1. What did Korach take?
2. What compelled Korach and others?
3. What is the implication of "all the community is holy?"
4. Was the dispute personal or political or populist?
5. Was Korach's argument false? Does it matter?
(כא) רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר הַקַּפָּר אוֹמֵר, הַקִּנְאָה וְהַתַּאֲוָה וְהַכָּבוֹד, מוֹצִיאִין אֶת הָאָדָם מִן הָעוֹלָם:
(21) Rabbi Elazar Ha-kappar said: envy, lust and [the desire for] honor put a man out of the world.
But a humble man will obtain honor.
and of Aaron, the holy one of the LORD. (17) The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
closed over the party of Abiram.
And Judah’s harassment shall end;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
(ו) הַקִּנְאָה בָּאָה מִגְּרִיעוּת הַנֶּפֶשׁ. אִם הוּא מְקַנֵּא בְּיָפְיוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם, אוֹ בִּגְבוּרָתוֹ אוֹ בְּעָשְׁרוֹ – הֲרֵי אֵינוֹ חָפֵץ בְּמָה שֶׁגָּזַר עָלָיו הַבּוֹרֵא יִתְבָּרַךְ. וְזֶה דּוֹמֶה לְעֶבֶד שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ תְּלוּנוֹת עַל מַעֲשֵׂה אֲדוֹנָיו, וְאֵינוֹ מִתְרַצֶּה בְּעִנְיַן אֲדוֹנָיו – אֵין זֶה עֶבֶד נֶאֱמָן. וְכָל שֶׁכֵּן שֶׁאֵין לְהִתְרַעֵם עַל הַבּוֹרֵא יִתְבָּרַךְ, אֲשֶׁר כָּל מַעֲשָׂיו יְשָׁרִים וּנְכוֹחִים, שֶׁאֵין לְהַרְהֵר אַחֲרָיו.
(6) Envy is the result of a feeling of inferiority. If one envies another's beauty, strength or wealth, then he is unhappy with what the Creator, blessed be He, has decreed for him. This is similar to a servant who complains concerning the deeds of his master, and is not pleased with his master's matters. Such a one is not a faithful servant. All the more so, ought he not to complain against the Creator, may He be Blessed, for all His deeds are righteous and proper, and one ought never to dispute them.
(ב) או יבואר, ויקח קווח, כי יש צדיק שעובד רק לעשות תענוג להבורא ברוך הוא ואצל זה הצדיק אין חילוק אם הוא עושה תענוג להבורא ברוך הוא או צדיק אחר עושה תענוג להבורא ברוך הוא. אבל מי שרוצה לקבל שכר על עבודתו זה רוצה שהוא בעצמו יעשה תענוג להבורא. וזהו ויקח קורח, שרצה שהוא יקח ולא אחר. וזהו פירש''י שלקח מקח רע לעצמו שבשביל זה חלק על משה ורצה להיות כהן גדול ואם היה עובד רק לעשות תענוג להבורא ברוך הוא בוודאי לא היה חולק שיהיה הוא כהן גדול:
(2) Another way of understanding the opening words of our portion. There are some tzaddikim who, in their effort to serve their Creator, are concerned solely with providing their Creator with a feeling of satisfaction and pleasure. It does not matter to such a tzaddik if others worship G’d with a similar purpose in mind or not. If someone, however, serves the Creator with a view to being rewarded for this at some future time, it matters to him that it was he, and not someone else who had provided G’d with this pleasure. When the opening words in our portion are ויקח קרח, “Korach took (credit),” this means that he was concerned with being the only one to receive credit for his actions. This is what Rashi had in mind when he commented on these words, saying: שלקח מקח רע לעצמו, “he made a bad bargain for himself;” his urge to be appointed as High Priest, i.e. serving the Lord for ulterior motives, though commendable on the surface, was the beginning of his undoing. [I have not been able to find where Rashi is supposed to have made the comment quoted by the author. Ed.]
The verse (Num. 16: 1) opens with the Hebrew words vayikah Korah, which in many other places would indeed be translated as “Now Korah took.” However, here we have a problem. Took is a transitive verb, so it must have both a subject and an object. A verb is a “doing” word, and so we look both for the entity that is “doing the doing” (the subject) and for the entity to which the “doing is done” (the object). Clearly, Korah is the subject, but there is no apparent object. There is no hint of what Korah took—there is no description here, nor is there later, that Korah took anything. Except himself. Rabbi Sami Barth
“For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind” (James 3:16).