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. 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.
בן יצהר שהרתיח את כל העולם כצהרים. בן יצהר, “son of Yizthar;” who had illuminated the earth as does the sun at noon;
בן קהת שקיהה שיני מולידיו. 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)
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. 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.”
ודתן שעבר על דת. ודתן, “and Datan,” who flouted Jewish law.
ואבירם שאיבד עצמו מלעשות תשובה. ואבירם, “and Aviram,” “who prevented his heart from repenting.”
ואון שישב כל ימיו באנינות. ואון, “and On,” who spent all his days in mourning.
בן פלת בן שנעשו לו פלאות. בן פלת, “son of Peleth,” a son who performed miracles.”
בני ראובן בן שראה והבין. מדרש לפי שהיה ראובן בכור אמרו יש לנו חלק בכהונה לפיכך החזיקו במחלוקת גם הם. 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.
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: 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.]