## Da'at Zekenim on Numbers Chapter 16

###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:1)

**ויקח קרח.**איתא בחלק ויקח אמר ריש לקיש שלקח מקח רע לעצמו. קרח שעשה קרחה בישראל ד"א קרח עולה בגימטריא שד"ד ששדד ולא שמר מצותיו של הקב"ה.

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
ויקח קרח, “Korach betook himself;” according to the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish in the Talmud tractate Sanhedrin, folio 109, the above words mean that Korach made a bad bargain by challenging Moses and Aaron. He caused a “bald spot” among the Israelites, his very name meaning: “bald,” devoid of hair where there ought to be hair. An alternate interpretation of the use of the word: ויקח, at the beginning of this portion. The numerical value of the letters in his name i.e. 308, is equivalent to the word שדד, “he destroyed, laid waste;” he did not observe the laws of the Torah.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:2
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:2)

**בן יצהר**שהרתיח את כל העולם כצהרים.

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
בן יצהר, “son of Yizthar;” who had illuminated the earth as does the sun at noon;


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:3
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:3)

**בן קהת**שקיהה שיני מולידיו.

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
בן קהת, “who in turn was the son of Kehat;” who had blunted the teeth of those who begat him. (By becoming infected with his grandson’s ambitions, though personally being a bearer of the Holy Ark)


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:4
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:4)

**בן לוי**שנעשה לויה לגיהנם ופריך וליחשוב נמי בן יעקב בן שעקב עצמו לגיהנם ומשני אמר ר' שמואל בר רב יצחק יעקב בקש רחמים על עצמו שנא' ובקהלם אל תחד כבודי.

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
בן לוי, “the son of Levi;” “who made himself a companion to gehinom, hell.” You may ask why the Torah does not also trace him to the founding father of the Jewish nation, to Yaakov? This is answered by a Rabbi Shmuel son of Yitzchok, who says that Yaakov prayed that his name not be associated with such a person as Korach. This is how he understood Genesis 49,6: בקהלם אל תחד כבודי, “let my honour not be associated with their counsel.”


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:5
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:5)

**ודתן**שעבר על דת.

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
ודתן, “and Datan,” who flouted Jewish law.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:6
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:6)

**ואבירם** שאיבד עצמו מלעשות תשובה.

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
ואבירם, “and Aviram,” “who prevented his heart from repenting.”


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:7
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:7)

**ואון**שישב כל ימיו באנינות.

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
ואון, “and On,” who spent all his days in mourning.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:8
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:8](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:8)

**בן פלת** בן שנעשו לו פלאות.

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
בן פלת, “son of Peleth,” a son who performed miracles.”


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:9
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:9)

**בני ראובן**בן שראה והבין. מדרש לפי שהיה ראובן בכור אמרו יש לנו חלק בכהונה לפיכך החזיקו במחלוקת גם הם.

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
בני ראובן, “of the members of the tribe of Reuven;” a son who was intelligent enough to correctly interpret the meaning of what his eyes beheld.” Seeing that he was from the tribe of Reuven, Yaakov’s firstborn whom his father had deprived of the privileges of the birthright, Korach thought he had reason to join his rebellion.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:10
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:1:10](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:1:10)

**ואמר רב**און בן פלת אשתו הצילתו אמרה ליה מאי נפקא לך מיניה אי משה רבא את תלמידא אי קרח רבא את תלמידא אמר לה ומאי איעבד דהואי בעצה ואשתבעי לי בהדייהו אמרה ליה ידענ' דכולה כנישתא קדישתא היא שנא' כי כל העדה כלם קדושים תוב בביתך ואנא מצילנא לך אשקיתיה חמרא וארויתיה ואגניתיה בביתא יתבא אבבא וסתרא לשערא כל דאתא חזי לה רישא פרוע וחוזר אדהכי והכי נבלעו והוא ניצול וקיימ' בנפש' חכמו' נשים בנתה ביתה ואול' בידיה תהרסנו זו אשתו של קרח שהחזיקה יד בעלה במחלוקת ואמרה ליה חזי מאי עביד משה איהו הוה מלכא לאחוה שוייה כהנא רבא לבני אחוה שוינהו סגני כהונה אי אתיא תרומה אמר תהא לכהן בכורים לכהן מעשר ראשון נמי דשקליתון אתון אמר חד מן עשרה תהוי לכהנא ועוד גייז לכו למזייכו שנא' והעבירו תער על כל בשרם ומיטלטל לכו כי כופתא שנא' והנפת אותם תנופה אמר לה איהו נמי קא עביד הכי אמרה ליה איהו כיון דרבא הוא וכלה דידיה הוא תמות נפשי עם פלשתים הוא דקאמר לכו עבידו תכלתא ואי ס"ד תכלתא חשיבא אפיק גלימא דתכלתא ולבשויהו לכלה בני מתיבתך. ולכך נסמכה פרשת ציצית לכאן לו' לך שעל ידי תכלת הוחזק המחלוקת כי באותה שעה עשה קרח משתה לכל אותם ר"נ איש ונתעטפו כלם טליתות שכלה תכלת אמר לו קרח למשה טליתות הללו פטורין מן התכלת אם לא אמר לו חייבין אמר לו ארבע חוטין של תכלת פוטרין טלית שכולה תכלת אינו דין שתפטור עצמה אמר לו בית שהוא מלא ספרים פטור מן המזוזה או לא אמר לו חייב אמר לו כל התורה כלה מאתים ושבעים וחמש פרשיות אין פוטרין את הבית וב' פרשיו' שבמזוזה פוטרין את הבית אין אתה מצוה עלינו אלא מלבך:

