The Weekly Shtikle - Korach

A short thought since the hour is late: At the beginning of this week's parsha is the episode of Korach and his rebellion against Moshe. A famous question that is asked regarding this series of events is why Moshe did not pray on the behalf of Korach and his men that they not perish as he did for other groups of sinners.

 

I heard the following answer from R' Elie Wolf but I do not recall the origin. Rashi tells us (Shemos 20:2) that when B'nei Yisrael sinned with the Golden Calf, Moshe's argument to HaShem was that when He commanded the first two of the aseres hadibros, he spoke only to Moshe as the verb used is in the singular, and not to the rest of the nation. Here, (16:3) Rashi explains that Korach's argument was that Moshe was no better than anyone else for everyone heard "Anochi HaShem" at Har Sinai. This very argument uproots Moshe's defense of all of B'nei Yisrael and would retroactively incriminate them. Therefore, Moshe could not pray on his behalf.

Have a good Shabbos and Chodesh Tov.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: Just do it!
Dikdukian: Flee Market
Dikdukian: Vayikach Korach

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