Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
What's going on here? מַה זֶה?
In the opening verse of our parashah, we learn that Datan and Aviram joined Korah’s rebellion against Moshe. Who were they?
This is the first time the Torah mentions their names. But some people explain that Datan and Aviram had been long-time troublemakers!
While living in Pharaoh's palace, Moshe once saw two people from Benei Yisrael having a fight. Rashi says they were Datan and Aviram! (Shemot 2:13)
Rabbi Yohanan says that anyone in the Torah who argued with Moshe was Datan and Aviram (Nedarim 64b). For example, when Pharaoh stopped providing straw for Benei Yisrael to make bricks, some people blamed Moshe (Shemot 5:20). These people must have been Datan and Aviram.
Moshe told Benei Yisrael not to store מָן (mann, miraculous food from heaven) overnight. But some people tried to anyway (Shemot 16:20). Rashi says these were Datan and Aviram!
This teaching is quoted in the name of R. Avraham Eliezer Hirshowitz. Datan and Aviram wanted to embarrass Moshe in front of Benei Yisrael. Moshe announced that no mann would fall on Shabbat. Datan and Aviram snuck out on Friday night and spread their mann from Friday, so that it would seem that Moshe had lied. But a miracle happened, and all the mann was eaten up by birds before the morning!
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