UNITY
a strange response on her part? Rashi interprets her statement as though she was
thinking out loud. In other words, knowing that all of the followers of Korach were
modest and holy, she could thus plan accordingly that they would not dare enter
into her tent to fetch Ohn if she sat outside it with her hair uncovered. So she told
Ohn: “Turn back because I will save you.”
And she filled Ohn with wine until he became drunk and then put him inside the
tent, after which she sat down by the entrance to the tent and proceeded to let
down her hair. Anyone who came to call
Ohn would see that her head was uncovered and would then turn back in the direction from which they had come.
The Talmud continues: Meanwhile, the
wife of Korach said to him: “Do you see
what Moshe has done? He’s the King and
he appointed his brother, Aharon, to be
the Kohein Gadol, and the sons of his
brother to be the Deputy Kohanim! If
someone brings terumah (gifts prescribed
by the Torah), Moshe says: Let it be for
the Kohein! If someone brings ma’aser rishon (the first tithe) which is due to the
Levi – and Korach was a Levi – Moshe
says: Give a tenth (of the first tithe) to the
Kohein!” And she continued, “And another thing, he has had your hair cut and
made sport of you because he is jealous of
your hair!” Finally, Korach responded to
his wife: “Moshe also cut his own hair!”
So she replied to him: “He only did it to
himself in order to achieve his goal of
making you look bad!”
The Talmud concludes by stating that
there is a verse from Mishlei20 (Proverbs)
which applies to these two women: “The
wise among women, she builds her house,”
this applies to the wife of Ohn ben Peles,
“but the foolish one tears it down with her
hands”, this applies to the wife of Korach.
And we should note also that when Dasan
and Aviram stood defiantly in the face of
Moshe’s attempt to spare them from their
impending doom, they stood at the entrance to their tents – and the Torah explicitly states that their wives stood with
them!21 Some midrashim22 contain even
more details regarding what transpired
with Ohn:
18 JEWISH LIFE
ISSUE 86
THIS WAS NOT SOME
SPUR OF THE MOMENT
DECISION ON THE PART
OF KORACH; IT WAS A
WELL-PLANNED AND
THOUGHTFULLY EXECUTED
COUP – THE VERY FIRST
IN THE HISTORY OF THE
JEWISH PEOPLE – BUT,
UNFORTUNATELY FOR
ALL OF US, BY NO MEANS
THE LAST.
At the time that the earth opened to
swallow Korach’s assembly, the bed on
which Ohn ben Peles was still sleeping –
seemingly from still being intoxicated –
began to rock and then move towards the
ope