Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Korach 2

mouth and swallows them and all that is theirs and they will descend alive to the pit then you shall know that these men have provoked Hashem something that cannot be predicted and does not happen with the power over just a human being the Earth will collapse or open its mouth and they will fall in not in one spot but if their houses are on one street another house on another Street and another house in a different neighborhood just these three houses will collapse fall in the ground together with all their um families and livestock no one else will be hurt and the Earth will close up and cover them that will be a sign that it is a Divine punishment when he finished speaking all these words the ground that was under them split open and the Earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their household and all the people who were with korach and the entire wealth they and all that was theirs descended alive to the pit the earth covered them over and they were lost from among the congregation not a sign was left from them all Israel all the Jewish people there were around them fled at their sound for they said lest the Earth swallow us they were scared even though it was a precise mission only for them but still it was scary now our sages say that children of korach a few of his sons survived how did they survive as the Earth opened its mouth and they started falling they realized that Moshi is right our father is wrong and they regretted they said we shouldn't have followed our father who should have followed our Rabbi Moshe what can we do it's too late we wish we had another chance and because of their split second thoughts and teshuva a part of Earth Underground extended and they fell on it and they stayed alive while everyone else fell all the way to gehinam and then later they climbed out and survived and they had children and grandchildren and they were part of the Great levite tribe and served in the in the betamic dash um now in verse 35 we learned what happened to the those people who brought kittore a flame came forth from Hashem and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense now chapter 17 Hashem spoke to Moshe saying say to al-azar son of kohen and let him pick up the fire pants from him with the fire they were using copper pans in which they brought coals and ketone and he should throw away the flame the coals for they the pants have become holy because they were used in the service of Hashem they acquired Holiness and now you cannot just dispose of them cannot use them for mundane purpose they have to remain the property of betamic Dash as for the five pans of these Sinners against their souls they shall make them hammered out sheets as a covering for the altar for they offered them before Hashem so they became holy so they took the pants and hammered them out to make them flat as plates and they copper plated the altar all around why they shall be as a sign to the children of Israel the Jewish people should see the copper covering of the altar and they should remember where did this come from or from those people who rebelled against motion Aaron verse 5 as a reminder to the children of Israel so that no alien who is not of The Offspring of aharon shall draw near to bring up the smoke of incense before Hashem that he not be like Korah and his assembly as Hashem spoke about him through motion a warning that anyone who is not a Cohen may not serve in beta mikdash from here we also derive a to follow behavior of korach example of Korah of being uh rebellious and liking to fight and argue so this is an allusion to a commandment of staying away from arguments don't prolong arguments if you fight come to a compromise forgive and forget and move on don't hold on to arguments and don't make a big deal out of them don't be like Korra now unfortunately problems continue verse 6 the entire assembly of the children of Israel complained the next day against motion Aaron saying you have killed the people of Hashem now they're accusing motion Aaron imagine the victims are guilty even though they were defending themselves and they didn't kill anyone they just invoked Hashem to decide and the Jewish people out of fear and concern for their own life are accusing Moshe of uh killing korach his family and their families and 250 men who brought the Qatar and it was when the assembly gathered against Moshe and Aaron they turned to the tent of meaning and behold the cloud has covered it and the glory of Hashem appeared motion Aaron came before the 10th of the meeting Hashem protected motion atom because these people who are now complaining and accusing motion of murder were ready to kill motion Arrow Hashem spoke to Moshe saying remove yourself from among disassembly and I shall destroy them in an instant again Hashem is angry at the Jews and wants to destroy all of them and motion iron fell on their faces again trying to convince Hashem to forgive the Jews yet again again and Moshe realized that a plague began and he is instructing Aaron how to stop the plague Moshe said to Aron take the fire pan and put on it fire from upon the altar the