Don’t Blame Rashi

This week’s parsha, we learn about the dispute that Korach began against Moshe. I have a question on a famous Midrash about Korach. We know that all four cornered garments are supposed to have tzitzis on them. According to Torah law, one of the tzitzis strings is supposed to be techales, which is a blue color (In our times, there is a difference of opinion if we know the exact blue that is supposed to be in tzitzis. Therefore, most people wear only white strings for tzitzis today. During the time this story took place, it was known the exact tachales color so everyone wore a blue string) Korach came to Moshe with a question. Korach wore a four cornered garment that was completely tacheles. He asked if this required tzitzis. When Moshe answered that it did, Korach asked further stating that we wear tacheles to make us remember the sea, which makes us remember Heaven, which makes us remember Hashem’s holy throne. He said that if his whole garment is made of tacheles, why does he need one little string to remind him of that. Why isn’t the tacheles on the shirt good enough? Korach is looked at very negatively for these questions, but on the surface it looks like he did nothing wrong. In Judaism, we are free to ask questions and that is all that Korach did. He simply asked a question. What was so bad about what he did?

To answer this question, let me share you a personal story that happened to me just this morning (isn’t it amazing how Hashem makes everything work out). My boss came to me and asked me to work on a project. The project makes absolutely no sense and I explained this to my boss. My boss agreed that it seems like a waste of time, but we need to do it anyway because his boss is asking for it. So now, I am working on this project that seems like it has no value added. Why am I doing it? There’s only one answer: I want to continue to have a job tomorrow. Even though I think I could spend my time more productive working on something else, my boss and I are both working on this project because we do not want to get fired.

This is the problem with Korach. The boss told him to do a job but he still refused to do it. Look closely at the Midrash that is quoted above. When Korach came to Moshe with his question, he was already wearing the tacheles four cornered garment without tzitzis. He already decided it was the right thing to do. Moshe, his leader, told him to do something, but he concluded that this law makes no sense. In Judaism, there is no problem with asking a question, but when we ask the question, we should not already have an answer.

I once had the unfortunate opportunity to listen to someone speak about how we do not need to believe everything the Sage’s say in the Gemara. This person found a few things that made no sense to him and said that the only logical conclusion is that what our Sages sometimes say is wrong. This is totally unacceptable! The person asked a question and made up his own answer. This is the only way it makes sense to me so it must be right. That is exactly what Korach did!

I remember one time in Boston when I was learning Gemara with my chevrusa (study buddy) and we came across a very difficult to understand Rashi. My chevrusa said very loudly that Rashi makes absolutely no sense at all. My rav overheard this statement and rebuked my chevrusa saying (with a smile), “Don’t blame Rashi for your own stupidity.” This is the key to understanding what Korach did wrong. Korach blamed Moshe because the law did not make sense to him. Just because something does not make sense to you, does not mean that it is wrong. Everything has a reason – we just might not be able to understand it. We can certainly ask questions and it is highly encouraged that we ask questions on anything that does not make sense to us. But we should not ask these questions already having the answer. And if we do not understand it, we still must have the trust that all that Hashem has told us is correct. Our Boss in Heaven told us to do a job. Let’s do it!

Good Shabbos!

-yes

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By Rabbi Yaacov Seltzer
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