Fantastic Force
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat Pinchas begins as a follow up of the events in the previous parshiot. Pinchas, seeing a public desecration of God's name, had killed Zimri, chief of the Tribe of Shimon, and his consort, Kosbi. In doing so, even though his action stopped a plague that was killing Bnei Yisroel, he had put himself in great danger with the people, but Hashem validated his actions, bestowing upon him a covenant of peace, and declaring that he and his descendants would henceforth serve as priests.
The Parshah then provides a census of Bnei Yisroel, as they are about to battle Moav and Midyan for instigating the sins that brought the punishing plague on Bnei Yisroel. Each family and its subdivisions was counted. Within this listing there are some interesting digressions. In the Tribe of Reuben, we have, "The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan and Aviram, the same Dathan and Aviram keruei hoeidah/who were summoned by the assembly... among the assembly of Korach... Then the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them with the death of the assembly -- and they became a sign. But the sons of Korach did not die."
In Dimensions of Chumash, Rabbi Bernstein notes that the text implies that Dathan and Aviram died together with their entire families and were not part of the count. They remained a sign for Bnei Yisroel. But we are not told the meaning of the sign. Yet, juxtaposed with that fact, the Torah states that the sons of Korach, the leader of the rebellion against Moshe, Aharon and Hashem, did not die with Korach and remained part of this count of Bnei Yisroel.
In Vayovenu Bamikra, he notes that Dathan and Aviram are called keruei hoeidah. He notes that grammatically this is the causative form, explaining that they called others [to join Korach's rebellion]. Not only did they join, but they were the instigators for others to join as well. In contrast, the sons of Korach, teetering on the abyss, did teshuvah, left the rebellion and were saved.
As Bnei Yisroel is about to go into battle with Moav and Midyan, Hashem specifically commands Bnei Yisroel not only to strike Midyan down, but also to harass them, an additional level of punishment not commanded for the Moavites. Vayovenu Bamikra explains that while Moav wanted to destroy Israel because they feared for their land, Midyan had nothing to gain from destroying Israel; their hate was purely for the love of violence and hatred of Israel. Therefore their punishment was greater. Similarly, Korach rebelled from jealousy. He felt personally slighted and craved the honor acquiring the priesthood would accord him. But Dothan and Aviram had nothing to gain from this controversy. They just wanted excitement and divisiveness. Dothan and Aviram were swallowed by the earth, but the sons of Korach did not die. Both had the choice. Only the sons of Korach chose to repent.
Similarly, each of us has constant choices. Even when we do wrong, we still have the choice to do teshuvah. Let us choose wisely, not like Dothan and Aviram whose deaths became a sign for us. We have the power within ourselves.
As the Torah proceeds with the census, we may observe that each count ends in a round number of fifty, hundreds or thousands. Rabbi Bernstein wonders about this, but, citing Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l, he notes that the census was conducted for military service. Since military units were comprised of fifty or one hundred soldiers, and companies of a thousand men, the tribes were counted as these military units, with the remainders being distributed to equalize the units. However, this generalization falls apart with the count of Reuven, whose count is 43,730. This change is to make it noticeable that people were missing, namely Dothan and Aviram. This obvious change from the norm resulted in their being a sign and caution for others.
In contrast, the count of the Tribe of Levi, the tribe of the leader of the rebellion, Korach, was the round number of 23,000. Therefore, the Torah tells us that the sons of Korach did not die. Korach's sons, arguably the first ba'alei teshuvah, are counted in the census so as not to humiliate them for their earlier misdeed of following their father Korach. They repented, were saved, and remain part of the count of Bnei Yisroel.
Where does the power of teshuvah come from? Rabbi Friefeld zt"l suggests that the unique character of creation ex nihilo did not end when Hashem completed the cosmos. That force remained in the world for man to access in recreating himself through teshuvah. The power of teshuvah existed before creation, and man can escape his failures and reinvent himself no matter how many times he has failed int he past. Begin with something small and observe how the process moves from one step to the next. Rebbetzin Smiles provides an apt metaphor. That first small step is like a small skin graft that grows to eventually cover a significant area of damaged skin.
Indeed, the influence of a small group or even of one individual has the power to affect an entire nation, writes Rabbi Ruderman zt”l in Sichot Avodat Levi. We see it with Pinchas whose brave action stopped the plague that was killing so many of Bnei Yisroel. And, conversely, we see the negative influence one person's actions can have. When Bnei Yisroel entered Eretz Yisroel and they captured Jericho, Yehoshua issued a ban, cherem, that no one take anything of the captured material. One man, Ochon, took one item, and yet the text says, "The congregation rebelled against Hashem," and Bnei Yisroel lost 36 men in their next battle in Ai.
The impact of one person can carry forward for millennia. Sarah Imenu's modesty and circumspection in Pharaoh's palace was the model for the women enslaved in Egypt to maintain their morality, and Yosef Hatzadik's withstanding the wiles of Potifar's wife was the model and protection for the men. In the time of the evil King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, the Prophet Ovadia risked his life to feed the remaining 100 prophets. Every person needs to feel responsible for every one of his deeds, positive and negative, for we cannot know the ripple effect through time that his action will have.
