Parshas Korach 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Jun 26
- 2 min read
וישלח משה לקרא לדתן ולאבירם בני אליאב ויאמרו לא נעלה ... (טז-יב)
Moshe Rabbeinu, in an attempt to promote peace and put a stop to the brewing machlokes, reached out to דתן and אבירם. The Ohev Yisroel asks two questions on the above posuk. Firstly, why was it critical at this junction to trace their lineage by saying Bnei Eliav? The Torah already mentioned that. Secondly, why did they respond to Moshe by saying "לא נעלה", we won’t go up? They should have said, "לא נבא" or "לא נלך", we won’t come or go to you?
He answers that Moshe saw where this was heading. He realized that from their perspective, they wanted to continue fighting. Hence, Moshe sought to tap into their שורש הנשמה; Eliav, their father, who was a tzaddik. He adds that Eliav is comprised of the words"א-לי אב" . Hashem is my father. He hoped that the mere mention of where their soul originates from would awaken an inspiration in them to do teshuvah. דתן ואבירם though, were no fools and realized his intent. They, therefore, brazenly said, "לא נעלה". We have zero intention of going up, having an aliyah, or repenting.
Perhaps we can add to this. Moshe sought to awaken in the Bnei Eliav, the zechus avos that we Yidden always rely on. Even if they were doomed to fail, maybe, just maybe, the merits of Eliav would help sway their plans.
In last week’s parsha, we learned about כלב בן יפונה, who stood up against the other spies. Rashi in דברי הימים says that really his name wasכלב בן חצרון . He was called יפונה because he was פונה, he turned away, from their nefarious plans.
The question is that he should have been called כלב היפוני with the adjective tacked on to his own name. Why was it placed instead, as his father, ben Yefuneh? The machshava could be that his ability to withstand the pressure from the other meraglim stemmed from the traits and zechusim of his illustrious father. It was his zechus avos that truly rescued him.
Yehi Ratzon .... that הקב"ה should constantly remember our חסדי אבות and bring yeshuos for all of Klal Yisroel B’karov!