RABBI WEIN ON KORACH 5775

In last week’s parsha Rashi commented that when the Jewish people stated that they wanted to return to Egypt rather than proceeding to the Land of Israel they thereby intimated that they wanted to replace Moshe as their leader and crown a new king over them. In this week’s parsha, that earlier murmur of dissatisfaction with Moshe and his leadership becomes a full-throated shout. Korach pounces on the opportunity to attempt to replace Moshe, who has been weakened by the debacle of the spies and the resultant decree of death on the Jewish people of that generation. Korach undoubtedly harbored such ambitions for himself and his family for a long period of time.