Devotion to the End

Adapted from Parasha U’Pishra by Rabbi Moshe Grylak

Translated and Adapted by Braha Bender

Korach was the first to create factions among the young Jewish nation in the desert. He led a willing group against Moshe’s (Moses’) leadership and Aharon’s (Aaron’s) priesthood. His efforts undermined the very basis of the fledgling nations’ identity. The movement to join Korach and follow in his destructive ways was headed by two fellows named Datan and Aviram.

Moshe’s public response to Korach’s complaints against the hierarchy and division of labor included a message inviting Datan and Aviram to meet with him towards exchange of ideas that might lead to understanding and conciliation.

However, his efforts were sorely rebuffed. A message was sent back in biting tones: “We will not come. Is it not enough that you have taken us from a land flowing with milk and honey, to let us meet our deaths in the desert, that you also force your rule on us?!” (Numbers 16:25).

Their hurtful words held more than just a sting. Through Moshe, the Almighty had repeatedly used imagery depicting a land flowing with milk and honey to evoke Israel in the minds of the people. Even the spies, despite all their complaints, had described Israel in these terms.

Now, using the very terms of endearment with which the Almighty had described the land of Israel to His people, Datan and Aviram hawked their pining for the country that had enslaved the Jews for some two hundred years, Egypt.

By consciously turning this on its head, dirtying the phrase that had become sacrosanct in the nation’s consciousness, Datan and Aviram closed off any possible paths of communication. Moshe had reached out in hopes of opening a dialogue. Now all chance at finding a common ground and reaching an understanding was lost. Moshe got the message: the imperviousness that they had chosen would have made any discussion superfluous. This was not a situation Moshe was happy with: “Moshe was greatly angered” (ibid. 16, 15).

Nonetheless, when Hashem commanded Moshe to warn the nation to distance themselves from Korach and his followers as He would be destroying them, Moshe first made his way to Datan and Aviram’s tents. In the eleventh hour, Moshe overlooked his trampled honor, and once again turned to those who wished to depose him. He personally walked towards the tents of Datan and Aviram in a final overture of rapprochement, hoping against hope to finally convince them to leave Korach’s influence and save their own lives.

“Moshe rose and went to Datan and Aviram, and the sages of Israel followed him” (ibid 16:25).

Moshe’s efforts were ignored once again. Datan and Aviram had locked themselves away from return to their spiritual potential and thrown away the key. However, it was only once this was confirmed one last time that Moshe warned the rest of the nation to move far away from Korach and his followers so that their punishment could take place.

This was the extent of Moshe’s devotion to every individual in the nation he led. His commitment to the possibility of compromise and conciliation remained firm to the end, even when he was unquestionably in the right, even when he had the Almighty Himself on his side, and even when he had been wronged and degraded by the very people he sought to appease.