We Are All Holy: Korach’s Claim Revisited

In this week’s Torah portion, Korach, Moshe’s cousin Korach (who is not a Kohen) approaches Moshe and Aaron with the claim, “the whole people is holy, why do you raise yourself up above the people of God?”  Moshe replies, “In the morning God will make known who is to Him and who are the holy ones and bring them close to him.”   In the morning Korach’s men and Aaron and his family bring fire-pans with incense as Moshe instructs them and a fire comes from on High and consumes the 250 men, leaving Aaron unharmed.   We assume this means that Aaron, who was not consumed, is God’s chosen holy one.

But what if it’s actually Korach’s men  who are the holy ones?  If we parse Moseh’s words carefully he presents two categories, the first-who God chooses for his service (“to Him”) and the second-who is holy that God will bring close to him.  Perhaps the result was precisely this.  Aaron is the one chosen for God’s service, and the 250 men are the holy ones that God “brings close to him.”  In fact the language used for “brings close” is the same word as a sacrifice, korban.  Which they seem to become.

The evidence  that this might be so is the way in which the 250 men die.  It is the same death as that of the two sons of Aaron when they bring a strange fire.  There in Vayikra they are consumed by the same fire, a fire from heaven which strikes them instead of their censer.  When this happened to the two sons of Aaron, Moshe’s response was, “this is what God said, among those who are close to me I will be sanctified.”  To which Rash”i comments, “Moshe said to Aaron, “Aaron, my brother! I knew that this House was to be sanctified through the beloved ones of the Omnipresent, but I thought it would be either through me or through you. Now I see that they [Nadab and Abihu] were greater than me or you!”

Perhaps the same is true of the men with Korach who die by the same fire.   They are the “holy ones” even though Aaron is the one “that God chooses for his service.”  Indeed Korach’s claim was precisely that, “we are all holy.”     Maybe it’s true, they were the holy ones in the same way as Aaron’s children, but even though this does not mean they were the right one’s to serve as God’s kohanim.