This Shabbat:

Friday Candle Lighting: 7:50 pm
Shabbat Ends: 8:38 pm

Torah Message:

 The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Korach said: It is too much from you! For the entire assembly – all of them – are holy, and G-d is among them; why do you exalt yourselves over the congregation of Gd? Moshe heard and he fell on his face… (16:4)

The Talmud deduces that Moshe fell on his face because Korach was accusing him of adultery. (Sanhedrin 109)

It’s difficult to see how Moshe recognized from Korach’s words the slur of immorality.

The halacha states (Choshen Mishpat 500) that if in the midst of an argument one says to the other, “I am not evil!”, what he is really saying is: “I’m not evil — but you are!”

When Korach said, “For the entire assembly – all of them – are holy…” he meant “we are all holy but you are the antithesis of holiness — you are depraved!”

• Source: Mishkanot Yaakov HaSefaradi