Let’s learn from one of the most incredible women of all time. She is a woman whom the Gemara describes in Sanhedrin: Chochmot nashim bantah beitah. The wisdom of a woman built her house. Who is that woman? A woman in this week’s parasha. A woman who is in this week’s parasha, but whose name is not even mentioned. She is the wife of On ben Pelet.
On ben Pelet is a man who is mentioned in the first pasuk (verse), in the first two pesukim of this battle. He is mentioned in the first pasuk: Korach, Datan and Aviram, On ben Pelet, and 250 men. Those were the evil people. And then On ben Pelet is gone.
So the Gemara says, “What happened to On ben Pelet?” I hope by this time you know the story. You should know this. There’s some woman in this room. You should know Eshet On ben Pelet (wife of On ben Pelet). What did she do? It just shows you what a wife is supposed to say to her husband. She said to her husband, “Honey, why are you in this fight?” He says, “Well, I’m with Korach.” She said to him, “Either way, you’re a loser.” Isn’t that great, wife? Either way, you’re a loser. This is what the Gemara says: she said to her husband, “Either way, you’re a loser.” I’m not exaggerating; that’s what she said. “If Moshe Rabbeinu wins, you lose. And if Korach wins, then he’s the leader. So you still lose. Either way, you lose.”
She says, “I understand. But what do you want me to do? I’m already in the whole battle.” So she says, “I’ll take care of this.” And what does she do? She knows that all these people consider themselves very holy. They said the words, “The whole nation is holy.” That means all these Korach people, all 250 men, were very holy people. So she goes to the door of her home. She uncovers her hair, knowing that no one is going to come into her home when she’s not dressed the way she should. And every man comes by and leaves.
Now I want to tell you something. If I were the wife of On ben Pelet, I would feel like I need to make the message clear. Every person who walked by, I would say, “Get out of here. You’re fighting Moshe Rabbeinu. Do you understand what you’re doing? Moshe just gave us the Torah. Who do you think you are? Aharon is the greatest Kohen Gadol (high priest) of all time. What are you saying?” That’s what I would say to them. But she knew that silence is much more powerful.
She just stood by the door. Didn’t say a word. Didn’t tell them, “I don’t hold a view.” Didn’t tell them, “I’m against you.” Didn’t tell them, “I’m fighting you.” Didn’t tell them, “I don’t like you.” She just didn’t say a word and let the story go away, because if she speaks up now, she’s all of a sudden taking on all 250 people. And she speaks up now, there’s quotes, now there’s a Machloket (dispute), now they know what she’s thinking, and they’re going to come at her. Instead, they all just walk by, all 250 men, until they died, which was very shortly. They never knew whatever happened to On ben Pelet. It wasn’t as if they knew On ben Pelet had left the group. They have no idea what happened. All of a sudden, On ben Pelet wasn’t with them anymore. He just couldn’t come. They couldn’t go call him. He stayed home. Maybe, as far as they’re concerned, maybe he was sick in bed.
But you know what she did? She said, “I’m going to do action and not do words, because words create so much that I’m not interested.”