In Parshas Korach the Torah tells us the story about the machlokes, the revolt of Korach against Moshe Rabbeinu. And the Torah tells us that Korach got together 250 of the ראשי סנהדראות, 250 leaders of the Bnei Yisrael, and together they came to argue with Moshe Rabbeinu. And the main argument was against the כהונה גדולה of Aharon, the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu appointed Aharon as the kohen gadol, and they claimed that Moshe Rabbeinu had no right to give the כהונה גדולה, the high priesthood, to his brother Aharon. And the Torah says that Moshe Rabbeinu said to the 250 people, all of you take a pan, each one take a pan, and put ketores in it, and bring ketores to Hashem. And you should know that when you bring ketores in the Beit HaMikdash it's dangerous, so the only one that Hashem chose, he's going to be the only one that will remain alive, and all of you will die. And therefore, he said to them, if you want to take this test, take ketores and bring ketores. And the end was that they did bring the ketores, and a fire came out, and they all got burned, and also Korach and some other people were swallowed into the ground. And that's how the Yidden knew that what Moshe Rabbeinu did was right.

But there are some questions that can be asked on the story of Korach against Moshe Rabbeinu. The question is, how is it possible that the 250 people agreed to bring the ketores? After all, didn't they know that בו נשרפו נדב ואביהוא, that Nadav va'Avihu, the two sons of Aharon, were burned because of the ketores they brought when they really didn't have to? As it's brought down in Tanchuma in Parshas Korach ה and in Bamidbar Rabbah פרשה י״ח ח, and Rashi brings it here in this פרשה, קאפיטל ט״ז פסוק ו. And they knew that if a stranger, a non-כהן, is מקטיר קטורת, he's מתחייב בנפשו, he would die. So the question is, what made them agree to bring the ketores and they weren't scared? And even though this question is asked in the Midrash, and also Rashi asks this question in פסוק ז, as he says, ולא טיפשים היו, weren't they fools, שכך התרה בהן, that he warned them so much, וקיבלו עליהם ליקרב, and nevertheless they accepted to be מקריב? And the answer is, הם חטאו על נפשותם, they sinned with their nefesh, which means in simple peshat that they were ready to give up their life for this. And that's why even though they understood that this will bring might bring him to die, nevertheless they were ready to give up their life for this. So lichorah the answer to the question is that they takeh knew that this is very dangerous, but still חטאו על נפשותם, they sinned with their nefesh, they were מפקיר, they gave up their life for this. But this really doesn't answer the main question: why were they ready to give up their life for this? If they knew that this could cost them their life, but they sinned with their nefesh, they were ready to give up their life, but the question is why? What did they think when they did this, saying that we're ready to give up our life for this? Why?

Another question: concerning when Moshe Rabbeinu said to them, זאת עשו, קחו לכם מחתות, this is what you should do: take pans and bring ketoret, so the Midrash says, and Rashi brings it down, that Moshe Rabbeinu said to them like this: אנו אין לנו אלא השם אחד, etc. We only have one השם, then he said כהן גדול אחד, only one כהן גדול, ואתם ר״נ איש מבקשים כהונה גדולה, you, 250 people, all of you want כהונה גדולה, there could only be one כהן גדול. And Moshe Rabbeinu added, אף אני רוצה בכך, I also want this, I also would like to be a כהן גדול. But nevertheless we only have one כהן גדול, and that is Aharon. So how do you 250 people expect all to be כהנים גדולים? So the question that comes up here is, he was talking here to the 250 people that were arguing, revolted against the כהונה גדולה of Aharon, and they wanted to take it away from him. So how is it possible that Moshe Rabbeinu should, kivayachol, so to speak, participate with them together, saying, אף אני רוצה בכך, I also want it? Even though Moshe Rabbeinu didn't mean that he's chas v'shalom revolting against the כהונה גדולה, and even though he didn't do anything about it, he just said it, but nevertheless wouldn't it be nicer if he would be careful not to include himself together with them? It seems from here that he is saying that what you're saying is right, I also really hold like you, but what can I do, there is no choice, we can't help it. As if he's saying, participating with them, that he thinks they're right. Don't we know that it says in פרקי אבות פרק א׳ משנה י״א, חכמים הזהרו בדבריכם, even when it comes to speak we have to be very careful. So why did Moshe Rabbeinu have to add these words which would seem as if he's participating in their complaints? And the truth is he didn't have to add these words at all. If he wouldn't say it, they would understand what he's saying anyway. It's not the peshat that without this they wouldn't understand what he means. He could have said what he said with out adding these words, אף אני רוצה בכך, I also want it. He could have just said, we only have one Hashem, etcetera, one Torah, one Kohen Gadol, so how could 250 people want the כהונה גדולה? What did he want to add with the words, אף אני רוצה בכך, I also would like to have the כהונה גדולה?

