פרשת קרח

Though I am nervous to comment in front of so many of you who learned and taught this in depth, a few quick thoughts (2 thoughts & 1 question) on the last Parsha:

• There is a puzzling passage right after sheini. Moshe calls for Dasan and Aviram to come to him, but they refuse, saying "לא נעלה". They continue to complain that הַמְעַט, כִּי הֶעֱלִיתָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ, לַהֲמִיתֵנוּ, בַּמִּדְבָּר: כִּי-תִשְׂתָּרֵר עָלֵינוּ, גַּם-הִשְׂתָּרֵר. יד אַף לֹא אֶל-אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבַשׁ, הֲבִיאֹתָנוּ, וַתִּתֶּן-לָנוּ, נַחֲלַת שָׂדֶה וָכָרֶם; הַעֵינֵי הָאֲנָשִׁים הָהֵם, תְּנַקֵּר--לֹא נַעֲלֶה - 13 is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but thou must needs make thyself also a prince over us? 14 Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards; wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.'

The מפרשים come up with a couple of ways to explain the bolded portion, which on it's face makes no sense. Who are "these men", why would Moshe gouge out their eyes, and what does it have to do with anything? Rashi says that they are referring to themselves, but didn't want to say so (like ברכת ד' or שונאי ישראל). If so, their message was, no matter what you do to us, we aren't coming. Others give variations of the idea that there is nothing you can do to hide your deficiencies as a leader from either the people in general or Korach's group in particular.

Perhaps more simply, לא נעלה doesn't mean what it meant a few pesukim ago, but must be read in the context of the intervening text as we will not go up - to Eretz Yisrael! If so, the eye-gouging is a clear reference to the צרעה the supernatural hornets that Hashem promises to send ahead of Bnei Yisrael to gouge out the eyes of the enemies they encounter when conquering the land (see שמות כג:כח and דברים ז:כ). The message then is very pointed - the Meraglim rejected the land because they felt it would be impossible to conquer. דתן & אבירם go a big step further. Even if we are miraculously able to conquer the land, we still don't want it.

• Immediately after this, Moshe asks Hashem not to respond to the קטרת offerings of the rebels. This is very strange. Why would Hashem, knowing that this is the test to determine who he had chosen as the Kohen Gadol respond to those who are rebelling against his choice? Maybe we can explain this in light of what occurred earlier in פרשת בהעלותך. After the people sin and are punished again, Moshe complains that he can not bear the weight of the nation alone, and in response Hashem has him form the 70 elders to share some of his leadership role. Later, Yehoshua finds Eldad and Medad prophesysing and wants Moshe to defend his honor and destroy them. Moshe responds, wishing - מי יתן כל עם ד' נביאים - that the entire nation would be prophets. This is remarkably similar to קרח's argument that כל העדה כולם קדושים. Maybe the whole story of Korach is not just the story of a troublemaker and his attempted mutiny, but Hashem telling Moshe to be careful what he wishes for, and punishing him for doubting His methods. If so, Moshe's plea makes perfect sense. He asks Hashem not to answer Korach to teach him a lesson.

• Finally, Over these few parshiyot there is an odd recurrence of a חמור - donkey. From the mitzva of פטר חמור, where it is the only non-kosher animal that is subject to the laws of פדיון בכור to Moshe's insistence to Hashem when defending his reign that he didn't even take a single חמור to next week's story with the miraculously talkative חמור of בלעם (was there one more). I know that it often symbolizes חומר - materialism, but I can't figure out the message. All insights on this, and the previous points as well are of course welcome from anyone (faculty, students, parents, strangers etc.).