A vort from the Rebbe on this week's parshah, פרשת קרח. In פרשת קרח, we learn that קרח gathered 250 special people and they were on his side, and they all complained, and it seems like they all wanted to become כהנים גדולים. And Moshe Rabbeinu told them, \"You know what? This is what you should do: You should all take pans, bring קטורת on it on the מזבח. But I'm warning you, I'm telling you that everyone is going to die except one, the one that Hashem chose. And you'll see that you'll all die, and basically Aharon will be the only one that will be alive, and this will prove that he is the Kohen Gadol.\" And the question that is asked, actually Rashi asks it, and the words Rashi uses is וכי טיפשים היו? What, they were stupid? שכך התרה בהן, he warned them like that, וקיבלו עליהם לקרב, and they nevertheless went to be מקריב the קטורת. They knew that what Moshe Rabbeinu says has a lot of truth, and they knew it's going to come true that they'll all die. So why did they take the chance? Rashi asks, \"Were they stupid?\" And Rashi answers, אלא הם חטאו על נפשותם, they sinned with their נפש, they sinned with their נשמה. Exactly what that means is not clear, but if you want to put it in simple words, it means they were ready to commit suicide. But the question is, why did they do that? Why were they ready to commit suicide, if they knew they were going to die? What's the purpose?

And the Rebbe explains that here we find a limud zechut even on these people who were so bad that this is what they did, there's a limud zechut on them, something positive from what they did. And as the Rebbe always does, and this is connected to ג' תמוז, that one of the things of the Rebbe is that he always found a limud zechut, and even the worst people, there's always something good that you could find. Not that the bad thing they did is justifiable, but there's always something good that you could see. And we find that in other things also.

And the Rebbe gives an example. We find in the בית שני, the second Beis Hamikdash, it says there were throughout the second Beis Hamikdash there were 300 כהנים גדולים. Throughout the 420 years, there were 300 כהנים גדולים, which comes out almost like average one Kohen Gadol a year. Because Shimon Hatzadik was a Kohen Gadol for 40 years, Yochanan Kohen Gadol was a Kohen Gadol for 80 years, so it's already 120, we're left with 300. So if you had 300 כהנים גדולים, it means on average one a year. Why was there one a year? Because the כהנים גדולים in those days were not ראוי, not fit to be כהנים גדולים. They paid money to get this position, etc., etc., and they weren't fit. And therefore, these Kohanim Gedolim, or they would die on Yom Kippur in the קודש הקדשים when they went in, or even if they didn't die, throughout the year they would die, so an average came out that was a Kohen Gadol a year. And the question is, how did that work? Mileh the first few, even though they died, so the next one thought maybe this is just happened, but after so many died and they saw that if you don't deserve the position then you're going to die, how did the other Kohanim continue? And here we see 300 Kohanim Gedolim continued, knowing that probably they're going to die. And the answer is that even though these are people not so good, nevertheless they still felt it's kedai, it's worth for them, at least once to go into the קודש הקדשים on Yom Kippur, to be so close to Hashem even though it means that they're going to die. They had this תשוקה, this desire to be close to Hashem. As low as they were, they had this desire, and they were ready to give up their lives for it.

The same thing here: These 250 people had the desire to be Kohanim Gedolim, which in itself is a good thing. Moshe Rabbeinu actually said to them, \"I also want it. I also would like it, but Hashem didn't give it to me, but I would love it.\" The fact that they wanted to be Kohanim Gedolim, that's something that is good. Here they had a chance once to be מקריב קטורת to Hashem, so they felt even though they're probably going to die, but it's worth for them to to to feel and to do this avodah to Hashem, even though it means that they'll lose their lives. Just like the Kohanim Gedolim felt it's worth for them to go into the קודש הקדשים, even it means they're going to lose their lives, the same thing here, these 250 people were ready for that. It was a sin, it was wrong, they shouldn't have done it, but nevertheless they experienced something so special that made them close to Hashem, and this is what they wanted. And that's the biggest limud zechut you could find on them, that they were ready to give up their lives, to lose their lives, as long as they were having a chance to serve Hashem in such a way, be close to Hashem in such a way. And this shows how you're supposed to look at a Yid, that no matter how low he looks superficially, you should always know there is something good in him. And that's the derech of the Rebbe, and everybody that we find in his so many other things, whether it's in Tanach or in Gemara, negative things, and the Rebbe finds always something good in it. And that's a lesson for all of us, when comes to ג׳ תמוז you have to take a lesson from the Rebbe's derech in everything, and this is one of the things: to always find the good in every single Yid.