We need to explain the dispute between Korah and Moses. Moses said that everything that Korah argued was not against Moses but against the Creator. Korah argued that he believed in the Creator, as it is written, “The whole congregation are holy,” and what our sages said, “Everyone heard in Sinai, ‘I am the Lord your God,’” but he did not want to believe in Moses.

However, before he had personal interest, meaning that he had to make a big concession, he believed in Moses. But once he saw that Eltzaphan became president, while he understood according to his mind that he deserved the presidency, and he had to believe Moses that this was the Creator’s commandment, his faith in Moses was not so great anymore.

It was not enough that he believed in the Creator and that the Torah was given through Moses and he must believe in him, since with the intellect, it is impossible to understand the Torah, since the view of landlords is opposite from the view of Torah, and we need only faith in the sages, for without Torah it is impossible to know what is the view of Torah and fear of heaven, for it is not the uneducated who is pious, as it is written, “I wish they left Me and kept My Torah [law].”

A person cannot tell his friend that he trusts him only concerning something small, but not concerning something great. If a person does not trust his friend concerning great things, he certainly does not trust him concerning small things, too. The reason why it seems as though he trusts him concerning something small is only that the thing is not important to him, so he thinks that even if he is not telling the truth, it does not matter.

For this reason, when Korah did not want to trust Moses with regard to the presidency, it immediately became revealed that with regard to the rest of the matters he also had no faith. This is why he immediately asked about a Talit [Jewish prayer shawl] that is all azure and a house that is full of books.

Rather, we must be strong in faith in the sages and submit ourselves, and be lowly in our eyes compared to the righteous. The matter of lowliness becomes revealed primarily when one must do something that his friend obligates him to do, while his own view indicates the opposite of his friend’s view, and yet he subjugates himself. This is called “lowliness,” when he lowers his own view.

This is the meaning of Datan and Aviram. “Datan” means that they wanted the Dat [religion] to be in the form of Avi [my father], meaning “desire,” as in “He did not Ava [wanted] to let them go.” This is the meaning of Avi-Ram, that religion is Ram [high], suitable for his intellect.

Conversely, Moses gave a religion of lowliness, which does not befit his intellect, as it is written, “A Talit that is all azure,” etc. This is why “They descended alive to Sheol,” meaning that even though they had life because they were all at the occasion at Mt. Sinai, without Torah with faith in the sages we descend to Sheol. There is no other way but faith in the sages.