coals and place incense and take it quickly to the assembly and provide atonement for them for the fury has gone out from the presence of Hashem the plague has begun and aharon took the coals and the spices as Moshe had spoken and ran to the midst of the congregation behold the plague had begun among the people he placed the incense and provided atonement for the people he stood before the dead and the living and the plague was checked those who died in the plague were 14 700 people aside from those who died because of the affair of korach so if you count 14 700 people that died in the plague plus the 250 men that brought the Ketone plus and their families extended families there were over fifteen thousand people that died because of Korah because of makhloken arguments now an interesting thing happened here that um kitoret which is until now only killed it killed the two sons of Aaron it killed 250 men now is being used to save people to heal them to protect them from death specifically asked aharon to use ketoret to show the Jewish people that it's not the ketora that kills but rather misuse of ketoret and taking the um Merit the privilege of serving God into your own hands without permission and uh by the way from here came the custom of many cultures to burn spices burn herbs and to produce smoke in the hopes that it will protect them from um evil spirits or from plagues and it is true that smoke chases away mosquitoes that smoke chases away bees however we have to be very careful when using smoke of spices because since it was used by Idol worshipers and in the other nations for idle worshiping purposes we have to be careful that it shouldn't look like we're serving idols and therefore it is not recommended to use what the buharian Jews use to burn the israig is it's better not to if someone is doing it they may have who to rely on however we personally should not encourage it and we should not participate should not do it ourselves we see how dangerous guitar is if you misuse it and if you have wrong thoughts if you think that you are burning it to an idol or to a demon or to a spirit or even to God that is absolutely forbidden if you're doing it just for health reasons just to create a smell pleasant smell for maybe killing the mosquitoes and bugs okay but to do it for any spiritual reason is very dangerous and risky because it may be considered either idol worship or witchcraft and it carries a punishment with it and if a person wants to protect himself the best protection is prayer and Torah study if you um want to have success if you want to have health if you want to have a livelihood and good children ask Hashem for help rely on Hashem learn Torah fulfill Torah and then you will be protected and everything will be just fine with you now we continue Hashem said to Moshe speak to the children of Israel and take from them now on page 831 one staff for each father's household now Hashem realizes that the Jewish people are still not convinced that aharon is the chosen one so he says let's make a test take a stick a dry stick a walking stick a staff from each tribe from all their leaders according to their father's house 12 staffs write a name of each leader and the tribe on the staff and the name of aharon shall you inscribe on the staff of Levy and lay them in the tent of meaning before the testimony put them in the holy of holies and it shall be that the man whom I shall choose his staff will blossom means a stick will become alive and turn into a living tree that will Blossom produce leaves flowers and fruit and that's exactly what happened and through this I shall cause to subside from upon me the complaints of the children of Israel that's what Moshe did and verse 23 on the next day Moshe came to the tent of the testimony and behold the staff of aharon of the House of Levy had blossomed it brought brought forth flowers it sprouted a bud and almonds ripened and you had a beautiful tree instead of our own staff that had branches that had leaves that had flowers and fruit all on the same stick ripened fruit overnight Moshe brought out all the staffs before the before from before Hashem to the children of Israel and they saw and they took each man his staff Hashem said tomorrow should bring back the staff of Aaron before the testimony as a safe keeping as a sign for the rebellious ones let them save this tree and it remained fresh tree even though it was detached from the ground for centuries and whenever Jewish people felt like complaining they would bring out this tree and say look at this this tree is still fresh and still blossoming from the times of motion aharon remember that and stop complaining now verse 27. Jewish people are worried because so many of them died by uh by wrongly approaching the the mishkan the temple the service of Hashem and they're worried that perhaps they will make a mistake in the future and die as a result the children of Israel said to Moshe behold we perish we're lost we're all lost everyone who approaches closer to the Tabernacle of Hashem will die will we ever stop perishing now we're on page 833 and here Hashem appoints kohanim and levim to guard the mishkan the temple and