Parshas Korach
Daled Tammuz 5766
Volume 2
Issue 35
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PARSHAS KORACH
"It's hard to understand the story in this week's parshah," Aryeh said at the Shabbos table. "I mean, what was Korach trying to prove?"
"Well," replied his father. "Let's think about that for a moment. What was his argument?"
"Korach insisted that all the Jewish people were holy. He complained about the special holiness which Hashem had granted Aharon," Aryeh answered.
"Now, if I were to ask you to tell me in one word, the main point in Korach's argument, what word would you choose?"
Aryeh thought for a moment. "I would like to say achdus, because he claimed that everyone was equal. But it seems wrong to say achdus when what came out was a big argument with a terrible end."
"You're right, Aryeh. Korach started such a serious machlokes that our Rabbis warn us that whoever creates an argument disobeys the passuk that says, 'And there shall be none like Korach and his congregation...'
"You are also right about the idea of achdus. Korach insisted upon achdus, but only as he understood it.
"Moshe replied to him: 'In the morning, Hashem will make known....' Moshe was saying: Hashem, who is One, created the world with many differences. Day and night are different from each other. Jews and non-Jews are not the same, and Aharon's holiness is not the same as the holiness of the rest of the people.
"Even within holiness itself, there are different levels. Can you give me any examples? You should know because you learned a mishnah which speaks about this."
"I remember," answered Aryeh. "Although all of Eretz Yisrael is holy, the mishnah speaks about ten different levels of holiness in Eretz Yisrael."
"Good for you! Now how about different levels of holiness in time?"
"That's easy. We have the days of the week and we have Shabbos, Yom Tov, and Yom Kippur. And Tatty, groups of people also have different levels of holiness: there are Kohanim, Levi'im and Yisraelim."
"Good, Aryeh. Now you can see how wrong Korach was in his mistaken demand for achdus. Hashem created differences, separating one thing from another so that every person and every force in this world would fulfill its individual purpose.
"For example, when you want to prepare a cup of tea, you pour water into the kettle and put it on the flame. The kettle separates the water from the fire. If not for that separation, the fire would not be able to fulfill its task of heating and the water would never boil; it might even put out the fire.
"This can help us understand that Hashem wants the people and forces in this world to use their differences and to work with each other so that the whole universe does what it is intended to do.
"This is what Moshe meant when he told Korach to see the difference between day and night. The differences in this world allow everyone and everything to work together to create shalom and unity, showing Hashem's oneness.(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XVIII)
‘Please Tell Me What the Rebbe Said’
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I smell sweet
Answer: גפן |
Congratulations to Tzemach New, age 11 from Montreal, Canada |
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Hello Young Shluchim!
Well it finally happened! It took a whole year but it was worth waiting for. I’ve been looking forward to it since about 10 months ago and counting down the days on my Super-duper Extra-large Automatically Updating Yiddishe Sun/Moon Calendar. It really is a special calendar. And how I came to invent it is a special story too. But first - can you guess what I was counting down to? Nope! Not my birthday. The start of the summer!!!! No more school (even famous professors go to school, except we go to teach not to learn!)! Camp! Fun! Yup - in just a few days I’ll be off to a special camp for Professors, Inventors and other Chassidishe Scientists in the Catskills of New York! The camp isn't too long - us professors are busy people you see– but it is a special time to get together with other Chassidishe professors from around the country and spend some fun time together and swap some ideas. It was actually in the Chassidishe Scientist Summer Camp that I came up with the idea for my Super-duper Extra-large Automatically Updating Yiddishe Sun/Moon Calendar. You see as you probably already know, us professors are rather absent minded people. I guess that is why we are such good professors - we forget how things normally work and we have to invent new things to do the job instead. Which brings me back to my Super-duper Extra-large Automatically Updating Yiddishe Sun/Moon Calendar.
You see normal young shluchim like you and your friends can use an ordinary calendar and will have no problem remembering all the important things that they need to remember. But I kept on forgetting what day was which and what I had to do each day. I would do Chitas for Sunday and Rambam for Tuesday. And then there was the time that I had to go to a meeting with the President - the President of the Scientists, Professors and Inventors Over Sixty Society that is - and I got the day mixed up! I went on the 10th of Elul instead of the 10th of September. And of course there was the time that I almost kept Shabbos for two days!
Anyway a few summers ago I was sitting relaxing outside my bunkhouse when I saw my good friend Professor Pinya from Pennsylvania looking rather sorry for himself. Being a good friend and not wanting to miss the chance to do a mitzvah I went over to Professor Pinya and asked him what the problem was and if I could be of any help. Professor Pinya was sooo happy that I came over to him. You see he had lost his Beeping and Flashing Toothbrush - he couldn't find it anywhere - and now he couldn't remember if he had brushed his teeth that morning or not. You see his toothbrush wasn't a regular flashing one - it flashed and beeped every morning until Professor Pinya brushed his teeth. And then every evening it beeped and flashed again until Professor Pinya brushed his teeth at night. It was a really clever toothbrush and it knew exactly how long Professor Pinya had to brush his teeth for and stopped beeping and flashing all by itself when he had brushed for long enough. Well that got me thinking. You see there are so many thing that I have to remember in one day. Things to learn, things to do, things to eat. And most of the time I didn't remember them. Now if Professor Pinya could just help me then maybe we could invent a calendar to help me remember all these things.
