Our Sages tell us that Korach was one of the wealthiest members of the nation. In fact, the Gemara states that Korach had 300 mules carrying just the keys to his treasuries. Yet, despite his wealth, he was dissatisfied. So much so that he made the foolish and catastrophic mistake of leading a revolt against Moshe Rabbenu.
How did this happen? What led Korach, who had so much, to do something so foolish, for which he lost everything, including his life?
The Midrash explains that at the time when the tribe of Levi was set aside as the special tribe that would serve in the Mishkan, Hashem had Moshe perform a special ceremony to “purify” the Leviyim for this role. This included the removal of all the hair on their bodies. Korach was a Levi, and so all his hair was removed.
When his wife saw this, she said to him, “Look what Moshe is doing! He made himself the leader and his brother the kohen gadol, and now he made you bald. Why do you put up with this?”
Korach listened to his wife, and made the fatal mistake of launching a revolt.
Why was Korach’s hair such a sensitive point? Why would this, in particular, drive him to lead a revolt against Moshe Rabbenu?
Hair is something extraneous to the body, but which is attached to the body. Many people relate to money the same way.
There is nothing wrong with having money, or with having a lot of money. There is also nothing wrong with wanting money, or with wanting a lot of money. There is, however, something very wrong with being attached to money, with being consumed by the pursuit of money, with making one’s happiness or the value of his life depend upon his money or his material standards.
For too many people, money is like hair – extraneous matter which they keep attached to themselves, which they make part of their being.
G-d decided to set aside one special tribe, the tribe of Levi, that would be devoted to spiritual pursuits. As part of their consecration ceremony, they were required to remove their hair, to detach themselves from materialism, to show that money must never be seen as an essential part of our being.
This was Korach’s wife’s complaint. She wanted to Korach to fight to keep his “hair” attached to himself, to keep money and material pursuits part of who he was.
There’s an expression that goes, “Money is a very good servant, but a terrible master.” Money is great when it serves us, when it enables us attain things that help us enjoy life. But, as in the case of Korach, it becomes terribly destructive when it takes over our lives and controls us, making our happiness dependent on it.
Let us try to keep money external to our beings, and always ensure that it serves us, instead of controlling us.