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
ואמר רב, and he (Korach) said: “enough, too much!” On son of Peleth was saved from sharing Korach’s fate by his wife. She told him that regardless of the outcome of the rebellion, he would not become a member of the priestly caste regardless, so that the outcome would on no account be of personal benefit to him. To this, On answered that seeing he had sat in the council with Korach and had sworn him loyalty, how could he now renege? His wife said to him: he himself has declared the whole community as being holy, so how could he punish you?” (compare verse 3) She told him to simply remain inactive, and she would devise a means to save him. She gave him wine to drink, and made him comfortable in the house. She then sat at the entrance to her tent and busied herself with straightening out her hair, a lengthy procedure, and not one to be watched by males. Before she had completed her coiffure, Korach and his supporters had already been swallowed by the earth. She thus became the model that Solomon had in mind when he wrote in Proverbs 14,1: חכמת נשים בנתה ביתה ואולת בידיה תהרסנו, “the wisest of women builds her house, whereas the foolish one destroys it with her own hands.” Solomon’s model for the foolish woman was Korach’s wife, who had urged him on to confront Moses and Aaron in their desire for more personal glory. She supported her husband in his quarrel by describing Moses as being only concerned with appointing his closest relatives to leading positions but ignoring her husband and appointing his nephews, Aaron’s sons as deputy High Priests instead. He allocated portions of every farmer’s harvest to the priests and even demanding of the Levites’ tithes that they give ten percent to the priests also. She described the manner in which the Levites had been appointed instead of the firstborn of each family’s household as the only ones that could enter sacred grounds as having been a demeaning procedure, each one of them having been bodily heaved as if they were chattel. (Compare the procedures described in Numbers 8,13) In short, Korach’s wife was a demagogue of the first order, who instead of calming his sense of having been passed over when honours were being distributed, egged him on, so that ultimately he and all his family-except his sons who recognised their father’s bias, so that they eventually became authors of the most beautiful hymns in the book of Psalms,-thus partially redeeming the honour of the family. [Different Midrashim elaborate on how Korach used even the occasion when Moses had elevated him to become a Levite as having performed acts to demean him so that no one could recognise him anymore, as all the hair of his body had first to be shaved off. [as had, of course, the hair of all the other 22300 Levites elevated thus on that occasion. Ed.] Korach answered his wife that Moses himself, being a Levite, had also shaved off all his own hair. She answered him that he had done so in order to get all the other Levites to do so, just as Samson when pulling down the pillars in the Temple of the Philistines, was aware that he would die also during the performance of this feat. (Judges 15,30) Korach’s wife ridiculed the law about fringes, and this is why it has been inserted in the Torah at this point. She did the same with the commandment to affix a mezuzah to every room in our houses except the bathrooms and the toilets. The Torah wished to emphasise that observance of these commandments, not on account of the logic behind them, but because they had been commanded by Hashem, brings us closer to Him. These reminders are with us both when we are at home and when we are away from home, when we wear the fringes at the corners of our garments. [In those days, practically all garments started out as being square sheets of cloth. Ed.]


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:2:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:2:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:2:1)

**ואנשים מבני ישראל.**ומי הם אליצור בן שדיאור וחביריו ואע"פ שלא פרסמן הכתוב נתן בהם סימנין כתיב הכא ואנשים מבני ישראל וכתיב התם האנשים האלה אשר נקבו בשמות כתיב הכא נשיאי עדה קריאי מועד וכתיב התם אלה קריאי העדה נשיאי מטות. משל לבן טובים שנמצא גונב כלים בבית המרחץ ולא היה בעל הגנבה רוצה לפרסמו התחיל נותן בו סימנין אמרו לו מי גנב כליך אומר להם בן טובים שהוא בעל קומה ועיניו נאות ושערו שחור וקווצותיו תלתלים וחוטמו זקוף משנתן הסימנין הללו הכירוהו אף כאן אע"פ שסתמן הכתוב על ידי הסימנין אתה יודע מי הם ובא וראה כמה קשה המחלוקת שב"ד שלמעלה אין עונשין עד שיהא בן עשרים ושלמטה מי"ג וכאן נענשו אפי' יונקי שדים כדכתיב הם ובניהם וטפם וכן אמרו גדול השלום שאפי' הקב"ה שינה בו כדפרשי' לעיל:

