Table of Contents

If it is created, create it

Proxy’s Paradox and Ministering Miracles

We find this week an interesting conundrum faced by Moshe. Koraĉ demands[i] כי כל העדה כלם קדשים ובתוכם ה’ – the entire gathering is holy and [dwelling] within them is G-d. Therefore, ומדוע תתנשאו על קהל ה’ – why should you be elevated above the Congregation of G-d.

Seemingly this argument presents an insurmountable obstacle to Moshe’s authority.

Miracles cannot counter this argument: the entire nation should be able to ask G-d to perform miracles – as indeed we see with many of the other leaders of the Jewish people for whom G-d performed miracles.
Direct spoken instructions cannot counter this argument: the entire nation had been directly commanded by G-d at Mount Sinai. Unlike Miriam and Aharon who spoke previously about Moshe as an individual person, whom G-d immediately defended, here Koraĉ sought to counter Moshe’s position as leader of the Jewish people. The ability to communicate directly to G-d on behalf of the nation is different than the personal ability to withstand G-d’s speech. Other prophets were unable to contain prophecy and would fall to the ground losing control of their bodies – and yet still, G-d chose to speak to them as his messengers. The ability of Moshe to speak פה אל פה is certainly a great achievement but is not a prerequisite for Jewish leadership.

Confident of his position, Koraĉ challenged Moshe. And indeed, G-d did not spring to the defense of Moshe.

Moshe’s response is strange though. He announces that he is staking his entire claim to legitimacy as G-d’s proxy and the eternal leader of the Jewish people with a single dramatic statement[ii] בזאת תדעון כי ה’ שלחני … ואם בריאה יברא ה’ ופצתה האדמה את פיה ובלעה אתם – In this you will know that G-d has sent me… And if there is a creation, G-d will create, and the earth shall split open its mouth and swallow them.

At its face, this is indeed a dramatic statement – that G-d should create a miracle to swallow up Moshe’s detractors. However, Koraĉ is not fazed by this. As we explained, a regular miracle does not prove the position as leader of the Jewish people – the miraculous G-dly people – at least not to the degree that Moshe ruled.

And in examining the logic of this response further, especially when considering the Mishna and Gemara that talk about this miracle, the response begs further questions:

The Four Questions

Something New or Something Old: If Moshe wants to prove that he is G-d’s direct proxy, the one to establish Torah law throughout all generations, then why choose a mechanism that might already have existed? A uniquely present-tense undeniable miracle – like the heavenly fire that consumed Nadav and Avihu, and the two hundred and fifty men (250) men[1] offering the incense would seem to be a much more definitive proof of Moshe’s authority.
Admission of Doubt: Moshe’s claim is that he is G-d’s ultimate proxy. As he demonstrated with the men who were unable to offer the Pesaĉ offering, and with the daughters of Tzelafĉad, any question he did not know, he could simply ask G-d for an answer. We even find that Moshe could demand a response, as was proven in the incident of Miriam.[iii] And yet, to prove his claim of divine authority, he explicitly admits to doubt as a part of his claim, doubt as to whether the פי הארץ had previously been created. Why not ask G-d if he had created the opening or not? In other words, how is Moshe’s lack of knowledge a part of his proof.[2]
Talmudic Contradiction: Rashi’s commentary on the verse[iv] states the double language of ואם בריאה and יברא implies both the past tense if it had already been created and the future tense he [G-d] will create it: Moshe was saying, if it had already been created, fine. If not, G-d should create this. However, elsewhere in the Gemara[v] this statement is qualified since[vi] ואין כל חדש תחת השמש – therefore, Moshe must have been asking that the opening of the earth that had been created already be moved to wherever Koraĉ was standing. If the Gemara qualified this statement, why does Rashi not note that as part of his commentary? Rashi’s choice not to implies that the Gemaras are actually in contradiction as opposed to one statement qualifying the other – and therefore, Rashi chose the statement that better aligns with the simple meaning of the text. If so, how does Rashi answer the contradiction in the Gemara?
Mishna’s Failure to Count: The Mishna itself, which lists those items created on the sixth day during the twilight, is in itself contradictory. At its start, the Mishna states there were עשרה דברים – ten (10) things that were created. When offering the alternative opinions, the Mishna does not state that some opinions hold there were thirteen (13) or eleven (11) items created – which omission implies that the other opinions do not dispute the number of items created, but rather they dispute which of the items were created. What were the items which the alternate opinions replaced, and why isn’t that explained?[3] And if the alternate opinions replace the opening of the earth, then that challenges the Gemara’s position of nothing new under the sun.

Changing the Perspective

To resolve this, we need to draw on the teachings of Kabbala concerning the concept of בריאה – creation. Specifically, the teachings of the Pardes[vii] entirely shifts our perspective.

The Pardes teaches us that the concept of בריאה – creation is related to two separate but connected etymological roots:

בר – as in the Aramaic for the word Outside, and
בַרא – as in the verse[viii] כי יער הוא ובראתו – as it is a forest and you shall cut it down. Thus, the word is associated with the idea of cutting.

Within the world of אצילות, the infinite worlds, all possibilities exist. The world of בריאה cuts out a single possibility and brings it out from the infinite into the finite.

Moshe operated from within the world of אצילות. In fact, the entire term for that world is derived from G-d’s statement to Moshe in which he would take from Moshe’s spirit to ignite the spirit of the Elders. As it says in the verses[ix] ואצלתי מן הרוח אשר עליך and[x] ויאצל מן הרוח. He lived in a world where speaking to G-d was the same as we speak to one another.

