Digital Maggid
Ok, it’s Tuesday already and we are still riffing on the first two words of the Parsha: Vayikach Korach, ”Korach took.” So one last vort on that pasuk (word on that verse), and we’ll move on. There’s still lots of interesting teitshes (teachings) to post.
This one comes from R’ Simcha Bunam:
די אותיות פונ’ם וואָרט ”קרח“ מאכען ”חקר.“ דאָס איז דאָך געווען קֹרַח’ס אומגליק, וואָס ער איז געווענ א ’“חקר’ן,“ אַן אויפגעקלערטער, א ”מַשׁפִּיל.“
The letters of the word Korach spell “Ch•K•R.” [A Hebrew root having to do with examination, exploration, inquiry, interrogation, research and the like.] This was obviously Korach’s misery, that he was a “KhaKRan” (philosophizer), an enlightened one, a “maskhil” (an intellectual).
Now despite the fact that our masters spent their whole lives immersed in the study of Torah, they did not consider themselves intellectuals. The distinction, I think, lies between heart and mind. The word “intellectual” implies that it is a discipline of the mind, and the mind only. But our masters were Chasids, and they did everything from the heart.
