יומא-כב

R’ יוחנן משום ר׳ שמעון בן יהוצדק states in today’s דף that we don’t appoint a leader אלא אם כן קופה של שרצים תלויה לו מאחוריו, unless he has a box of שרצים hanging behind him, namely ancestors who are flawed, so that the leader not become arrogant. ר׳ יצחק הלוי מלובלין asked how did קרח, a descendant of יעקב אבינו, expect to be a leader of עם ישראל? After all, he was smart and presumably knew this דין. It appears, however, that he disagreed with ר׳ יוחנן. He saw that his descendant, שמואל, was destined to be a leader and שופט and that from him until שמואל all of the generations were מיוחסים. Therefore, קרח concluded, he too could serve as a leader even though his ancestors were all מיוחסים. However, קרח was mistaken because his descendant, שמואל, did have קופה של שרצים תלויה לו מאחוריו. The שרץ was none other than קרח himself. That is why שמואל was worthy to be a שופט of ישראל.

05/07/2020