Tzvi Moshe On Your Purpose In Life

This week’s Parsha deals mainly with Korach’s power-struggle against Moshe and Aharon. Korach (a member of Shevet Levi, who already had the honor of working in the Mishkan) creates a confrontation against the leadership by claiming that he too deserves to lead the people. “Why do you deserve to dominate the nation? Do I not deserve to be a leader? Perhaps I am more fitting for your position! And what about your brother Aharon; is he so special? Can I not fulfill his role?!” Perhaps if we can more deeply analyze Korach’s argument we will come away with a deeper understanding of how to really tap into our own inner-potential.

We have a few questions that we need to address. First, what’s so bad about what Korach did? He was already from Shevet Levi and all he wanted to do was move up in life. Ok, so he was envious of Moshe and Aharon’s positions of power, but is that enough for a death sentence? We also need to address a cryptic line in the Zohar. The Zohar says that through his argument on the leadership of Israel, Korach was arguing on the Torah itself. What does this mean? We also need to understand Korach’s punishment. Hashem implemented a new punishment that was never used before in history: the ground opened up and swallowed Korach. Why was Korach deserving of this punishment specifically?

(I saw these ideas in my notes from a while back in the name of the Beis Avaraham [Perek Simchas HaTorah] But I was unable to find the source inside.)

Buckle your seat-belts; this is going to be deep.

We can begin our analysis with a famous acrostic that presents itself time and time again in Jewish literature. The word Yisrael is comprised of six letters, each standing for a word on it’s own. The letters in Yisrael - spelled Yud, Shin, Reish, Alef, Lamed each begin a word in the phrase “Yesh Shishim Ruba Osios Latorah” ‘There are six-hundred-thousand letters in the Torah.

It’s not just cute that this phrase happens to fit into the letters of Yisrael. There is real significance in this. The deeper meaning is that the very concept of the presence of 600,000 letters in the Torah is intrinsically intertwined with the identity of who Am Yisrael is, and for that reason that phrase appears in the word Yisrael.
How are the two concepts of Am Yisrael and letters of the Torah related? It’s brought down that in the same way that there are 600,000 letters to the Torah, there are also 600,000 root-souls that comprise the Jewish people: each Jewish soul corresponding to a letter somewhere in the Torah. (It’s explained in the Kabalistic sources that these souls splinter over time, resulting in vastly more that 600,000 Jewish people in the world.) Put simply the Torah as a unit represents Am Yisrael as a whole.
We can explain this as follows: A Torah-scroll is a delicate balance. Each letter is placed in an exact location. If even one letter is missing, one letter is extra, if one letter formed incorrectly or is replaced by a different letter - the whole Torah is null and void. This shows us the critical importance of every letter in the Torah. With even one letter off, the whole thing is considered off balance.

I might look at certain letters in the Torah as more significant: The Beis that starts the word Bereishis, or maybe the Alef that starts Anochi Hashem Elokecha. These letters really carry weight! These letters matter! But now we see that the truth is, that just like if that Alef or Beis is messed up the whole Torah is off, any letter - anywhere can also throw off the delicate balance of a Torah scroll.

In the same fashion, each Jewish soul has a unique Tafkid. Hashem sends each and every soul down to this world with a very specific mission to complete. No other soul can do this duty. And in the same way that each letter is of make-it-or-break-it-significance to the whole, If I’m missing out on my task, the whole Jewish people is lacking because of it. Even if I look at someone else’s position in Am Yisrael as greater than where I am holding, I need to remember that without me doing my job in the world, the whole Jewish people are missing out.

To take this a step forward we need to revisit a line from the Zohar that we often quote. “Istakel B’Oraisa V’Bara Alma” Hashem looked into the Torah and from it created the world. The Torah is the blueprint of creation; it is the very fabric of reality. In more abstract terms, the Torah itself permeates everything in the expanse of the cosmos, there is a universal Torah, upon which the entire universe rests upon. And like we explained, that ‘universal Torah’ is deeply inter-connected with the Jewish people. With every Jewish soul fulfilling its purpose, the Torah upon which creation stands is in good shape, and therefore the universe is doing great. But in the sad event that a Jewish soul is not living up to it’s potential, it’s as if there is a blemish in this Torah, and the entirety of the universe suffers for it.

With all of this in mind we can begin to answer our questions. What was so wrong with Korach’s attempt at power? He was trying to take someone else’s role. And by making an attempt to take Moshe and Aharon’s Tafkidim - their unique roles, automatically he began to neglect his own.

This explains the line from the Zohar That Korach rebelled against the Torah! By leaving his unique role in the world he was, (in what ever way we can understand it) neglecting his letter in the Torah! And through this he was rattling the very fabric of existence.

This now explains his punishment beautifully. Why did the ground swallow him up? Korach lacked self-knowledge, and through this he came to desire someone else’s position in life; he neglected his unique position in the universe, his ‘letter in the Torah.’ Through this the ‘universal Torah’ was being toyed with, thus creation as a whole was to suffer for it, therefore Hashem sent the world itself to exact its revenge against him for messing with the harmony of the universe, so the ground swallowed him up.

Where did Korach go wrong? He thought that he would be better off if he tried being some one else. But we know that Korach doing Korach’s job is infinitely greater than Korach doing Moshe or Aharon’s job. Hashem sends every Neshama with a specific role, and that’s my comfort zone, that’s where I thrive, that’s where I can do my part in pushing the universe to perfection.

I think that people don’t hit their potential in this area for two reasons: 1) They are too busy looking at other people and, 2) they are engaging in defensive Avodas Hashem.

Let’s explain.

If I look to much at the other guy, then I start seeing all of his greatness and I miss out on my own. This is exactly Korach’s mess-up. I can only fulfill my potential by becoming the best me. This brings us to the second point.

What’s defensive Avodas Hashem? Where my entire focus is on correcting my faults. If I’m in a fight and all I care is about defending myself, I’ll never be able to truly advance. So what do we have to do? focus on strengths.

Here’s some practical advice as to how: If you sit for a few moments you can jot down your strengths. “I’m good at Kibud Av V’Em” “I Daven” well” “I give good advice” – everyone can come up with a few. Then pick one of those things that you’re good at: a natural talent in your Avodas Hashem, and make it better. If you’re good at it, work, and become awesome at it. This is how we advance in Avodas Hashem. This is how we fight offensively against the Yetzer Hara - focusing on strengths.
B’Ezras Hashem we should all be Zoche to live lives of such growth, not to be trapped by Korach’s pitfall, but rather to understand that the greatest thing in the world that I can be is myself. If each and everyone of us focuses on coming together as the best individuals that we can be, we will, without a doubt, live lives of meaning and happiness moving closer to the Creator and ultimately the redemption!