Accepting Rebuke

Another interesting factor in the Korach episode was the initial reaction of Moshe Rabbeinu. The בעל התניא said that when the Torah tells us that Moshe fell on his face, he was actually doing some serious soul searching.

Despite the absurdity of the accusations against him, Moshe contemplated the possibility that maybe they were right. This was another example of his greatness. The typical reaction when one is accused of wrongdoing, is to respond with, “You’re not so perfect yourself.”

Often people criticize with malice and the criticism is not justified. Nevertheless, our own ego should not get the better of us, where we immediately dismiss the criticism as out of hand.

Moshe Rabbeinu is teaching us that we should still consider what is being hurled our way. If there is something in it that will make us better people, then we will still benefit from this unpleasantness.

This is why one of the forty-eight ways that we acquire Torah is אוהב את התוכחות, to love rebuke. And this can even apply when the rebuke comes from an unworthy person like Korach.