Moses Fell on His Face!!!

[muman613]

In this weeks Torah portion of Korach we read that when Korach confronted Moses, Moses fell on his face:

Parasha Korach : Numbers 16
1. Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi took [himself to one side] along with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben.
2. They confronted Moses together with two hundred and fifty men from the children of Israel, chieftains of the congregation, representatives of the assembly, men of repute.
3. They assembled against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation are all holy, and the Lord is in their midst. So why do raise yourselves above the Lord's assembly?"
4. Moses heard and fell on his face.

While I find the entire story of Korach hard to understand, I find this particular sentence very hard to understand.

First of all I dont understand how these leaders, these 250 chieftans of the Children of Israel, could have the chutzpah to confront Moses. Moses was obviously a prophet, he was able to lead the people out of bondage amidst signs and wonders, he was the man who was granted the ability to split the sea, he brought down Manna from heaven, while his brother Aaron was also a prophet who is credited with the merit for the clouds of glory. And even Moses sister, Miriam, was a prophetess whose merit brought the well of water which followed them...

How could these 250 + Korach come against Moses at this stage of the journey? How could they believe that everyone was equal when even our Talmud says that Moses was equal to the entire Jewish people? Somehow they figured that they could strike out on their own and go wherever and do whatever they wanted to do?

Maybe this article will answer some questions:


PARASHAT KORACH 5762

Moses heard, and he fell on his face (16:4).

The opening verses of Parashat Korach relate the well-known story of Korach and his followers banding themselves against Moses and Aaron. They demanded a share in both the leadership and the priesthood (implied in 16:3). When Moses first heard about their plans, he fell on his face (above). The Midrash (Tanchuma 4 to Parashat Korach) says that this reaction was a display of Moses’ despair in feeling powerless to appeal to G-d to forgive the people. They had worshipped the Golden Calf, grumbled against Him for no reason (11:1-2), and heeded the negative reports of the Spies. Each time, Moses prayed for them. Once more they had defied G-d: but this time he felt that He would no longer take his entreaties on behalf of the people seriously.

The problem with this explanation is that Moses did make a request of G-d later on. Soon afterwards, Moses unsuccessfully tried to dissuade Korach from going forward with his plans. In return, Datan and Aviram, his two chief allies, challenged Moses’ competence and integrity – with the claim that he did not manage to bring them into the Promised Land. Only then did Moses pray to G-d, ‘not to accept their offerings’. And soon afterwards, he entreated Him with the words, ‘Shall one man sin and You be angry with the whole assembly?’ (ibid: 22)

Why, therefore, did Moses not use these words at the beginning? Why, according to the Midrash, did he initially fall onto his face out of despair and not in prayer? Why did he not, instead, pray for Korach’s rebellion to fail?

One different approach brings out the very essence of Moses’ character. This may be illustrated by the following story:

One of the great Rabbis and most famous Baalei Mussar of the last century requested his sons to say Kaddish for a full twelve months after his death, instead of the usual eleven. (The Talmud brings the tradition that the Divine judgment on the wicked lasts for twelve months. The custom is for Kaddish is recited for only eleven months, so as not to count one’s parents amongst the wicked.) He asked them to do this in the full conviction that he needed that extra merit to ease Divine judgment.

Moses was noted for his great humility (12:3). A humble person looks over his past deeds, and highlights his own personal shortcomings and errors of judgment, with view to self-improvement.

That is the reason Moses fell on his face. If the atmosphere for such a revolt was taking shape, he believed that he himself had some responsibility for it. This is explained below.

The situation may be compared to riotous behavior in a classroom. Although initially, the ribaldry has to be calmed down and the offenders dealt with, such behavior does not reflect well on the teacher. He may well feel that the whole affair might have been avoided in the first place had he been firmer disciplinarian – had he created a securer classroom learning environment.

