvot, wherefore he is called 'mehokek' (inscriber)." It makes no difference whether the words are dry genealogical lists or 'I am the Lord your God' – because it is all Torah mishamayim. If you don't accept this principle you are lacking the first and most basic principle of faith – that the Torah is not a collection of tales about people, it is not even Moses' own book. "Because it is all the Torah of the Almighty - pure, holy and true. He who says that these verses and stories were told by Moses himself, is considered by our sages and our prophets to be the greatest of all heretics. He is as one who says that these are chronicles and stories and there is no benefit in them." The Rambam discusses this at length. He goes on to ask why it is such a grave matter to assume that the Torah is not divine. "That which we practice today: the pattern of the Sukkah, the lulav, the shofar, tzitzit and tefillin …" (none of these are specifically described) "… this is the selfsame pattern that the Almighty instructed Moses and he instructed us; he who was entrusted with a mission was faithful in his mission. And the text that teaches is this eighth principle is, as is written: Moses said, Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things, for I have not done them of my own mind." In other words, according to the Rambam, Korach and his men sought to deny the divinity of the Torah. Interestingly, when the episode of Korach is studied, this commentary by the Rambam is not quoted. Yet it is precisely this verse upon which the Rambam based the eighth principle of faith, that the Torah is from Heaven.

What exactly was the claim of Korach and his group? Let's look at the text: "Now Korach, the son of Izhar, the son of Kehath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliav, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men, and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them – wherefore then do you lift yourselves up above the congregation of the Lord?" There is nothing in their remarks to indicate that they do not accept that the Torah is from Heaven. They are saying – God is among the congregation. What's wrong with their comments? There's only one problem – they don't accept the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

Moses attempts to speak to them, but they don't listen. Verses 12-14 read as follows: "And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliav, who said, We will not come up. Is it a small thing that you brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except you make yourself altogether a prince over us? Moreover you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up." Dothan and Abiram have another complaint – basically it's the same as that of Korach, but the demagoguery is different. They maintain that they have left behind a land 'flowing with milk and honey' but they don't feel the same about the land they are about to enter – so indirectly, they also speak slightingly of Eretz Yisrael. But this doesn't add up to an allegation that the Torah is not from Heaven.

I think it all really begins right here – in order to understand what happened in Parashat Korach, we must first deal with something that doesn't appear in the Parasha. We are not told when the episode took place, and I find this intriguing. We are merely told that "Korach…. took men." The episode of the Spies had just ended, and the episode of Korach follows immediately after. Incidentally, there are marked structural similarities between Parashiot Shelach and Korach. Half of Shelach deals at length with the Spies and the subsequent incident of the ma'apilim. The second half discusses the issues of the drink offering, the dough offering, and so on, ending with tzitzit, and apparently it has no connection with the foregoing. Similarly, while the story of Korach and his followers takes up more than half of Parashat Korach, the group of mitzvot that follows seems somewhat out of place. Parashat Korach also refers to tithes – trumot and ma'asrot – but Korach never indicated that he wished to be a Levite, he wanted to take the place of Moses.

Korach intended to foment a revolution. Moses interpreted it differently. He did not see it as an attempt to rebel, but as a true test – if it was an attempt to overthrow Moses, then Korach would succeed. But if it was directed against the Almighty, then all would witness the earth opening to swallow him up. In order to foment rebellion, it is very important to maintain momentum and to generate the right atmosphere. Bear in mind that the nation had only departed from Egypt the previous year. The sea had parted before them, and now they were in the desert. The Rambam says the following: "Yet, upon their arrival in the Wilderness of Paran they were consumed by the fire of craving and many died… When the spies sinned Moses did not pray for them and their decree was not annulled, and the princes of all the tribes died in the plague before the Lord and it was decreed that all the people would remain in the wilderness and there they would die. Then the spirit of the people was embittered and in their hearts they said that from Moses' words the fault had come upon them. Then Korach found the opportunity to dispute his deeds, thinking that the people would listen to him."

