When Your Actions Lack Heart

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This week's parsha, Korach, tells us about the rebellion of Korach. Seder Olam proves that the rebellion was after the story of the spies. Why did he wait until after the incident with the spies? 

Korach's complaint was about the leadership of Moshe and the appointment of Aaron as Kohen Gadol. He asked, "The entire congregation - all of them - are holy... Why do you raise yourselves above the congregation of Hashem?" 

Aaron was appointed Kohen Gadol in the month of Nissan, four and a half months earlier, as the sin of the spies was on Tisha B'Av, the ninth of Av. If so, why did he wait until after the incident of the spies? We must conclude that the rebellion was somehow triggered by the incident of the spies. How? 

The spies wanted to stay in the desert, where they could live a completely spiritual life and bask in the light of Torah. Moshe told them that the main thing is the action, the main thing is the performance of mitzvos and mitzvos are done with the physical, infusing it with holiness, making the physical world into a home for Hashem, which can only be done by entering the land and engaging in the physical. 

Now Korach's complaint begins to make some sense. Moshe was a king over the nation, which is a position that is so far beyond the people, that there is no relative relationship between them. It is not like the relationship between a teacher and a student, where one is smart and the other one is smarter. A king is head and shoulders over the people, beyond any relative status. And at the same time, the king is connected to every single person in his kingdom. 

If action is the main thing, mitzvos in the physical, and when it comes to mitzvos all Jewish people are equal, as the simpleton wears the same Tefillin as Moshe, and the same is true about all mitzvos. So "Why do you raise yourselves above the congregation of Hashem?" 

When it comes to Torah study, everyone is different. One person understands more than the other, each according to their ability. Obviously Moshe, who received the Torah directly from Hashem, was beyond and above all of the Jewish people, because not only did he get it before, but he got it in a deeper way. So it is understandable that we need him to raise us to the highest levels of Torah, because without him, we can't possibly reach our highest level. 

However, when it comes to mitzvos, which are our actions, there are no levels, everyone is equal. So "Why do you raise yourselves above the congregation of Hashem?" Why do we need to be reliant on Moshe? 

Korach was making a big mistake. Mitzvos are commonly referred to as maasim tovim, good actions. They should be called actions, why are they called good actions? Because they should shine, they should be full of meaning and be done with the right intentions. Action alone is still a mitzvah, but doesn't shine. The mitzvos done this way don't affect the physical and make it into a home for Hashem, until a time when he or she does teshuva, and those mitzvos are turned into merits and begin to shine. 

That's why we need Moshe for mitzvos as well, because the part of the mitzvah that makes it shine, is the Torah of the mitzvah and for that we need Moshe who can take us to the highest level of the mitzvah. 

The same is true for every generation, in every generation there is a Moshe. In order to reach the highest levels of Torah and mitzvos, we need to connect to the Moshe of our generation. 

Both the spies and Korach were making a mistake, and some of us make the same mistakes. Some of us think like the spies, that in Judaism the main thing is the spirituality, the heart, the neshama. Others think like Korach, that the main thing is the performance of mitzvos, the action, the deed, "As long as I'm doing what Hashem wants." Even if it is lacking feeling and meaning. 

Hashem wants both, of course the action is the main thing, but the actions have to shine and then we are fulfilling Hashem's desire, to make a home in this physical world. And when we connect to the Moshe of our generation, we are able to do it at the highest level. 

This is also true about marriage as well. Love is not enough to make a good marriage, providing, taking care of the family and home is not enough. There has to be both, the action and the love. And when I say love, I mean that you know each other deeply. The way you get to know each other deeply, is by talking to each other and by listening. 

This week is the week of Gimmel Tammuz, when the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, was freed from Russian prison. He was incarcerated because of the work he was doing to save Judaism in the former Soviet Union. It is the yahrtzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Both of whom were the Moshe of their generation. They both took strides to ensure the welfare of the Jewish people, that they had what is needed to do the action of the mitzvos, and at the same time, gave us the deepest teachings of the Torah. 

Through connecting with the Moshe of our generation, we take our Torah and mitzvos to the highest level possible and make a home for Hashem in the physical world. And when we complete the home, Moshiach will come and Hashem will dwell openly in this physical world, the home that we made for Him. May Moshiach come soon. The time has come.