Anyways, in the meantime we got down to work - we looked inside the bunkhouse and outside the bunkhouse and on the roof of the bunkhouse but we couldn't find it anywhere. So we sat down to think where on earth the toothbrush could be. Well like they say, two Yetzer Tovs are better than one and pretty soon we worked out where the toothbrush was - right there in Professor Pinya’s suitcase, wrapped up inside a sock, cushioned by a towel, beeping and flashing away! Professor Pinya was so happy that he sat right down (after brushing his teeth) and together we invented my Super-duper Extra-large Automatically Updating Yiddishe Sun/Moon Calendar.
Have a happy Summer!
Dr. Getzel
Mussie Danow, age 10
Gothenburg, SwedenHi!
My name is Mussie Danow and I live in Gothenburg, Sweden. I’m ten years old and I have 7 siblings. In school we have 5 girls and 1 kodesh teacher and 1 chol teacher. The whole school is just me and my sister and 3 cousins... well I guess that's kind of home schooled.
Anyway, every summer we have a Day Camp for 2 weeks. On Lag B’omer we have a BIG parade and we march all the way to a BIG park and we have a BIG picnic, and then we come home and a few hours later there is a
BIG bonfire, and my uncle’s birthday party!!! On Chanukah we have a BIG menorah lighting and a BIG Chanukah party!!! On Tu Bishvat we have a Tu Bishvat party. and on Purim we have a BIG carnival and a BIG Purim party. My father and I and a few siblings go and bring mishloach manos around to people in town. It’s really fun. we go around the whole Gothenburg and give out mishloach manos... ok I guess I’ll finish here...(I mean there's more, much more...).
In פרשת קרח , after the whole story that happened with קרח and his followers, we are told that אהרן , as the כהן גדול , gets twenty-four מתנות כהונה - gifts.
Why specifically twenty-four?
קרח didn’t attack or argue with אהרן face to face about being the כהן גדול . He fought his war in a sneaky way instead. קרח argued that all the בני ישראל are holy, they all got the תורה at הר סיני . Why is one person chosen to be the leader?
Also, besides his group of friends and followers, קרח tried to make all the בני ישראל rebel against משה and אהרן . He visited all the שבטים and tried to convince them that he wasn’t rebelling for his own sake but for everybody. He told them that it wasn’t fair for anybody that משה and אהרן were the leaders. Unfortunately, a lot of them were convinced and joined with him.
A person who steals in a secretive and hidden way is called in הלכה a גנב - a thief - and a גנב must pay back what he stole in double. Since people from all twelve שבטים plotted secretly against אהרן being the כהן גדול , the בני ישראל had to give double - twenty-four gifts - to אהרן and his sons.
(Adapted from ‘Vedibarta Bam’)
ג' תמוז תקע"ט
In תש“נ - 1990 (16 years ago) a מצבה was discovered in the בית הקברות in the town of Lubavitch, in the women’s section. It said that it was the מצבה of אסתר מרים the daughter of the מיטעלער רבי , who had passed away on ד‘ תמוז . She passed away during the lifetime of her father, the מיטעלער רבי . Before this מצבה was discovered, we didn’t know about this daughter of the מיטעלער רבי .
ח' תמוז תרנ"א
The engagement of רביצין חי‘ה מוסיא , the daughter of the רבי מהר“ש with הרב משה Horenstein. רביצין חי‘ה מוסיא ’s father passed away when she was still very young. When the time came for her to get married, her brothers, the רבי רש“ב and הרב זלמן אהרן , found her a שידוך .
The פריערדיקער רבי was a little boy then and he remembers the celebration. His father, the רבי רש“ב said לחיים and gave ברכות to the חתן and כלה in the name of the בעל השמחה , the רבי מהר“ש .
(Adapted from ‘Days in Chabad’)
ר‘ מענדל Futerfas was the משפיע of כפר חב“ד in ארץ ישראל . His יאהרצייט is on ד‘ תמוז . But before that, in the 1940s, he was sent to Siberia by the Soviet government. His crime: teaching and spreading אידישקייט .
On his birthday one year while he was in Siberia, ר‘ מענדל longed to celebrate in the חסידישע way by having a farbrengen, making a חשבון הנפש and החלטות טובות for the upcoming year, and by having a יחידות with the Rebbe. ר‘ מענדל 's only "friends" in Siberia were the boorish Cossacks and other prisoners with whom he was exiled. A farbrengen he could not make. But what he could do was to have a יחידות with the Rebbe - in his mind.