This could have been the basis of Moses’ feelings of despair. The weaknesses in his system of his administration may have created the right setting for Korach’s attempting uprising. For when Moses was advised to delegate administration and justice, he was told to select ‘men of standing, wisdom, of deep understanding, and known to their respective tribes’ (Deut. 1:14). However the Torah records that the leaders actually selected by Moses were ‘men of standing, wisdom, and known to their respective tribes (ibid. 15), but the Midrash (Sifri, Devarim 15) observes that they were not recorded for having deep understanding. Nevertheless, Moses appointed them, as they were the best he could find.

It seems possible therefore that Moses, in his great humility, suspected that he might have selected the wrong people, and erred by not consulting with G-d about the suitability for each one.

This principle may be seen in the story of Samuel’s anointing of David, to be King. The Almighty told Samuel to go to the house of Jesse of Bethlehem, ‘because I have seen a suitable personality for a king amongst his sons’ (Sam. I 16:1). When Eliav, his eldest son, passed before him, Samuel said that he certainly should be G-d’s chosen. However, G-d’s reply to Samuel was:

Do not look at his appearance and tall stature for I have rejected him. For it (i.e. the true personality) is not as Man sees – Man sees the eyes, but G-d sees the heart (ibid. 7).

David, the worthy successor to the monarchy was at that moment looking after the sheep – considered too unimportant to come into question. But when he was sent for, He said to Samuel:

Arise! Annoint him, for he indeed is the man! (ibid. 12).

Thus Samuel was guided by G-d to appoint someone who in normal life would have never have come into question for the key position. Moses, by contrast, did not find people who were fully worthy, but he nevertheless appointed the best he could find. He may well have criticized himself for not consulting with G-d about the true abilities and integrity of each member of his team. The people to whom he should have delegated authority were not the most obvious ones…

That is why Moses fell on his face. In his great humility, he believed that he himself created the atmosphere of less-than-perfect delegated administration and justice. That was the setting in which discontent could germinate and ultimately promote the environment where Korach’s personal grievances – suitably disguised for public consumption – might, and did win support. That was the reason for his own despair – he suspected that his own earlier possible mistakes were the cause of Korach’s uprising. Perhaps – just for split second – he thought Korach was what he deserved (c.f. Rashi’s comment on Gen. 44.17). And the ‘trial by incense’ might just show that Korach’s claims had some place. [Only when his representatives subsequently told Moses to his face that he failed to bring the Israelites to the Promised Land – avoiding the facts of the case - did Moses see the utter emptiness of the rebels’ claim.]

In conclusion – this may be one of the reasons for the following text in the regular Amidah: “Restore our judges… and advise us… and remove from us grief and sighing.” The social consequences of poor administration and dispensation of justice create the tensions and general discontent under which rebellion and discontent may germinate and flourish.

[muman613]

Here is discussion of how Moses was equal to all of Israel:


http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=z1664

"Leaders of People and of Time"
Zohar, Beshalach, p. 47a; translation and commentary by Simcha Treister

(From our sister-site, Kabbala Online)

 

The difference between the expectations of the Zohar regarding spiritual leadership and our expectations regarding secular leadership are made clear in the following piece. It is interesting to note that the elections in Israel fell on this parasha the last time they were held and will follow shortly after the parasha this time.

"And Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear, stand still, and see the salvation of G-d'." (Ex. 14:13). Rebbe Shimon said: How happy is the lot of Israel that a shepherd such as Moses walked among them. It is written, "Then He remembered the days of old, of Moses his people" (Is. 63:11). "He remembered the days of old...", refers to the Holy One blessed be He [who recalled the Exodus]. "...Moses his people" [shows that] Moses was of equal weight as all Israel.

And we learn from this that the spiritual leader of the people is in fact the equivalent of the entire nation. If he is worthy, then all the people are [deemed] worthy. If he is not worthy, then the entire people are [judged as] unworthy and are punished because of him, as we have explained.