Moses, Aaron and Miriam were the leaders of the people. We are all accustomed to 'instant leadership' – leaders who promise everything within a year or two, or three… After the sin of the spies, Moses announced to the people: "I promised that with the help of God we will reach Eretz Israel. We've already arrived in Kadesh. Now I'm letting you know that for the next forty years we're staying right here. If you are between twenty and sixty years of age, you're going to die here!" Can we begin to grasp the effect of these words on the people? The leader is unable to reassure them that everything will be fine within a short time. In fact, he makes a commitment to the contrary. What does he plan to do with them for the next forty years? They will spend a total of nineteen years in Kadesh. And all the time they face two vistas: on the one hand, the ma'apilim who wanted to storm the hill because they believed that Eretz Israel was the solution to all their problems, even if they did not have the support of Moses, and the Ark of the Covenant remained within the camp. On the other hand, the cowardice of the spies who wanted, at all costs, to remain in the Galut with its pillars of fire and cloud, its well and its manna. In the face of these two prospects, the people now hear their great leader declaring that for every day spent worshipping the Golden Calf, they would spend a year in the desert. This was a golden opportunity for anyone who wished to wrest the leadership from Moses. The timing was perfect.

Now we can see that Dothan and Abiram's question was not rhetorical: Is it a small thing that you brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? You have indeed brought us here to kill us – you told us so yourself, only yesterday! You announced that everyone assembled here is going to die in the desert. Why don't you assume the responsibilities of leadership? We are all going to die here, that's true. But what are you doing to encourage us? You talk about our sons who will inherit the land – forty years from now! In modern terms, that's equivalent to ten terms of office! You're telling us that in forty years everything will be fine – but that's not what you should be saying right now.. Three thousand people sinned with the Golden Calf, out of an entire nation numbering millions of people, and right now tensions are running very high.

Under these circumstances, for Korach, Dothan and Abiram require a powerful argument in order to foment revolution and seize control. The children of Israel are not a rabble demanding to eat meat – they must be appealed to on an ideological level, and the reasons for the revolution must be clearly explained. The sin of Korach bears the guise of ideology par excellence, and the argument of the rebels is expressed as follows:

'Are you aware of the source of all our problems? For years now Moses has been telling us that if we progress, we will arrive. So we progress, we advance, and then he tells us that we haven't arrived because we have sinned. If so, we should really accept that our present situation is ideal – and let's stop dreaming.' Dothan and Abiram begin and end their speech to Moses with the same words: 'We will not come up (lo na'ale).' In effect they say to him - Why do you want to bring us to Eretz Israel? Is it because it is a land flowing with milk and honey? (What a nostalgia-laden phrase that is – the children of Israel were raised on it). Dothan and Abiram don't deny that Eretz Israel may well be every bit as beautiful as described, but, in a flash of sheer brilliance, they say instead – all lands are equal, so stop telling us about one that is holier than the rest. And then, along come Korach and his men, saying that all men, too, are equal. And if so, you can stop telling us that if we fulfil this mitzva we will attain this, and if we fulfil the next mitzva we will attain the next thing. Everything is holy, all men are holy, all lands are holy, all nations are equal, all tribes are equal. There's no such thing as 'the duties of the Levites' – anyone can do them, because we're all equal. If Moses and Aaron were not sent by God then perhaps all these mitzot were thought up by them alone.

Korach and his men, Dothan and Abiram emerge immediately after the crisis of the Spies and the ma'apilim – they appeal to the nation when it is at its most vulnerable. They have been traumatized by the preceding events, they have just been notified that they will be all die during the next forty years, which will be spent in the desert. Now they are appealed to by two hundred and fifty men, all of whom, incidentally, are bechorim – first born sons – who say to them: Let's simply accept that this is as good as it gets, let's stop striving for something better.

Now we begin to understand why, in the Book of Deuteronomy, the episode of Korach appears in conjunction with the description of Pharaoh in Egypt. Pharaoh operated according to the same principle – he negated the existence of the Almighty, exhorting the people to work harder and refrain from believing in worthless promises. 'Your present circumstances are the reality, let everyone attend to his work and stop aspiring to some kind of morality and holiness, some better world than this. What you have now is good enough. Why should Moses and Aaron disturb the people at their work?'