make sure that no one who is not supposed to come in comes in Hashem said to Aaron you and your sons and your father's household the Levites also your brethren the tribe of Levy verse 4 they shall be joined to you and Safeguard the charge of the tent of meaning for the entire service of ten and an alien who's not a Cohen shall not approach you now verse 8 on page 833 we speak about the gifts of kohanim um because kohangim serve in the temple and they don't get land instead they are our Messengers to serve God we are obligated as a thank you and as a payment to give them certain gifts and there are 24 gifts some of which are mentioned in this Torah portion Hashem spoke to Aaron and I behold I have given you the Safeguard of my um tiruma offerings of all the sanctities of the children of Israel which means anything the Jewish people separate whether from their animals or from there uh money or their land or from their uh agricultural produce I have given them to you for distinction and to your sons as an eternal portion this shall be yours from the most holy from the fire their every offering which includes from the peace offerings kohanim get apart and every meal offering from get apart every sin offering from every guilt offering from a shop and which they return to me which means if anyone stole from a convert and convert die and you cannot return it to him anymore and he doesn't have family you give it to kohanim now when page 835 and he continues listing gifts to kohanim in verse 12. all the best of your oil tiruma from oil olive oil and of your wine a little bit of wine we have to give to him and grain turuma from grain we have to give to Connie their first fruits the bikurim verse 13 the um oh I'm sorry the the the first here refers to tiruma that that refers to the three previously mentioned items oil wine and grain now in verse 13 is the first fruits the bikurim and verse 14 every segregated property in Israel shall be yours that's called if a Jew says I'm forbidden from using this object or this property it becomes the possession of betamic Dash and is distributed among kohanim verse 15 every first issue of a womb means the firstborn male of animals you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man first born male child is is redeemed from a kohen for five silver coins and the firstborn of an impure animal shall you redeem if a a Jewish owned donkey gives birth to its first baby and it happens to be a male we exchange that baby donkey for a sheep and we give the Sheep to kohen and verse 16 explains the Mitzvah of pidion haben Redeeming the firstborn baby boy those who that are to be redeemed from one month shall you redeem according to the valuation five silver Shackles by the sacred shekel after 30 days the father has to approach a Cohen and tell him that he wants to redeem his son and give the Quran five silver coins now we'll go to verse 20. in their land you shall not have heritage don't get land for agricultural use and leave him likewise I am your share and your heritage among the children of Israel Hashem says I'm giving you more than real estate I'm giving you myself verse 21 to the sons of living behold I have given every tithe now gifts to living one tenth of our agricultural produce grain um in exchange for the service that they perform in this the service of the tent of meaning now we turn to page 837 and among the children of Israel they shall not inherit a Heritage the Levites just like do not get land in Israel they only get small cities where they can live but no land now in verse 25 Hashem spoke to Moshi saying to the Levi shall you speak and you shall say to them when you accept from the children of Israel the 10 percent the ma said that they give you from their grain you shall raise up from it a gift to Hashem tithe from a tithe tithe is an English word means 10 percent who gets 10 from a Jew has to take 10 percent of that and give it to kohen so the the Jew gives two percent as tiruma to kohen then he gives 10 percent of the remainder to Levi and Levi accepts it and separates one tenth of it and gives it to kohen as well that's called now verse 30. you shall say to them when you have raised up its best from it which means when a levy separates a portion for kohen from what he receives from a Jew it shall be considered for the Levites like the produce of the threshing floor and the produce of the vet which means it becomes fully yours the Levites you may eat it everywhere it does not have Holiness you don't have to bring it to Jerusalem you and your household for it is a wage for you in exchange for your service in the tender meeting you shall not bear a sin because of it when you raise up its best from it which means if you eat it before you separate the 10 for Cohen it is forbidden and the sanctities of the children of Israel you shall not desecrate so that you shall not die the Levites and the kohanim are again warned to protect the Jewish people from um wrongful entry into the temple and make sure that whoever comes into the temple is pure and make sure that only kohanim and levim perform work in the temple this concludes parashat Korah thank you for listening shabbat shalom um