Parshas Korach 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
כי כל העדה כלם קדשים ובתוכם ה' ומדוע תתנשאו על קהל ה' ... (טז-ג)
The posuk relates how Korach argued against Moshe, saying: “Why do you get to be the leader, the king, and Aharon the Kohen Gadol? Isn’t every yid holy? Didn’t all of us hear Hashem speak at Har Sinai? Why do you think you’re better than everyone else?” Although Korach said this as part of a heretical argument against Moshe Rabbeinu, the Gemara in Sanhedrin (109b) is clear that when Korach said that every yid is holy, he was not lying! "ועמך כולם צדיקים" - indeed, everyone in Klal Yisroel at the time was taka a big and holy tzaddik. In our times as well, the sefarim tell us that every yid has at least some aspect to him in which he is a tzaddik; by some, it might be more obvious, and by others perhaps less so. But every yid has a little tzaddik inside of him which, if he digs deep and finds it, can develop and strengthen until everything else simply falls away.
Now, this is not merely some “feel-good” idea, but a real achrayus. R’ Meir Soloveitchik zt”l used to relate how his holy Zaida, R’ Chaim (Brisker) Soloveitchik zt”l once noticed that several chassidishe fellows were staring intently at his visage, and so, he turned to them and asked, “Please tell me. What are you looking at?” The chassidim replied that it is brought down in the “sfurim hakedoshim” that there is a big inyan to look at and contemplate the face of one who is a tzaddik, and therefore, they took the opportunity to come and gaze upon his countenance. Dryly, R’ Chaim said, “If that’s the reason, well, the posuk says (Yeshayah 60:21) 'ועמך כולם צדיקים', that every yid is a tzaddik; indeed, it would do you a whole lot better if every one of you took a good look at yourself and your own deeds, than if you just stare at me ...”
That is the achrayus of a yid. Each one of us must look deep inside of himself and recognize where his assets and strengths lie, and how he, too, can develop his hidden “tzaddik,” the great and latent potential that resides within him. By doing this, he too, can become the greatest and biggest tzaddik he can possibly be.