Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
Why would anybody take Korah's side against Moshe? Wasn't everyone aware of how much Moshe had done for them?
This midrash suggests that Korah might have taken things Moshe really said (like actual mitzvot), and twisted them or taken them out of context to make them sound really bad.
אָמַר לָהֶן: אַלְמָנָה אַחַת הָיְתָה בִּשְׁכוּנָתִי וְעִמָּהּ שְׁתֵּי נְעָרוֹת יְתוֹמוֹת וְהָיְתָה לָהּ שָׂדֶה אַחַת.
בָּאתָה לַחֲרֹשׁ, אָמַר לָהּ מֹשֶׁה: "לֹא תַּחֲרֹשׁ בְּשׁוֹר וּבַחֲמֹר יַחְדָּו" (דברים כב:י).
בָּאתָה לִזְרֹעַ, אָמַר לָהּ מֹשֶׁה: "שָׂדְךָ לֹא תִזְרַע כִּלְאָיִם" (ויקרא יט:יט).
בָּאתָה לִקְצֹר וְלַעֲשׂוֹת עֲרֵמָה, אָמַר לָהּ: הַנִּיחִי לֶקֶט שִׁכְחָה וּפֵאָה.
בָּאתָה לַעֲשׂוֹת גֹּרֶן, אָמַר לָהּ תְּנִי תְּרוּמָה וּתְרוּמַת מַעֲשֵׂר וּמַעֲשֵׂר רִאשׁוֹן וּמַעֲשֵׂר שֵׁנִי.
הִצְדִּיקָה עָלֶיהָ אֶת הַדִּין וְנָתְנָה לוֹ...
הִנִּיחָהּ בּוֹכָה הִיא וּשְׁתֵּי בְּנוֹתֶיהָ.
Korah said to the people: There was a widow with two daughters in my neighborhood. She owned a field.
She tried to plow, and Moshe told her not to plow with a mix of animals.
She tried to plant, and Moshe told her not to plant kilayim (a mix of seeds).
She tried to gather her crops, and Moshe told her to leave the leket, shikhehah, and pe’ah (the dropped sheaves and the corner of the field for people in need).
She tried to create storage for her harvest, and Moshe told her to donate all kinds of terumah and ma’aser (gifts for kohanim and Levi’im).
She accepted all these rules and gave it all to him...
By the end, she and her two daughters were left crying.
According to this midrash, Korah made up a story in which the mitzvot–which aim to create a more just society–are actually cruel.
In many places, the Torah specifies that we have to protect widows and orphans (for example, Shemot 22:21, Devarim 24:19, and Yirmiyahu 7:6). But Korah doesn’t mention that perspective in his story!
- When someone only presents one side of a story, or tells a story with a particular agenda, we call that “bias.” What do you think the midrash is trying to teach us about bias? Can you find pesukim in the parashah where it seems that Korah is saying something kind of true, but maybe out of context or with a particular bias?
- In your life, can you think of other ways that people view the same facts in different ways—or might leave certain details out of a story—because of bias?
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