ר‘ מענדל made the proper רוחניות preparations. He then pictured himself writing a note to the Rebbe with all of his requests for ברכות for the coming year. He imagined himself giving the note to the Rebbe and the Rebbe reading the note.
Then, in his mind's eye, the Rebbe assured him that everything would be well. ר‘ מענדל felt encouraged and strengthened.
Years later, when ר‘ מענדל was released from Siberia, he joined his wife and children who had meanwhile moved to England. One day, as ר‘ מענדל was looking through the letters that his wife had received from the Rebbe in his absence, he came across a telegram. The telegram's date was the day after ר‘ מענדל 's birthday, years before. The Rebbe had sent Mrs. Futerfas a telegram to notify her that, "I received your husband's letter..."
This story teaches us that no distance, גשמיות or רוחניות , can separate a איד from the Rebbe.
משה earned his living as an innkeeper in a small town. One day, the Poretz of the area came to him with an offer. "משה , I am moving far away. I must sell all of my property here. I have known you for many years and know, too, that you are very honest. I am willing to sell all of my property to you at only a tenth of what it’s really worth if you give me the cash in a few days."
משה 's reaction was that of joy at this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He did not, however, have the amount of money in cash that the Poretz had named. משה 's wife offered the following solution. "If we sell all of our valuables, our silver and my jewellery, even our home, we will be able to come up with the money. Whatever we are missing, I am certain we can borrow from friends and relatives. Thus we will be able to take advantage of this opportunity ה‘ has given us."
משה followed his wife's advice and set out for the Poretz's estate with a purse filled with money. Along the way, he heard a blood-chilling shriek. He ran in the direction of the cry and found himself at the doorstep of a broken-down home. He entered the hut and saw a dead man, surrounded by a woman and her seven ragged children.
משה thought for a second. He hesitated for only a moment and then took out his purse of money and handed it to the widow.
At first the upset woman refused to accept such a large sum of money. But after much convincing, משה managed to persuade her to take it.
This incident caused a tremendous commotion in שמים . משה had given away all of his earthly possessions, and the opportunity to become a very wealthy man, for the sake of a מצוה ! The בית דין של מעלה was in the middle of deciding what kind of reward give משה when the שטן complained, "Before any of your צדיקים are given gifts from שמים , they are tested. I suggest that I be allowed to descend to the world and test this man, to see if he truly deserves such a reward."
אליהו הנביא quickly intervened. "I beg of you. Let me be the one to administer the test. Even a complete צדיק person would have a hard time passing a test from the שטן !"
משה did not return home after giving the purse full of money to the widow and orphans. He decided to wander from town to town, trying to make a little money and find a new place for his family to settle. That first evening, though starving and exhausted, משה 's happiness in having performed so great a מצוה was not lessened. At nightfall, he found a small שול and sat down to begin studying תורה . At that time, אליהו הנביא , disguised as a distinguished and wealthy businessman, descended to this world. He found משה in the שול a day's journey from his home.
The businessman asked משה what had brought him to this town and משה began to tell his tale. The businessman was very moved. "ברוך ה‘ ," he began, "I have been blessed with more money than I could possibly use in my lifetime. I would like to offer you enough money to support your family for the rest of your life in exchange for the זכות of the מצוה you performed today."
משה was exhausted. His empty stomach cried out mercilessly. The offer was so tempting... But he caught himself and answered, "ה‘ gave me the rare opportunity to do this tremendous מצוה with complete מסירת נפש . I will not part with my מצוה for all the money in the world."
The businessman persisted. "Your מצוה was indeed tremendous. I am willing to keep my part of the offer for just half of the זכות of your מצוה ."
Again משה refused. And again, the businessman made another offer. משה would not even part with one hundredth of the מצוה , for enough money to support himself and his wife for the rest of their lives.
Then, the businessman revealed himself. "I am אליהו הנביא . You are indeed blessed. For not only have you performed a great מצוה , but you also withstood the temptation of selling even the smallest part of the מצוה . I have been told to offer you one of three rewards. Either you and your wife will be blessed with long and healthy lives, or you will be granted great wealth, or you will be blessed with a son who will be a צדיק , a great תלמיד חכם and a leader."
Without a moment's hesitation, משה answered, "My wish is to have a son who will become a צדיק . For what are riches and long life compared to being blessed with such a child?"
"Your son," answered אליהו הנביא , "will be so great that his קדושה will light up the entire world. But, if this is the reward you chose, know that your own life will not be easy, and you and your wife must accept upon yourselves to wander from town to town."
משה quickly travelled home to consult with his wife. She also agreed to the reward of being blessed with such a child, even if it meant a life of wandering.
Within a year, a son was born to the couple who grew up to be the learned and holy ר‘ מנחם מענדל of Rimanov.
(Adapted from L’chaim Weekly)
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Yosef Bergstein, age 5 from Buffalo Grove, Illinois &
Shterny Stiefel, age 6 from Almere, The Netherlands
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