Then there is another question that's asked concerning the general machloket of Korach against Moshe Rabbeinu. We know that Moshe Rabbeinu was promised by Hashem by Matan Torah, as it says in Yisro, kapitel י\"ט, פסוק ט', וגם בך יאמינו לעולם, that they will forever believe in you in Moshe Rabbeinu. So how is it possible that Korach should argue against Moshe, and not only that, he should gather 250 people, and have a lot of Yidden follow him, thinking that not השם שלחני, as Moshe said, not that Moshe was not sent by Hashem, which means that they doubted, it seems, in the truth of Moshe being the agent of Hashem? Now how is that possible if Hashem promised Moshe Rabbeinu that forever they would believe in you? And the question is even stronger: the Rambam says in the beginning of the eighth perek of Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, and also it's mentioned in meforshim of Chumash, in the Ibn Ezra in Yisro, and the Ramban, and the Or Hachaim, etcetera, etcetera, that this inyan that Hashem said to משה, וגם בך יאמינו לעולם, that they're forever going to believe in you, is a result of what the Rambam says earlier, that עינינו ראו ולא זר, אזנינו שמעו ולא אחר. The Rambam says there that the fact that Hashem gave us the Torah is not something that we have to believe, it's something that we saw. The Yidden stood by Har Sinai and they saw with their own eyes and they heard with their own ears Hashem speaking to them and telling them the Aseres Hadibros. And the Rambam continues, and the same thing is with the fact that Hashem said, וגם בך יאמינו לעולם, that they would forever believe in you, this was part of that that the Yidden saw themselves from Hashem and heard themselves from Hashem. They saw and heard Hashem call Moshe Rabbeinu to come over to the ערפל, and they heard the voice speak to him, and that voice said, משה משה לך אמור להם כך וכך, go and say this and this to them. So the Yidden themselves heard from Hashem that וגם בך יאמינו לעולם. The din is so far that if a navi will come and do miracles, the Rambam says, but he's going to try to deny the nevuah, the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu, we won't listen to him. And this will be the best proof, the Rambam says, that the miracles he did are miracles made by magic rather than through Hashem. And the reason is, because the reason we believe in Moshe Rabbeinu is not because of the miracles. It's because we ourselves saw and heard Hashem tell Moshe that he is a navi. Because if the reason we believe in Moshe is because of the miracles he did, so then if another navi comes and does other miracles and does the opposite, so how do we know whom to believe? Moshe we believe in because of his miracles, the other navi also did miracles, maybe we should believe the other navi over Moshe Rabbeinu. But since the reason we believe in Moshe Rabbeinu is not because of the miracles, but because we heard Hashem himself say that he is a navi, then if another navi comes and performs miracles, then it's not that we're weighing miracles against miracles, but we're weighing miracles against Hashem himself saying that Moshe is a navi. So it comes out clearly that the fact that we believe in Moshe is because we ourselves heard from Hashem saying that he is a navi. Now this is concerning the later generations. Certainly concerning that generation itself that stood by Har Sinai definitely believed in Moshe Rabbeinu, heard Hashem say that Moshe is a navi. So how is it possible that after all that Korach came, who himself wasn't even a navi, didn't show miracles, he should come and deny the nevuah of Moshe, and pull along together with him many Yidden, as Rashi says in קפיטל ט\"ז פסוק י\"ט, all to deny against Moshe Rabbeinu, which is not like the other aveiros that the Yidden did in the desert. There, it wasn't that they denied in the nevuah of Moshe, there they just did aveiros. But by Korach it seems that the aveirah was that they denied that Moshe Rabbeinu was the navi and the shaliach of Hashem. Now how does that fit with the promise of Hashem, וגם בך יאמינו לעולם? The answer to this can be said that Korach did not deny the fact that Moshe was a shaliach of Hashem, and whatever Moshe did, he did because Hashem told him to do it, including the fact that Moshe Rabbeinu appointed Aharon as the Kohen Gadol. But what Korach held was that even though Moshe did it al pi Hashem, nevertheless it could be changed, or you could add to it. Just like we find that through davenen and through begging