In this regard, Rabbi Weissblum reminds us of the adage that "a person must always see himself as half guilty and half innocent," that any action can tip the scales of the entire world in either direction.
Each person is a link connecting the beginning of creation toward the perfection of creation. The introductory passage to the Zichronos/Remembrance section of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy alludes to the past, present and future, and all is in Hashem's memory, writes Rabbi Friedlander zt”l, citing the Ramchal. Every person in every generation is a link in that chain, and a weak link affects the entire chain. Dothan and Aviram destroyed not only themselves and their immediate families, but all future generations that would have been born from this line. Conversely, the sons of Korach enabled so many future generations to descend from them.
This message is so powerful that we recite Psalm 47, "...By the sons of Korach, a psalm" seven times before we listen to the sound of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, the sound that is meant to arouse us to do teshuvah, writes Rabbi Chasmanz t”l,. The teshuvah of the sons of Korach impacts us today, thousands of years later. While Dothan and Aviram were influenced by their proximity to Korach, his sons, part of his very household, were able to separate themselves from him, were able to do teshuvah. Each of us has free choice in spite of our surroundings, adds Rabbi Druck citing the Steipler Gaon.
In Pirkei Avos, Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi asks, "Which is the right path that a man should choose?" It is difficult to find the right path in the darkness that surrounds us. But Rebbe follows with the answer, "One that is honorable to the one who chooses it and honorable in the eyes of others," for that will bring glory to Hashem and to you, explains Rabbi Chashman. We each have the choice to "choose life."
Creation was not a one time process 5786 years ago, but Hashem recreates the world every moment of every day. At that initial creation, Hashem declared, "And it was very good." Our Sages explain that "good" refers to the yetzer hatov, the good inclination, while "very good" refers to the evil inclination. How could this be?
Rabbi Kluger explains that Man's two components pull him in opposite directions. His earthly body constantly tries to lure him into earthly pursuits. This is man's yetzer horo. This desire is often in conflict with the desire of the Godly soul, the yetzer hatov. Hashem commands us to choose life, to make the appropriate choice. Every time we choose correctly, we reveal God's presence in the world. Every time we pass the challenge, we feel the closeness of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Hashem is waiting for us to choose, to go counter to our physical nature.
Dothan and Aviram refused to repent and were swallowed up. The sons of Korach were at the brink but chose differently. Their legacy lives on in the Psalms attributed to them, in their descendant serving in the Sanhedrin, and in the compelling lesson of the power of teshuvah. As Rabbi Wolbez t”l notes, our actions are not dictated by our surroundings or our DNA. We always have a choice.
We think we can change our behavior any time we want. So we start with something small, one time. We let it pass, then we do it again. Soon it becomes routine, a habit which is now difficult to break. As Rabbi Ochion explains, the yetzer horo begins pulling us with a thin thread that would be easy to break. But every time we repeat the action, we add a thread until we are drawn in by cables that we feel powerless to break. You see the abyss, but feel you are beyond stopping your fall or turning back. Even then, Dothan and Aviram could have changed, as did the sons of Korach, but they refused, writes Rav Hirsch.
Letitcha Elyon brings an interesting observation from Rabbi Avraham Gurwitz of Gateshead. When Bnei Yisroel was about to enter Eretz Yisroel, the nation was divided to face two mountains. When the blessings for obeying Hashem's commands were read, half the people were on Har Grizim; when the curses for disobeying Hashem would be read, they faced Har Eival. Both mountains had the same agricultural conditions, yet Har Grizim was always lush and verdant, while Har Eival was always dried up and desolate. Success does not depend on circumstances, but on Hashem's blessing. We have the choice to bring Hashem's blessing or curse.
When Moshe repeats all the wonders Hashem performed for Bnei Yisroel in Egypt and in the desert, he makes a point of repeating how the earth swallowed up Dothan and Aviram, to remind us that they had a choice as did the sons of Korach, writes Rabbi Zeitchickz t”l. To further emphasize this point, adds Rabbi Tuvyah Weiss, we are reminded that all that Dothan and Aviram possessed was swallowed up, but their portion in Eretz Yisroel remained in the family. Their brother Nemuel inherited their portion of the land of the Palu family. Here too, we learn that family does not determine who you will become. Nemuel's brothers were evil rabble rousers, but he eschewed their ways and remained faithful to Hashem and His servants. Therefore, he was rewarded and inherited their property.
It is easy to be led astray in a world full of physical and mundane distractions. As human beings, we may often stray, but the path of teshuvah is always open to us. Let us not follow the intransigent path of Dothan and Aviram who chose to remain rebellious. Let us learn from the sons of Korach to choose to return when we have erred, for our actions will affect the course of our family and of our nation's history.