Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Avraham Moeinzadeh
Korach son of Yitzhar son of Kehat son of Levi separated himself…
Many commentaries have been written to explain why the Torah mentions Korach’s ancestors all the way back to Levi. Why wasn’t it enough to write Korach the son of Yitzhar like the Torah’s typical way of introducing people?
Chidah suggests that perhaps the reason for it is as follows:
Rashi teaches us that one of the main claims of Korach against Moshe Rabenu was the fact that Elitzafan ben Uziel was appointed as the head of the tribe. We know that Moshe Rabenu, Korach, and Elitzafan were cousins. Amram was the oldest brother and Yitzhar, Korach’s father, and Uziel, Elitzafan’s father, were the second and the third born sons. When Korach heard that Elitzafan was appointed as the head of the tribe, he claimed that neither Aharon nor Elitzafan were chosen by Hashem and that Moshe Rabenu had made an unjust decision to skip the older brother’s son and appoint the son of the youngest​ brother.
Korach was so involved in justifying his jealousy that he completely forgot his own privileges and eventually lost all of them. According to Korach’s logic, he himself didn’t deserve the privilege of serving in the mishkan because Levi was not the firstborn son of Yaakov. Still Levi was chosen as the tribe that merited serving in the mishkan. Furthermore, his son Kehat was not his firstborn but Kehat was still chosen over all his brothers to have the most prestigious position amongst the rest of the Levis. Yet Korach took all of these extraordinary blessings for granted and started arguing with Moshe Rabenu.
Often we tend to make the same mistake when we complain about a certain facet of our lives. We get so caught up in the negative side of it that we forget all the blessings that we have. Parashat Korach teaches us that if we focus on our Berachot and utilize them, we would never be jealous of others.
Shabbat Shalom.