The Baal Shem Tov would often say to his disciples: “Everything a Jew sees or hears should serve him as a lesson in his service of his Creator.”
“In the Torah, water has spiritually cleansing properties, but when it is frozen, even the purest substance can be made into an icon of heresy.”
A Jew who is religiously “cold”—who prays by rote, who is dispassionate about the rituals and who is unmoved by Torah—might quickly slide into irreverence and even, G‑d forbid, heresy. Hence the chassidic adage, “A narrow divide separates coldness from heresy.”
“And Korach took,” is translated in the Targum as “And Korach divided,” and in the Sefer Noam Elimelech, Reb Elimelech of Liszensk compares Korach’s dissension to the firmament which G‑d created on the second day to divide between the higher and lower waters.
He sought the priesthood, but as an office entirely remote from the people. Hence his accusation, “Why do you elevate yourselves?” In his eyes, the two groups, utterly distinct, each had their special status.
In this way, Korach was like the firmament: His aim was to divide the people, like the waters, and sever the connection between the Sanctuary and the ordinary world.
The Rebbe said the lesson of the 3rd of Tammuz: not to be intimidated by the limits of natural norms, but also not to disavow them. Instead, we should work within them to broaden and expand them. Rather than seeking to liberate ourselves of the circumstances of nature, we should seek to liberate and elevate the nature of nature itself.
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