Ethical Teachings of the Torah

Korach & Co. [8]

“You have killed the people of the Lord” (Bamidbar 17:6). The people thought that it was the incense that the 250 first-born had offered, that had caused their death as it had done to Nadav and Avihu. They justified the punishment meted out to Korach, Datan and Aviram since they openly revolted against the teaching of G-d, however, they maintained that the first-born had a legitimate role to play as priestly functionaries and so did not deserve death. So they murmured against Moshe and Aharon, saying that that it was only their advice regarding the offering of the incense that caused the deaths of the first-born. However, the incense was not some sort of poison that caused death but rather the sin of revolt of the elders against Torat Moshe, and their murmuring thus became part of the same revolt.
The reaction to their revolt was swift: “G-d said to Moshe and Aharon, ‘separate yourselves from this congregation that I may consume them in a moment’. They interceded on Israel’s behalf asking: “Shall one man sin and will Your anger be with the whole congregation”?  “But what is so unusual in such communal punishment? Surely not everybody sinned at the Calf, yet all Israel suffered from that sin? Even though only Achan trespassed (Yehoshua 6), divine anger fell on the whole congregation. The individual is part of society like the limbs are all part of the human body and just as the whole body feels the illness even if only one part is afflicted, so the community shares the blame for the misdeeds of the individuals. The community shares blame since they did not disassociate themselves from the evil acts but also because they did not warn or educate the evildoer against them. But when the community removes itself from the sinners and takes issue with them, then we remove any responsibility for sin from the community” (Akeidat Yitschak).
All our confessions, the vidui of Ashamnu and that of Al Cheit, are expressed in the plural as we bear some mutual responsibility even for the sins and wrongs done by other individuals. With regard to an unidentified corpse found in the fields, the elders of the nearest city, in the presence of the elders of Israel, the Kohanim and the Sanhedrin, after washing their hands, made the following confession: “Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen him” (D’varim 21:5-7). “Did we imagine that the elders of that Beit Din were shedders of blood? Rather they declared that the dead man had never approached them for help and they had not turned him away without food, nor had they neglected to give him suitable protection when he went out of the town” (Sotah 48b). Apart from the idea of ‘Kol Yisrael Areivim’, sometimes we simply acquiesce and condone the crime, sometimes we cause it by our neglect either of the transgressor or of the victim, and at other times we cannot decide what is right or wrong. For all those reasons we bear some responsibility for the wrongdoing and sinning of others, just as all Israel shared responsibility for the rebellion of Korach and his congregation.
“At the beginning, all the people supported Moshe and Aharon, but when they saw Korach and his congregation gathered in front of the Ohel Moed together with Moshe and Aharon with the fire pans for the ketoret, they believed that perhaps G-d had restored the priesthood to the first-born. By this they merited destruction for they had repudiated the teaching of Moshe which is the same as rebelling against the Divine Presence” (Ramban). “The wrath of G-d on Israel was caused by the very fact of their standing close by to the wicked congregation of Korach. Thereby they showed that they condoned, either implicitly or deliberately, their evil way. They had rather to show that they did not agree with their views or that they were willing to reject them” (Malbim).
“And Moshe said to Aharon, ‘take a censer and put fire from the Mizbei’ach in it, place ketoret and go quickly into the congregation and achieve atonement for them, for the anger of G-d has gone forth and the deadly plague has begun” (Bamidbar 17:11).
“Moshe saw that the Angel of Death was going out against Israel and that the plague had begun, so he told Aharon to go quickly out among the congregation and atone for them; ‘and Aharon stood between the dying and the living and the plague was stopped’. From here we learn that the Leviyim prevent suffering and trouble” (Bamidbar Rabba 5:7). A parallel may be seen in the Yom Kippur Avoda of the Kohen Gadol that involved ketoret in the Kodesh HaKodashim, and brought atonement for Israel.
“Why was the atonement for the sin of Israel at the controversy of Korach, through the ketoret? They sinned through lashon hara when they said to Moshe and Aharon, ‘you have killed the people of G-d’. Now let the ketoret that is ephemeral and the essence of secrecy, atone for lashon hara that sins in secret” (Yoma 44a).
“There were 3 things that Israel saw as bringing suffering and destruction and they were, Aron HaBrit, death and the Ketoret. The Aron HaBrit, as in the cases of the people of Beit Shemesh who gazed on the Aron (Shmuel Alef 6) and of Uzziah (Shmuel Bet 6) who merely sought to steady the Aron when David took it to Yerushalyim. They saw the Ketoret as bringing death as in the cases of Nadav and Avihu and of the 250 elders. Yet all three of them bring atonement. Here Moshe commanded Aharon to take ketoret, save the people from the plague and atone for them” (Bamidbar Rabba 4:20).
“Does the Copper Snake [that Moshe was commanded to make for those bitten during the plague after Israel complained about the Manna (Bamidbar 21:5-9)] kill or cause people to live? Rather, when Israel raises their eyes to Heaven in prayer and subject their hearts to their Father In Heaven, then they are cured” (Rosh HaShana 3:8).
“Israel murmured that the ketoret was poison and that the Aron killed all that came close to it, so Moshe commanded Aharon to atone for them with ketoret, to teach them that is not the incense nor the Aron that cause death, but that it is sin that is the killer (Midrash Aggada).

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