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
ואנשים מבני ישראל חמשים ומתים, “and two hundred and fifty of the elite of the Children of Israel.” Who were the men whom the Torah referred to here as the “elite” of the nation? They were Elitzur ben Shdeyur, the leader of the tribe of Reuven and his companions. Even though the Torah did not name them here, it provided us with hints to their identity. We find the expression: ואנשים מבני ישראל, “and distinguished men from among the Children of Israel,” (Numbers 1,17) They appear here in 16,2 again almost referred to in identical terms. Our sages explain this in a parable. When a person up to that time respected for his absolute integrity, was found having stolen something in the public bath, and the owner of the stolen object did not want to embarrass the thief, he started throwing out hints, such as asking the thief: “who stole your robe?” He assumed that a person of high repute would realise that it was he who was referred to, and after the owner describing the thief in detail without mentioning his name, would give him a chance to return the stolen object, making some excuse. The Torah did something similar here by not referring to these rebels by name. (Tanchuma, section 2 on this portion) If you needed proof how serious the sin of Korach and his followers was, consider that as a rule the heavenly tribunal does not judge someone guilty until he reaches the age of 20, as we know from Yishmael in Genesis 21,17 where his prayer was accepted although he was already 16 or 17 at the time, whereas human tribunals hold people accountable already from the age of 13. In this instance, where Korach and followers were judged by a heavenly tribunal, even their infants were punished alongside their parents. The Talmud in tractate Baba Metzia, folio 87, learns from this that maintaining peace between human beings is so important that those who destroy it are judged and punished immediately regardless of age. (Compare author’s commentary on Genesis 18,13).


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:7:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 16:7:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/16:7:1)

**והיה האיש אשר יבחר ה'.**וכי אינם יודעים זה אלא כך אמר מתרה אני בכם שלא תחייבו עצמכם כי תדעו שהקטרת חביב לפני הקב"ה יותר מכל הקרבנות ובו נתון סם המות שבו נשרפו נדב ואביהוא וכל מי שיבחר הקב"ה מכם הוא הקדוש כלו' יצא חי וכלכם אובדים ואפ"ה קבלו עליהם התראה והקריבו. וזש"ה החטאים האלה בנפשותם שכבר התרה בהם. וא"ת קרח שפקח היה מה ראה לעשות שטות כזה אלא עינו הטעתו שראה שלשלת גדולה יוצאה ממנו כדפרש"י ז"ל וכו' ועוד דרש אני בן יצהר כד"א תירושך ויצהרך תירוש זה היין יצהר זה השמן ובכל המשקין כשתתן בהם שמן השמן עולה למעלה וא"כ די להיות למעלה מכולן. ולא עוד אלא שנא' ואלה בני היצהר וכי יש בנים לשמן אלא אלו אהרן ודוד שנמשחו בשמן המשחה אהרן נטל כהונה ודוד נטל מלכות ומה אלו שלא נמשחו אלא בשמן בלבד נטלו כהונה ומלכות אני שאני בן השמן אינו דין שאהיה כהן גדול או מלך מיד חלק על משה:

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
והיה האיש אשר יבחר ה' הוא הקדוש, “then the man whom the Lord chooses, he will be the holy one.” This statement by Moses appears superfluous, as the rebels were surely aware that there were only these two alternatives. We must therefore understand Moses’ statement as a warning to them not to become guilty of the punishment for their actions. He reminded them that the incense offering was the one most beloved by Hashem and that it contained a deadly poison for people not qualified to offer same. This had been demonstrated beyond doubt when two of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, had been killed by heavenly fire on the spot for daring to offer it while they were not qualified to do so. If all his supporters were to dare to do the same, they would all share the fate of Nadav and Avihu. All of these people, in spite of thus having been warned by Moses, insisted on proceeding with their plan, and they paid the price of disobeying his warning. This is why Numbers 17,3 refers to them all a sinners, guilty of death. If you were to ask how Korach, an extremely intelligent individual, could have committed such obvious foolishness, our sages say that he had foreseen that great men would be descended from him in the future, and he thought that was proof that he had to survive this confrontation with Moses. Compare Rashi on that subject. Furthermore, he misinterpreted the words of blessing in Deuteronomy 7,13: according to which תירושך ויצהרך, “your wine and oil will be blessed,” as a reference to himself seeing that his father’s name had been יצהר, “oil.” He was aware that in any mixture of liquids, oil always rises to the top. He concluded that he had therefore been destined for distinction. Zachariah 4,14, commences with the words: ואלה בני היצהר, “these are the descendants of Yitzhar, etc.” Seeing that oil has no descendants, Korach interpreted this statement by the prophet as referring to himself. Actually, the prophet had referred to Aaron and Chur, who had been anointed as priests or the honour of hereditary monarchy with the oil of anointing. David took the honour of hereditary monarchy, whereas Aaron received that of the Priesthood. Korach reasoned, that if these who had only been anointed with oil had qualified for these honours, he who had been referred to as the descendent of oil twice, surely was in line for these honours. As a result of such considerations, he decided to revolt against Moses. [who in his opinion had forfeited the right to leadership seeing that his whole generation had been decreed to die in the desert. Ed.]