The craziest thing about the Korach story is that Korach's original reason for his protest against Aharon as the Kohen Gadol wasn't so crazy at all. Korach's group's stated complaint in BaMidbar 16:3 was כִּי כָל הָעֵדָה כֻּלָּם קְדֹשִׁים וּבְתוֹכָם יְקֹוָק וּמַדּוּעַ תִּתְנַשְּׂאוּ עַל קְהַל יְקֹוָק- "because all of the nation are all holy; so why did you raise yourself above the congregation of Hashem?" That's really an amazing idea. Everyone has an equal holiness, an equal potential to be great, and every person, no matter who they are at this moment, has the ability to achieve such greatness. We all know the famous Pasukim קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ and וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם. Aren't those exactly what Korach was saying? What was Korach's real flaw in his protest if the base of his argument really was not that bad at all?
According to Rashi, Korach's mistake was וַיִּקַּח- he created a separation between himself and the rest of Bnei Yisrael in making this accusation. Korach had to mad that he wasn't the Kohen Gadol or the Nasi of Shevet Levi, but maybe his original intentions were just for fairness and equality for all of Bnei Yisrael in terms of their potential and their ability to lead. But Korach took a huge risk- that his accusation would divide Kahal Yisrael and start a rebellion. And so it did. We only remember Korach as evil after the terrible rebellion he started. But really, it didn't have to turn out that way.If Korach had approached things differently, maybe talking to Moshe and Aharon in private instead of וַיָּקֻמוּ לִפְנֵי מֹשֶׁה, everything could have been different. But he did things the way he did, and now whenever anybody reads Parshat Korach, they vilify Korach, and rightfully so.
It was a line drive to right-center. Torii Hunter went back towards the gap and had to make a decision. The ball was quickly falling and Hunter was about within distance to make a dive to make the catch and keep the game tied at 2. But if Hunter missed it and the ball got by him, the ball would go back to the Metrodome wall and it would be a certain inside-the-park home run. Hunter could have played the ball on a hop and allowed Mark Kotsay to reach second on a double, but nothing more. But he instead elected to dive. He wasn't diving to be on SportsCenter the next day. He was diving to save a double and prevent the winning run from going into scoring position in 2006 ALDS Game 2 with the Twins already down a game in the best of 5. So he dived, and what happens? He misses the ball by several feet and the ball goes back to the wall for the inside-the-parker and the A's won the game and ended up sweeping the series. Hunter made a decision to help the team and it went wrong. He didn't receive an error on the play- it was going to be a tough play, and it just didn't work out. But still, if Hunter played the ball on a hop, maybe the Twins would have won the series and ended up as 2006 World Series Champions. Almost nobody criticized Hunter for his decision to dive- it was just a bad break for him that the ball went by him. But it turned out for the worst, and that's all everybody remembers.
Before we make decisions in life, we have to realize the consequences. There's always a risk and a reward, and we have to know when the risk is too high. We have to take risks in life- if we didn't we would live as boring people in a mundane world. But we have to pick our spots. Sometimes, a bad decision can start something far worse than we ever expected. My hope and prayer is that we can make the proper decisions in life and take chances only when the proper opportunities arise, and may that be part of the process of Mashiach coming speedily into our midst, Bimheirah Biyameinu, Amein.
Good Shabbos,
Robbie Knopf
I hope you enjoyed ITtB Dvar Torah #1.
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