Rabba expounded what is written (in Numb. 16:30): BUT IF THE LORD CREATES SOMETHING NEW, AND THE EARTH OPENS ITS MOUTH. To what does the verse refer? If we say to an actual creation of something, then is it not written (in Eccl. 1:9): FOR THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN. Rather it refers to bringing the opening (into Gehinnom) up close (to the surface of the earth where Korah was standing).⁶²., Numb. 5:11; Numb. R. 18:20; Sanh. 110a. (Numb. 26:11:) THE SONS OF KORAH, HOWEVER, DID NOT DIE. It was taught in the name of our master: A place was set aside for them in Gehinnom where they sat [and uttered hymnody]. Rabbah bar bar Hanah said: One time it happened that we were travelling on the road, when a certain Arab merchant said to me:⁶³ 74a. Come, I will show you chasms of Korah.⁶⁴ I went and saw two fissures out of which was coming smoke. He took a ball of clipped wool, steeped it in water, placed it on a spearhead, and raised it over them.⁶⁵., Numb. 5:11; Numb. R. 18:20; BB 74a; Sanh. 110ab. Then he said to me: Listen, what do you hear. I actually heard them saying: Moses and his Torah represent truth, but they (i.e., Korah and his companions) are liars. So in the world to come the Holy One is going to take them out of Gehinnom. Moreover, it is with reference to them that Hannah said (in I Sam. 2:6): THE LORD BRINGS DEATH AND GIVES LIFE; HE BRINGS DOWN TO SHEOL AND RAISES UP.⁶⁶. 13:3; see ySanh. 10:1 (28a); 10:4 (29c).

footnotes: ⁶² The midrash sees the swallowing up of Korah and his companions as the first evidence for Gehinnom. See the fuller text in Tanh ⁶³ Similarly BB ⁶⁴ Perhaps the straits of Scylla and Charybdis. So Jastrow, s.v., beli‘e. ⁶⁵ This logical end to the sentence is found in Tanh ⁶⁶ The Midrash finds an indication that the life and raising up here refer to life in the world to come, since they follow death and the descent into Sheol. Cf. below, Numb.5:4a at the end; also Gen. R. 98:4; TSanh

The End of Parashah Qorah