An elderly fellow once told me that he was desperately trying to calculate his resources so he could spend all his money before he died because, “I can’t take it with me anyway. I don’t want a hearse full of money. What good will it do in the grave?”
I gently tried to impress upon him the importance of charitable giving; how his money could continue his legacy beyond his physical life.
At the end of the day – and life – we cannot take our money with us. Dollars are useless in the grave and in the World to Come a different type of currency is demanded.
But there was once a person whose money went with him to the grave. In fact it was a veritable fortune. The Talmud teaches that Korach was so wealthy that three hundred mules were necessary to transport the keys to his treasure houses. According to the Midrash he discovered one of the treasures that Joseph buried in Egypt.
Korach, whose name is the title of this week’s parsha, rebelled against Moshe. He challenged Moshe’s leadership and demanded equality for all. He argued that “the entire congregation are all holy, and the L-rd is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above the L-rd's assembly?”
He, and his followers, met a tragic fate. The Torah tells that, “The earth beneath them opened its mouth and swallowed them and their houses, and all the men who were with Korah and all the property.”
Indeed, Korach, his people, and all his belongings were buried alive. Why did G-d “punish” Korach’s property? Isn’t that wasteful?
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In truth, Korach was no fool. His argument against Moshe was more sophisticated than, ‘Let me be the leader instead of you.’ He recognized that Moshe was the one who had acted as intermediary between G-d and His people in all the remarkable events from the Ten Plagues to the Splitting of the Sea and Revelation at Sinai. Moshe’s credibility was indisputable and unsurpassed.
Yet, he fought a campaign against Moshe anyway. Here’s one reason why:
After the sin of the Spies, it became evident that G-d’s master plan is not to escape the material in favor of the spiritual. Rather, the purpose of Creation lies in the material itself.
Korach took this to the opposite extreme. If physical substance is what matters most – something he had no shortage of – then Moshe is no greater than anyone else. In fact, he considered himself to be a master of the material. If G-d desires the body versus the soul, then we are all equal.
However, Korach erred dramatically. G-d does not desire the body in and of itself. He desires matter that is infused with spirit. He craves a body that is uplifted by the soul.
Material wealth is indeed a tool. But only if it is elevated. We achieve this by living a material life, but doing so in the service of a higher, spiritual goal. This creates a true dwelling place for the Almighty – a space in which lowly matter expresses lofty spirit.
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Korach’s attitude to material effects doesn’t allow for their true objective to be actualized. The G-dliness remains trapped in its physical, confining shell.
However, when we eat food toward a holy end or utilize a bicycle as a vehicle for the sacred – we have not only reached our own assignment on earth; we have realized the food or the bicycle’s mission as well, infusing it with hallowed import.
Perhaps G-d buried Korach’s property with him to teach us this invaluable lesson.
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We may never be able to take our money with us to the next world. But we can elevate the G-dliness within physical matter. And that stays with us eternally.