Rashi quotes the Midrash Tanchuma as a source for his commentary on Numbers 21:21: "the leader of the generation is like the entire generation because the leader is equivalent to all".

"Stand still and see the salvation of G-d". You need not fight for the Holy One blessed be He, [for He] will wage war for you, as the verse states: "G-d will fight for you, and you shall remain silent" (Ex. 14:14). Come and see, on that night [of the splitting of the Reed Sea] the Holy One blessed be He, gathered all His entourage together to pass judgment on Israel [as to whether they were worthy to be saved]. If it were not for the forefathers who had come first [to pray on behalf of their future children], they would not have been rescued from the judgment. Rebbe Yehuda said that it was the merit of Jacob that stood in favor of Israel as is written, "If it had not been G-d who was on our side [to save us], let Israel now say." (Ps. 124:1). That is [a reference to] Grandfather Israel [who prayed for the salvation of his children].

Note the importance of prayer, especially in time of war.
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[muman613]

Rabbi Shafier's 5min talk on Korach:

[muman613]

It is interesting that in Chukat Moses falls on his face.

Chukat Chapter 20

1. The entire congregation of the children of Israel arrived at the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people settled in Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.
2. The congregation had no water; so they assembled against Moses and Aaron.
3. The people quarreled with Moses, and they said, "If only we had died with the death of our brothers before the Lord.
4. Why have you brought the congregation of the Lord to this desert so that we and our livestock should die there?
5. Why have you taken us out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place; it is not a place for seeds, or for fig trees, grapevines, or pomegranate trees, and there is no water to drink.
6. Moses and Aaron moved away from the assembly to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and they fell on their faces. [Then] the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

Chukat is an awesome Parasha because so much happens. Miriam had just died and the miraculous well ceased {because the miraculous well was in Miriams merit}... The people are complaining again and Moshe, our great teacher, makes a blunder which seems trivial to the normal Jew. Because of this blunder Hashem did not allow Moses to enter the Holy Land of Eretz Yisroel.

Chukat are statutes which do not have rational explanation. I read an awesome article written by Rabbi Berel Wein {of Torah.org} which talks about the need of a Jew for faith in the face of illogic and chaos.

I will quote one or two paragraphs from his piece here:

http://torah.org/learning/rabbiwein/5766/chukas.html

It is obvious that the Torah is teaching us a very basic lesson. Not everything in life is logical, understandable, rational or given to any sort of human understanding. The Torah intends to teach us that its system of values and behavior is oftentimes beyond human comprehension. The ability to accept this difficult and oftentimes humbling assessment is a test of faith and belief. And the Torah and Judaism generally rest upon this basic foundation, if necessary even a form of blind faith and belief. Understanding and studying Torah is a mitzvah – an obligation upon all Jews. However, following and believing Torah even when we do not understand and know its rationale is no less of a mitzvah.

The truth is that life itself in all of its manifestations is beyond our rational abilities to understand or predict. We are regularly blindsided by events that are unexpected and sometimes devastating. There is a capricious nature to life and its events that forecloses any rational explanations or logical theories. The very nature of life itself is purely a chok – a type of commandment and/or occurrence that leaves us baffled and without answers or explanations. On a small personal scale these events may be viewed as fortuitous or tragic but they are all unexpected and irrational. On a larger scale events such as the Holocaust are prime historical examples of a chok in its ultimate form.

We do not understand the severity of Moshe’s punishment as recorded in this week’s parsha. We also do not understand the reasons that led to six million innocent Jews being destroyed. When such things occur, both on a personal and national level, we are left bereft and perplexed. The Torah records that Aharon’s response to the death of his two sons in the Mishkan was silence. Silence translates itself into the realization that God’s ways are beyond human comprehension.

Moses and Aaron were prototypes for the Jewish nation. We should learn as much as we can from their lessons...

[muman613]

Rabbi Schafier also speaks about this: