REVEALING THE HIDDEN WISDOM OF THE MYSTIC MASTERS
While doing research on the previous post, “Korach Took,” I ran across a teaching by Rav Yissocher Frand, that is pretty interesting. It’s too long to repost but I will summarize it here.
Frand is attempting to explain the Resh Lakish commentary. He says the Hebrew word “Yikach” though commonly translated as “took” could also mean “bought.” So the commentary could be understood to say that “he bought a lemon” — a really bad deal.
But what did he buy?
The first two words of Parshas Korach are:
וַיִקַּך קֹרַח
vayikakh Korach
Korach took …
How significant can this possibly be? Well, apparently it is very significant because in this treasury I’m working from here, there are 36 commentaries on these two words alone! And it turns out, our masters have been scratching their heads about this for centuries, because the Torah never says what Korach took.
To start things off, let’s begin with our Master of the Week, The Toldos.
He begins with a quote, which through divine grace, I was finally able to identify (since these guys never bothered to tell you who they were quoting — it was assumed you’d know) as Resh Lakish (a second generation master) in Sanhedrin 109b.
“שלקח מקח רע לעצמו”
Korach made a bad deal for himself.“.די תורה, וואס ווערט גערופט א ”מקח טוב“ אונ מתנה טוב, איז ביי קרח’ן געווארען ”מקח רע
What the Torah calls a “mikach tov” [Hebrew: good deal] and “matone tova” [Yiddish: good gift] to Korach becomes a “mikach ra” [Hebrew: "bad deal"].
OK… well, I have a feeling this teaching will take on greater meaning as the week’s study unfolds. But in the meantime, if anybody has any insights (original or otherwise) to share, just click on that little comment link at the bottom of this post. Now, don’t be shy! 
Digital Maggid
