Parshat Korach 5786 - "ויקח קרח"

This week we read פרשת קרח, which records the first structured rebellion against משה. The Parsha opens with אבירם ,דתן ,קרח, and the 250 נשיא העדה, princes of the assembly, gathering before משה and אהרן. Their claim is simple: “כל־העדה כלם קדשים ובתוכם ה׳ - the entire community is holy and HaShem dwells amongst them”. If so, why should משה and אהרן stand above everyone else? משה responds by setting up a test to determine whom HaShem has chosen. In the process, דתן and אבירם refuse to join, און disappears from the narrative, leaving it just to the נשיאים and קרח, who manages to rally all of עם ישראל to watch what will unfold. Ultimately, they fail, and HaShem makes clear their wickedness in a miraculous way, where the earth swallows דתן ,קרח and אבירם, and a fire burns the princes. Yet coming out of this story, the reader is left wondering: How did this happen? What is the worldview of קרח, and where did he go wrong? Furthermore, how was he able to convince אבירם ,דתן ,און, the נשיאים, and even, if only for a small moment, the entire nation?Recorded in Yeshivat Sha'alvim