Therefore, Moshe could see the potential of the creation of פי הארץ – the mouth of the earth which would swallow Koraĉ, as it existed as one of the infinite possibilities visible to him. However, when it came to בריאה – what was actually created in the world, then Moshe had no idea if this thing had been created or not – whether the single possibility had been cut out and made real in the limited universe outside of אצילות.

And it was exactly this ignorance on behalf of Moshe that proved him to be of a different stature than the nation of כולם קדושים. Granted, the Jewish people are all holy, but only Moshe viewed the world through the clear perspective of the Infinite.

Resolving the Perspective of the Gemara

With this in mind, we can resolve the discrepancy in the Gemara, as well as Rashi’s choice to quote the Gemara of Nedarim instead of the one in Sanhedrin.

Rashi had already previously explained that Koraĉ sought rebellion and disunity. On the first words of this Parsha, ויקח קרח, Rashi explains, ‘להיות נחלק מתוך העדה’ – his purpose was to be divided from the gathering of the people. He sought disunity. Gemara Nedarim is discussing the concept of Visiting the Sick – an act of unity among the Jewish people, and its sources in the Torah. In matters of unity and fulfilling the Mitzva, the Gemara certainly accepts the possibility of changing nature, as we all do when we pray רפאנו ה’ – that G-d should change the natural order, even in a miraculous manner, and heal the sick. However, in Gemara Sanhedrin, the sin of Koraĉ is discussed in terms of his rebellion against G-d. Accordingly, there is no need for a miracle and no possibility for one. Instead, הרבה שלוחים למקום – G-d has many ways he can choose to enact judgement without resorting to creation.

The Physics of Creating Miracles

While this explains Moshe’s perspective and his response to Koraĉ, we are still left with the simple question: Was this an item created during the six (6) days of creation, or did G-d create a miracle in the wilderness for this purpose? The answer is, ‘Yes!’

Because Moshe was operating within אצילות – which is entirely outside the restrictions of time – the creation of פי הארץ in the wilderness does not contradict its creation during the six (6) days of creation. When Moshe’s statement cut out this possibility from the infinite possibilities, and the פי הארץ was created to swallow Koraĉ, at that exact moment it became true that it had always been created since the beginning of the world.

This concept is hinted at in the Yerushalmi[xi] which discusses the same episode. When quoting Moshe’s statement, the Yerushalmi states ואם לאו יברא לה מעכשיו – let it be created from now. Throughout Halaĉa, the word מעכשיו is an absolutely defined term of retroactivity. It dictates that a condition fulfilled in the future is legally applied retroactively backwards in time.

The Yerushalmi is giving us the physics lesson for the creation of the miracle; Moshe did not say “create something new now”, he stated “create something new now מעכשיו – that retroactively had always been”. Before Koraĉ’s rebellion, it might very well have been true that this item had not been created during the six (6) days of creation. But the moment Moshe prayed for the collapsed potential to be actualized into reality in the wilderness, the פי הארץ had always, retroactively, been created.

This provides us with a new dimension of Moshe’s counterclaim – he wasn’t just asking G-d for a miracle to change / override existing reality. He was stating that Moshe was G-d, the Creator’s proxy. And when Moshe needed something created – it was woven retroactively into the creation of the universe.[4]

Fascinatingly, modern theoretical physics has managed to mirror this exact concept. In quantum mechanics, there is a phenomenon called Quantum Retrocausality, famously demonstrated by Wheeler’s Delayed-Choice Experiment.

Physics tells us that a particle of creation exists purely as a “wave of potential” until it is measured by an observer. Once observed, it locks into a physical state. Wheeler’s experiments proved something astonishing: an observation made in the present moment actually dictates the behavior of the particle in the past. When a scientist measures a photon today, it retroactively determines the path that photon took throughout history.

Moshe didn’t just ask G-d to create פי הארץ he asked to change the very narrative of creation during the six (6) days of creation to prove his office to the Jewish people. And G-d provided that proof.

[1] This question becomes even stronger when we consider that the Gemara notes Koraĉ in fact was one of the two hundred and fifty (250) men who offered the incense, and thus he did die of the consuming fire, in addition to being swallowed by the earth.

[2] This question becomes stronger when we consider that the Mishna [Pirkey Avos 5:6] states explicitly that it was indeed created on the sixth day of creation. Although, we could answer that this teaching is derived from these verses and was not previously known before then.

[3] We could argue that פי הארץ was not one of the items that were replaced, since in telling us that the earth swallowed Koraĉ, the Torah makes no mention of it being created. It would therefore make sense to assume that this had previously been created. As for when the other items were created, that has no bearing on the current discussion. That is a legitimate point. However, we are still left to consider why the Mishna chose to leave this ambiguous – and what moral lesson does this ambiguity teach us – after all, Pirkey Avos is a book of ethics not trivia.

[4] Which incidentally provides us with the moral lesson as to why this was taught in Pirkey Avos. Moshe’s leadership of the Jewish people is fundamentally different than that of any other leader or prophet – not just in his personal qualities, but in the mandate of his office. He is G-d the Creator’s proxy, and thus the Jewish people’s acceptance of Toras Moshe is not a quality added to the world, but a component of the creation of the world.

[i] Bamidbar 16:3

[ii] Bamidbar 16:28-30

[iii] See Rashi on the word לאמר Bamidbar 12:13

[iv] Seemingly quoting Rava in Gem. Nedarim 39b

[v] Gem. Sanhedrin 110a

[vi] Koheless 1:9

[vii] Pardes Rimonim 16:1

[viii] Yehoshua 17:18

[ix] Bamidbar 11:17

[x] Bamidbar 11:23

[xi] Yer. Sanhedrin 10:1