Hashem, you could have Hashem change a גזר דין. When Hashem makes a גזר דין, a decree on a person, nevertheless we know that through tefillah, through davenen and asking Hashem and doing teshuvah, you could have Hashem change a גזר דין, even though it is a din. And as they saw before that even though Hashem had said by the חטא העגל that he will destroy the whole Jewish nation, nevertheless Moshe Rabbeinu with his tefillah had it changed. So Korach felt the same thing could be here, that we could poel'n, we could see that Hashem should take away the כהונה גדולה from Aharon, and give it over to Korach. As we see earlier in Chumash, for instance in Parshas Vayechi, where Yaakov Yaakov said to Reuven that really he should have had the כהונה and the מלכות, from his family should be the כהנים and the kings, but because of what he did Hashem took it away. And the same we find in Parshas Shemos, that when Moshe Rabbeinu didn't want to go to take the Yidden out of Mitzrayim, Hashem said because of that he will take away the כהונה from him. Really, he was supposed to be the כהן גדול, and Aharon the לוי, he will take it away from him. So you see things could be changed. So Korach טענה'ט that here you could also change, especially when it comes to כהונה, the כהונה itself we find was changed. Originally, the כהונה, the עבודה of a כהן, really was done by the בכורים. The firstborn would do the עבודה, but because they sinned by the חטא העגל, that's why it was taken away from them and given over to שבט לוי, to Aharon and his children. So we see that the כהונה itself, one time belonged to one because Hashem wanted it that way. Nevertheless, because of something that happened, it was taken away from them. So Korach said, in this case also, take it away from Aharon and give it to me, and this could be done through Hashem. Especially in this case, Korach had a good reason: Aharon had some kind of connection to the חטא העגל, and after all, the חטא העגל was the reason why they took away the כהונה from the בכורים and gave it over to the כהנים. So why should Aharon have it when he had some connection to the חטא העגל at the time when the whole שבט לוי, including Korach, had no connection to the חטא העגל? As the pasuk says that כל בני לוי came to Moshe when Moshe said מי להשם אלי. And not only that, all of בני לוי went to fight against the people, to kill the people who sinned with the עגל, which came as a result, so to speak, of what Aharon did. So therefore, the טענה of Korach was not that he didn't believe that Moshe Rabbeinu was sent by Hashem. His טענה was to Moshe: why can't you see that it should be taken away from Aharon and given to me, to Korach? Even though from the Chumash, when Moshe Rabbeinu told the Yidden that I'm going to prove that Hashem sent me, if Hashem will make a new creation, that the earth will open its mouth and swallow Korach, and that will prove, he said, that השם שלחני, Hashem sent me. So it seems from the Chumash that the problem was that Korach טענה'ט that Hashem did not send Moshe, and Moshe wanted to prove through the בריאה that Hashem will create that they will be swallowed in the ground, that Hashem did send him. So how does this fit to what we're trying to explain before, that the problem wasn't that they didn't believe Hashem sent Moshe, the problem was they wanted Moshe to do something to change it. But that's no kashya, because this Moshe Rabbeinu said. Moshe Rabbeinu, since, as the pasuk says, והאיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה, he was a big anav, he was very humble, so he felt that because he wasn't worthy, that's why the promise of Hashem to משה, וגם בך יאמינו לעולם, that they will always believe in you, didn't come true. Just like we find that Yaakov Avinu was afraid that שמא נתלכלכתי בחטא, as it says in Rashi in פרשת וישלח קפיטל ל״ב פסוק י״א, that even though he was promised something by Hashem, he was afraid the promise wouldn't come true because maybe he sinned. Same thing with Moshe: Moshe thought maybe he wasn't worthy that that promise should come true. But that's only what Moshe looked at it. But the way we know that that's not so, because Moshe was definitely worthy that the promise should come true. So the way we see it, it can't be that bafoal the reason Korach argued against Moshe was because he didn't believe in Moshe. So we must say that Korach did believe in Moshe. The only thing is, what he wanted was that Moshe should change it, that it should be taken away from Aharon and given over to him.