That was the last time that the people complained about the leadership of Moses and Aaron – until now. This is why, after Moses exhorts the people to "love the Lord your God …" (Deuteronomy 11:1) he goes on to remind the people of all the miracles that the Lord had wrought, ending with verse 9: "… That you may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord swore to your fathers to give unto them and their seed, a land that flows with milk and honey." This is a reference to Dothan and Abiram, who negated this concept by comparing Eretz Israel with Egypt.

"For the land which you go to possess is not as the land of Egypt, from whence you came, where you sow your seed and water it with your foot, as a garden of herbs. The land which you go to possess is a land of hills and valleys, drinking water of the rain of heaven. A land which the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year" (Deuteronomy 11:10-12).

Why is it necessary to point out that Eretz Israel is not like Egypt? And why is Egypt mentioned rather than Greece or Sihon, for example? What's so special about Egypt anyway? … 'where you sow your seed and water it with your foot, as a garden of herbs.' Egypt has a constant source of water in the River Nile, so there is never a need to pray for rain, to pray, to aspire, to dream, to bear in mind that you must heed the precepts of the Almighty. In marked contrast to this, Eretz Israel is a land that always has the eyes of God upon it. This is very unsettling – there's no way to escape the gaze of God. How did the Maggid of Mezheritz put it? "A land that eats its inhabitants" – if you don't advance, if you don't progress, the land will consume you.

What comes next? "And it shall come to pass, if you shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of the land in its due season…" Do you remember the first Rashi of Parashat Korach? "And Korach … took: He brought together two hundred and fifty heads of the Sanhedrin, and attired them in robes of pure blue wool." How did he reach this conclusion? Because he linked Parashat Korach with the preceding Parasha and its description of the tzitzit fringe with its thread of blue. They then approached Moses and mockingly asked him whether a garment that is entirely of blue is subject to the law of tzitzit? "In a robe of different colored material, one thread of blue exempts it, and this is entirely of blue, should it not exempt itself from the law of tzitzit?"

What's the connection here? Let's examine the structure of the parshiot. In Parashat Shelach, with the episode of the Spies and the ma'apilim, Moses had two sins to deal with: the claim of the former that there was no need for Eretz Israel, and the claim of the latter that there was no need for the Ark of the Tabernacle. To counter this, Moses presented the people with a list of mitzvot for 'when you come into the land…' This is how Parashat Shelach ends, and the last mitzva of all concerns the blue thread in the fringe of the tzitzit – the blue thread that resembles the blue of the sea, which in turn reminds us of the blue of the sky, and thence the Seat of Glory.

Now Korach comes forward, takes the blue thread, and says: 'For one blue thread you need seven white ones. If the whole tallit is blue, do we need tzitzit at all? They are all holy – the entire nation, all mankind.' Perhaps Korach was really repeating what Cain had done long before. God did not accept Cain's sacrifice, and Moses prayed to God not to accept the offering of Korach. in a sense, Korach has continued where Cain left off. Cain, too, claimed that there is no difference between one offering and another, regardless of the conduct of the one who brings the sacrifice. After Cain killed his brother, God asked "Where is your brother Abel." Clearly a rhetorical question, it was put to Cain for the sole purpose of ascertaining whether he was prepared to admit his culpability. All he had to do was say: 'I did wrong, I'm sorry.' Instead, his response was "Am I my brother's keeper?" his attitude was 'why did you receive my brother's offering while rejecting mine – we are all equal!' Whereupon God replied, "The blood of your brother cries out to me from the earth" – the same earth that subsequently opened its mouth. Korach's attitude is the same as that of Cain, echoed by all those who seek to further their interests in the guise of ideology. Everyone is equal – everyone, all religions, all nations, all sects… Sometimes a great deal of time must elapse before it becomes apparent how much evil, corruption and destruction has been perpetrated in the name of 'equality.'

Moses says, "Almighty God, if you accept their offering you are in fact saying that it's not such a bad thing to assert that Torah is not from heaven. If we say that Torah is from heaven, what are we really saying? We are saying that You ordained it and we must therefore obey and live according to its precepts." Korach opposes the education system developed by Moses and Aaron in the wake of the trauma caused by the spies and the ma'apilim. On the subject of tzitzit, he says: on the contrary, it's all blue. No need to differentiate, we are all equally holy, Israel and Egypt are alike. But Israel is not like Egypt – Israel needs rain. And what is needed for rain? The earth, the sky and the clouds are all in place, but unless man prays for rain, it will be withheld. Man is the link between earth and heaven. If he prays, the rain will fall and the earth will bring forth grass and fruit… and you will eat and be satisfied. Excellent!

