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Parshat Korach
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

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Cleaving to the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

“And Korah Took Himself”

“Blessed are You HaShem Who blesses Israel with peace”.

Our Sages teach that God found no greater blessing to bestow upon Israel than peace, as it says, “HaShem will bless His People with peace”. We can explain this teaching through another teaching of our Sages that the word for peace - “shalom” - is considered to be a name of God, as it says, “HaShem Shalom” (Judges 6, 24).

In this way we can also understand one of the reasons Korah’s conflict with Moshe and Aharon in this week’s parsha was considered so severe to an extent that the earth swallowed them. According to our Sages one of the methods of Korah’s rebellion was the improper usage of the obligation of tchelet - the blue dye - in the mitva of tzitzis, juxtaposed to this week’s parsha. According to Korah’s claim, a garment which is itself dyed in blue should not need a fringe of blue as halacha requires, since if the whole garment is blue what need is there for the fringe to be blue? This question was essentially a lead-up to Korah’s main claim that if the entire people are special and holy - i.e the whole people/”garment” are “blue”/royal/holy, why is there “a fringe” of leaders set above the people? Ultimately, the answer to this question lies in the deeper meaning of this blue dye, which is meant to remind us of the blue sky, the Heavens, and ultimately the Throne of Glory of God, Who commanded that such a “hierarchy” be instituted.

According to the Sages, this dye was produced from fish/snail that resides in the sea adjacent to the land portion of Zebulun. According to the book of Joshua it becomes apparent that this “sea of Zebulun” where this fish/snail resides is next to the ports of Haifa of today. It seems that the name Haifa may be hinted to in the Torah’s description of Zebulun’s portion as being on “the beach (Hof=Haifa) of ships”. Indeed, it is the tribe of Zebulun who is singled out as being the major tribe of commerce, who supported the tribe of Yissachar’s Torah-learning. It seems also that Zebulun’s occupation with the blue dye for tzitzis provides us a valuable clue into the nature of Zebulun and also of the Haifa city/area in his territory.

In difference with the tribe of Dan and his territory (see parshios Bamidbar and Naso), which has extensive ties with foreign cultures based onpersonal relationship to these foreign peoples, Zebulun’s tie with foreign peoples is more related to his material commerce with them. Just as we mentioned in our discussion of Dan and Tel Aviv-Yafo, there is some spiritual danger in such foreign involvement, however, Zebulun's “material” commerce is essentially a spiritual endeavor, meant to support the Torah study of Yissachar. This matter may be hinted in Zebulun’s occupation with the fishing for the fish/snails for the blue dye of tzitzis, which is on the one hand seems to be a material endeavor but on the other hand is ultimately spiritual, as this dye is used for the mitzvah of tzitzis and reminds one of the Holy Throne of God and also reminds one “to be holy, for I am HaShem Your God.”

When one contemplates this, that hierarchical sanctity “fringes”/stems from the One Holy God, one is “encompassed” (as in talis) with awe before God’s Mastery, over the multi-leveled/hierarchical Universe, a Mastery which rules over the material and spiritual realms of the Universe alike. This United Mastery is the message of Hebron, which means Unity, representing this Divine Unity along with the message of peace which comes through contemplation of the Godly Throne. So teaches Shaar Hahatzer, that the names of our Patriarchs of Hebron are numerically equal to the term “Nezer HaShalom”, meaning that Hebron is the Crown of Peace.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #177

"One day I received a used double-bed, but with no mattresses. About 5 minutes later, I just "happened" to find mattresses (totally un-related and in a different location than the beds) that "happened" to fit the beds I just received. One of the beds was heavy for me to carry, so I left it under a tree on the side, till I could find help to carry it. However, one of the neighbors thought this bed was junk, especially since it needed some repairs, so he took it and took it apart for its parts. I thanked God that He decided to take the bed away from me... A few hours later, this neighbor discovered that this bed was mine and not thrown out, so he, a professional handy-man, repaired the bed entirely, much better than it was in the first place, and carried it straight to my house." (A.G)

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