The Torah tells us that not only were Korach and his cohorts swallowed alive; their wives and children also died in this extraordinary fashion. Rashi comments (Bamidbar 16, 27) that the gravity of this punishment helps us comprehend the severity of quarreling. While a court of law only punishes a man after he reaches the age of thirteen, and Heaven only punishes from the age of twenty, quarreling is so serious an infraction that even the nursing babies perished as a result. Why did the children, who were in no way involved in the dispute, deserve to die alongside their parents?

Rav Wolbe answers with the following Sforno. In the Aseres HaDibros we read, “Who visits the sin of the forefathers upon their children on the third and fourth generations.” The Sforno explains that Hashem waits until the fourth generation to mete out punishment, because when four consecutive generations sin in the same manner, the sin becomes entrenched - part and parcel of their very personality – and there is no hope that they will ever do teshuva. Similarly, the children of Korach were born into a situation where a terrible quarrel raged. The severity of machlokes is such that it can leave an indelible impression even on the second generation. Arguing would become part of their nature. Moreover, the knowledge that their fathers disagreed so adamantly with Moshe would cause them to forever second guess Moshe Rabbeinu’s qualifications as a leader. Therefore, the only option was for them to perish along with their parents, and thus effectively preventing any possibility of the continuation of this machlokes.

One of the six hundred and thirteen commandments is, “And one shall not be like Korach and his followers” (Bamidbar 17, 5). Rav Wolbe cautions that this commandment applies even when one has good intentions and acts for the sake of heaven. Nevertheless, he may not cause machlokes. One must be especially careful when he acts “lesheim shamayim” because he often thinks that this gives him the license to do as he pleases. The Mishna in Avos states, “Any argument in which people argue for the sake of heaven will endure… Any argument that is not for the sake of heaven will not endure.” Rav Yisroel Salanter explains this Mishna homiletically. When two businessmen get into an argument, at the end of the day they will make amends and drink a beer together. However, when one feels that he is arguing for the sake of heaven, the quarrel will never end. How could he give in when Heaven’s honor is at stake? Such a machlokes will endure forever!

Any machlokes, even with the best of intentions, can have terrible repercussions. The Alter of Kelm writes that Korach must have had truly lofty intentions, for if he did not, the pans he used to sacrifice the incense would not have become holy and would not have been converted into plating for the mizbeiach. Despite his intentions, the machlokes caused the demise of his entire family. This being the case, could there be any cause for which it is truly worthwhile to create a machlokes?

This dvar Torah was compiled by the family of the Mashgiach Harav Shlomo ben R’ Moshe z"l, l’iluy nishmaso