Why was he really looking to become a כהן גדול? And why were all 250 people looking to become כהנים גדולים? So we could say that it's not because they really wanted to have the שררה, the leadership of a כהן גדול. It's possible that they looked at it as a very high spiritual, רוחניותדיקע position. A כהן גדול is always עומד לפני השם לשרתו, always serves Hashem. A כהן גדול is called קדש הקדשים, as the pasuk says in דברי הימים א קפיטל כ״ג פסוק י״ג. So they wanted to be in a very high madregah like the כהן גדול. And this is the reason Moshe Rabbeinu said to them that the reason you want to be כהנים גדולים is a good reason: אף אני רוצה בכך, I also would like to be a כהן גדול. But since this is not what Hashem said, then too bad, but not that their ta'anah is a bad ta'anah. By them, the ta'anah was so strong that because of that, they were ready to give up their life. And the question we asked before, how is it possible that they should want to give up their life for this? So we could explain it in a good way: they wanted at least once to be מקטיר קטורת and have a taste of this avodah, even if it might cost them their lives. Similar to what it says in sefarim concerning the כהנים גדולים of the second Beit Hamikdash, that the Gemara says in Yoma דף ט עמוד א and in ירושלמי יומא פרק א הלכה א, that each one did not live through the year, because they, in the time of the בית שני, the second Beit Hamikdash, they would buy the position of כהונה גדולה with money, but they really weren't worthy of the position, so by going into the קדש הקדשים on Yom Kippur, they would die during the year. So the question is, milah So the first few didn't know what's going to happen, so they thought they could buy the position. But after many, and they saw that all these that weren't worthy died, why did the next ones again try to buy the position and go in? Knowing themselves that they're not worthy, why weren't they afraid they would die? So the explanation that's given is that there is a limud zechut. This shows how great they were, even though they were not that great, but on the other hand, they had big maalot. They wanted to go into the קדש הקדשים, to be in that place which is the Holy of Holies, even if it might cost them their life. Which means that even these low people had this great desire of being close to Hashem at least once, even if it'll cost them their lives. And that's what these two hundred and fifty people wanted also. They wanted at least once to be מקטיר קטורת with the permission of Moshe Rabbeinu, even though it might cost them their lives. What brought about within them this feeling, this desire of wanting to be Kohanim Gedolim? So this is understood from the words that Korach used. He said, כי כל העדה כולם קדושים, all the Yidden are holy, ובתוכם השם, השם is amongst them, ומדוע תתנשאו, why are you higher than them? Why do you hold yourself higher? So it says in Tanchuma, and Rashi brings it down on the פסוק, that when he said, כי כל העדה כולם קדושים, he meant כולם שמעו דברים בסיני מפי הגבורה. They all heard from Hashem Himself the words by הר סיני. And later he continues and he says, לא אתם לבדכם שמעתם בסיני אנוכי השם אלוקיך, כל העדה שמעו. You're not the only ones that heard by הר סיני the words from השם, אנוכי השם אלוקיך. So we see that Korach connected his טענה with the fact that they heard words from Hashem in Sinai. Now, concerning מתן תורה by סיני, השם said to Moshe to tell the אידן, ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. You will be to Me a kingdom of כהנים and a holy nation. And the Baal HaTurim on the פסוק, and it's also understood from the Mechilta, Agadat Bereshit, פרשה ע״ט, that what Hashem meant then was that every Yid at that time was in the מדרגה of a כהן, and not סתם a כהן, but in the מדרגה of a כהן גדול. It's only because of the חטא later, the Yidden lowered their מדרגה. But essentially, because of Sinai, everyone was a כהן גדול. And this is what Korach said, we all stood by הר סיני, so we all reached the מדרגה of כהונה גדולה, so we all have the potential of being Kohanim Gedolim. So we all want to be כהנים גדולים. Aye, it's only possible for one, but each one had a desire, and felt if we could do the avodah of a Kohen Gadol even once with the permission, we'll do it even though it'll cost us our lives. They were nevertheless wrong because this was not what Hashem wanted, and this brought about a big revolt against Moshe Rabbeinu. But we do see that their ta'anah wasn't just that they didn't believe in Moshe, but their ta'anah had a deep meaning, which was nevertheless wrong because this was against the will of Hashem.