Now we return to the Garden of Eden. Adam sinned and therefore he had to be removed from the Garden. Why? Because he had already forgotten that in order for the Garden to blossom, he must appeal to the Heavens. As soon as Adam forgot to pray to God, he turned to the serpent instead, and consequently he was banished from the Garden of Eden. Crime and its punishment. Once he had been removed from the Garden and beheld the flaming sword turning in all directions, barring his re-entry, he recalled what he had forgotten. Thorns and brambles sprang up all around him and reminded him to appeal to God, to pray for rain. The whole of Creation requires Man to connect the earth with the heavens – otherwise, there is no purpose to Creation. Everything would remain as it was on the Sixth Day, before Man was created – heavens, earth and everything they contain. Man was created to link the earth with the heavens.

If we don't pray, what will happen to us? We read the answer in Deuteronomy 11:16-18, which we recite every day: "Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and you turn aside to serve other gods, and worship them. Then the Lord's wrath will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not its fruit, lest you perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord gives you. Therefore you shall lay these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes."

Rashi explains the final verse as follows: "And you shall lay these My words (upon your heart: Even after you have been banished make yourselves distinctive by means of My commandments: lay tefillin, attach mezuzot to your doorposts, so that these shall not be novelties to you when you return." In other words, if you don't heed my commandments, you will be banished from the land and sent into exile. That's when Korach appears, to tell us that if we're in exile, we don't need to observe so many mitzvot. He will tell us that if we're exiled, everything is all the same, really – one country is just like another, and they are all equally holy, all the people are holy… Beware, make sure you continue to lay tefillin, because he who ceases to lay tefillin will not return to see the blessing of the rainfall. "And you shall teach them to your children… that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heaven upon the earth."

This is the sin of the Spies and the ma'apilim, the sin of loss of motivation, the loss of faith that it is nevertheless possible to reach the promised land. There are those who lack all faith in God. They say that in Eretz Israel such faith is not really required, because we are all Israelis and equal. It takes time to arrive in Eretz Israel, and there are all kinds of mini-leaders in the way, Dothans and Abirams, who lead us astray, saying that we can find a land of milk and honey which is very similar – Egypt! we already know of one who found a similar country: After returning from Egypt, in the wake of famine, Lot parted from Abraham and went to Sodom. What did he see there? "…It was well watered everywhere… like the land of Egypt…" Sodom was attractive, serene and peaceful.

If the men had died a normal death, Moses would have declared that he had not been sent by God. "I am no better a leader than they are, except in one respect: I represent the eternity of Israel ('Netzach Israel'), I represent the Word of God, I represent our faith. Just once, in forty years, I claim Your full backing – if these men die the common death of all men…then the Lord has not sent me". Nobody could understand what they had done that was so terrible that an unnatural death was called for. Only by the creation of a 'new thing', by the earth's opening its mouth, could it be demonstrated that we must not stray from the path of striving, even if we are promised all kinds of 'instant' lands of milk and honey, 'instant' holiness, or 'instant' leadership.

When Moses refers to the story of Korach in Sefer Devarim, he is in essence telling us that there is nothing more to add, other than the following: you must remember that they died an unnatural death so that when you ask why, you will recall that true worship requires one step after another on the way to the faith of that which you believe. The greatest foe of this belief is its conversion into different form, the thought that you can conjure up another idea to serve in its stead. That's why the story of Korach finds its place here. It is also referred to in another context: the daughters of Zelafchat approach Moses with the request for their own estate – they wish to obtain their father's inheritance in the same way that a son is entitled to inherit. They tell Moses that 'our father died in the wilderness, and he was not among the congregation of Korach who convened against the Lord.' In other words, he believed that the forty years would come to an end. He wasn't one of those who said, why bother? Why continue holding on to the vision that one day we'll arrive in Eretz Israel? Why not accept that one country is just like another?

When the path can clearly be discerned and the boundaries are clearly marked, we can continue to strive upward, saying "Let us go up at once… for we are well able to overcome."