The Kabbalistic Cause of Baldness
Korach
The Gemara connects the name Korach with the word קרחה, meaning a bald-spot. Through his rebellion, Korach sought to make a bald-spot in the Jewish people.
Our sages are not just making a cute play on words. In Jewish thought, a name has significance and encapsulates the nature of is bearer. If they compare Korach to a bald-spot, it is because a bald-spot is embodies who Korach was and what he was trying to do. So what is the connection between Korach and Korcha?
The opening words of the Parsha are ויקח קרח, “and Korach took”. What did Korach take? We don’t find any mention in the Torah of Korach taking anything. The Meforshim explain what Korach took was himself - he separated himself to the side.
Korach is about separation. Korach sought to create divisiveness and separation in a literal sense. Chassidus explains, that there was a deeper form of separation that he was trying to create.
The Targum translates these words as ואתפלג קרח, meaning “and Korach separated”. The great Chassidic master, the Noam Elimelech of Lizhensk, explains that this is similar to the separation that took place of the second day of Creation. This was the creation of the firmament that separated between the upper and lower waters.
Kabbalistically, the upper waters represent G-dliness and spiritual pleasures - open G-dly revelation. The lower waters represent physicality and the material pleasures of the world.
Hashem created the worlds through a process of Tzimtzum, a contraction and concealment of the Divine light. This concealment is what would ultimately allow a finite, physical world to come into being.
The word Olam (world) is related to the word העלם, the concealment of G-dliness through which it was created. And so the worlds, like the lower waters, seem to be separated from their spiritual source by a divide.
But the Divine intention was not that the worlds remain a place of concealment, separated from G-dliness. Hashem separated the lower worlds so that through our Avodah, they could be reconnected with their G-dly source in a deeper, more powerful way than before.
So the separation was not a true separation, or one that Hashem desired to remain in place. Hashem wanted us to bridge this separation and to reveal G-dliness within the world.
But Korach separated. Korach wanted to perpetuate this separation. He saw physicality, not as a vehicle for connecting to Hashem, but as an ends to itself. Korach viewed the world as existing completely independently of a spiritual or G-dly purpose.
This is the metaphor of baldness.
Hair is part of the body. Our hair grows because it too receives nourishment and vitality from the body, which ultimately comes from the brain. But unlike other parts of the body, the level of vitality in our hair is so minimal that we can cut it and feel no pain.
In Kabbalah, hairs are used as a metaphor for the contracted light of Hashem that is the source of Creation. Like the vitality of our hair, the Divine light within the world is so concealed that it is barely noticeable.
But despite the contraction and concealment, like the hairs or our head, the worlds are still connected to their G-dly source. Even though it is not revealed and tangible, it is still the truth of reality and it is for use to reveal.
Like a bald spot, Korach wanted to uproot the hairs completely, so that they would exist independently of any deeper source. Korach wanted to completely separate physicality from it’s G-dly source and G-dly purpose, worshipping worldliness as a value in its own right.
In our own personal lives, we have the same inner struggle. The upper waters are the spiritual aspects of our lives; davening, learning, Shabbos etc.
When it comes to our mundane activities; our ‘lower waters’ of work, eating, recreation and socialising, Korach tries to tell us that there is a separation; that these are not G-d’s domain.
But in truth, these parts of our lives are not truly separate. Like our Torah and Mitzvos, how we engage in the world is a vehicle for an even more powerful connection to Hashem.
Korach wants to make you pull your hair out. Let’s keep our roots firmly in place.
Our sages are not just making a cute play on words. In Jewish thought, a name has significance and encapsulates the nature of is bearer. If they compare Korach to a bald-spot, it is because a bald-spot is embodies who Korach was and what he was trying to do. So what is the connection between Korach and Korcha?
The opening words of the Parsha are ויקח קרח, “and Korach took”. What did Korach take? We don’t find any mention in the Torah of Korach taking anything. The Meforshim explain what Korach took was himself - he separated himself to the side.
Korach is about separation. Korach sought to create divisiveness and separation in a literal sense. Chassidus explains, that there was a deeper form of separation that he was trying to create.
The Targum translates these words as ואתפלג קרח, meaning “and Korach separated”. The great Chassidic master, the Noam Elimelech of Lizhensk, explains that this is similar to the separation that took place of the second day of Creation. This was the creation of the firmament that separated between the upper and lower waters.
Kabbalistically, the upper waters represent G-dliness and spiritual pleasures - open G-dly revelation. The lower waters represent physicality and the material pleasures of the world.
Hashem created the worlds through a process of Tzimtzum, a contraction and concealment of the Divine light. This concealment is what would ultimately allow a finite, physical world to come into being.
The word Olam (world) is related to the word העלם, the concealment of G-dliness through which it was created. And so the worlds, like the lower waters, seem to be separated from their spiritual source by a divide.
But the Divine intention was not that the worlds remain a place of concealment, separated from G-dliness. Hashem separated the lower worlds so that through our Avodah, they could be reconnected with their G-dly source in a deeper, more powerful way than before.
So the separation was not a true separation, or one that Hashem desired to remain in place. Hashem wanted us to bridge this separation and to reveal G-dliness within the world.
But Korach separated. Korach wanted to perpetuate this separation. He saw physicality, not as a vehicle for connecting to Hashem, but as an ends to itself. Korach viewed the world as existing completely independently of a spiritual or G-dly purpose.
This is the metaphor of baldness.
Hair is part of the body. Our hair grows because it too receives nourishment and vitality from the body, which ultimately comes from the brain. But unlike other parts of the body, the level of vitality in our hair is so minimal that we can cut it and feel no pain.
In Kabbalah, hairs are used as a metaphor for the contracted light of Hashem that is the source of Creation. Like the vitality of our hair, the Divine light within the world is so concealed that it is barely noticeable.
But despite the contraction and concealment, like the hairs or our head, the worlds are still connected to their G-dly source. Even though it is not revealed and tangible, it is still the truth of reality and it is for use to reveal.
Like a bald spot, Korach wanted to uproot the hairs completely, so that they would exist independently of any deeper source. Korach wanted to completely separate physicality from it’s G-dly source and G-dly purpose, worshipping worldliness as a value in its own right.
In our own personal lives, we have the same inner struggle. The upper waters are the spiritual aspects of our lives; davening, learning, Shabbos etc.
When it comes to our mundane activities; our ‘lower waters’ of work, eating, recreation and socialising, Korach tries to tell us that there is a separation; that these are not G-d’s domain.
But in truth, these parts of our lives are not truly separate. Like our Torah and Mitzvos, how we engage in the world is a vehicle for an even more powerful connection to Hashem.
Korach wants to make you pull your hair out. Let’s keep our roots firmly in place.