[Moshe] spoke to Korach and to his entire assembly, saying, "In the morning, Hashem will make known who is His own and who is holy, and He will bring close to Him ... do this: take for yourselves fire-pans – Korach and his entire assembly – and put fire in them and place incense upon them before Hashem tomorrow. Then the man whom Hashem will choose, he is the holy one [Bamidbar 16:5-7]
[Moshe] said to them, "...we have none but the one God, Hashem, one Ark, one Torah, one Altar, and one Kohen Gadol ... see now that I say to you ... that he whom [Hashem] will choose shall emerge from the incense service alone, and all of you will die". Were they not fools? For Moshe warned them in this manner, yet they still undertook to offer the incense .. But Korach who was a clever person what is it that he saw which led him to this folly? His eye led him to error. He saw a great chain of descendants emerging from him ... Korach said is it possible that all this greatness is destined to be established from me even if I will remain silent? .. [Korach erred] and assumed that he was the holy one to whom Moshe referred. But he did not see well for his sons repented. But Moshe did see correctly that Korach would perish [Rashi, Bamidbar 16:6-7, quoting Tanchuma]
The brazenness, extremism, and insidiousness of Korach's rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu remain infamously unique in the annals of history. Yet the psychological dynamic is frighteningly familiar.
Jealousy spurred the rebellion. "What was it that Korach saw that led him to dispute with Moshe? He was jealous of the princely position of Elizaphen .. for Moshe had appointed him prince over the sons of Kohas by the word of Hashem" (Rashi, Bamidbar 16:1, quoting Tanchuma). Korach, succumbing to base, petty, all-too-common instincts, resented Elizaphen's prominence and coveted it for himself. The very moment one allows himself to be controlled by unrefined, unredeemed drives, his judgement is seriously compromised. "You shall not take a bribe (shochad) for the bribe will blind those who can see and will make righteous words crooked". (Shemos 23:8) Jealousy is a form of shochad. Moshe Rabbeinu's record as an absolutely faithful, selfless servant of Hashem was unimpeachable. And yet Korach, under the blinding influence of bribery, disputed Moshe Rabbeinu. The destructive force of shochad is terrifyingly great.
Shochad comes in many forms. Jealousy is but one. Desire is another. Pursuit of honor is yet a third. A personal, non-Torah agenda is also a form of shochad. And inevitably the result is the same "for the bribe will blind those who can see ..." In pursuing our own agenda – be it personal or ideological – we do and say things which we would otherwise consider unacceptable. We speak ill of others and unfairly question their integrity. At times, we even distrust Torah. All this results from the blinding influence of shochad.
The skewed judgement resulting from shochad then escalates into self-deception. Korach, clever individual that he was, convinced himself of the folly that he was the holy one to whom Moshe referred. Delusionary? Of course. But "his eye led him to error." The eye of which the Torah warns "and you shall not spy after your heart and after your eyes after which you stray" (Bamidbar 15:39) led him astray.
Korach, though unquestionably, uniquely evil, nevertheless had no monopoly on self-deception. Everyone is susceptible, especially those under the pernicious influence of shochad. All too easily one becomes self-righteously convinced of his own righteousness and the righteousness of his non-Torah personal or ideological agenda. In the grips of self-deception, nothing deters him from his self-destructive pursuit of that agenda.
I pray that sensitive, contemplative study of parshas Korach will b'ezras Hashem banish such behavior from the present and relegate it to the past.