קרח

Our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “And he took”—it does not say “and he took” but “and he took for himself”; what did he take? He took nothing. And so the commentators wondered: what is the meaning of the expression “and he took”? For this expression applies when one takes some specific thing in his hands, but here it says that he took nothing; rather, “And Korach son of Yitzhar took” (Numbers 16:1), and it is not explained what he took.

Rashi wrote: “‘And Korach took’—he took himself to one side to arouse the congregation for dissension, to hold onto the congregation from the rest; as Onkelos translated: ‘and he separated himself.’”

In the Gemara (Sanhedrin 109b) it is stated: Reish Lakish said: “‘And he took’—he took a bad purchase for himself.”

And according to what was the root of this at the outset in the writings of the Ari, of blessed memory, that this “bad purchase” is the secret intention of the matter: learn from this, that the Generation of Knowledge were all sparks of Hevel, for even Korach was from among the sparks of the Neshamah of Korach that are in Hevel; and there, the Neshamah is sweetened from that aspect, and consequently the root of the Neshamah of Moshe Rabbeinu was (as above, Moshe with the sparks of Shet) and was rectified.

But Korach separated from within the congregation, whose Neshamah was from the side of Hevel, and he took a bad purchase for himself, to be from the root of Kayin. This—through deeds and actions accomplished by the hands—like Kayin at the beginning of the creation of the world.

For by means of the actions that a person does, behold they are similar to the actions that preceded him, and he is drawn to them and becomes connected with them, as their Neshamah. Therefore, Korach, who made dissension, bound himself to the first deed of dissension that was in the creation of the world, which is the dissension of Kayin and Hevel, as it is said in Bereshit (4): “And Kayin rose up against Hevel his brother and killed him” (Genesis 4:8). Now, evil sparks from the Neshamah of Kayin passed into him.

This is what our Sages, of blessed memory, said regarding the verse “And Korach took” (Numbers 16:1): “a bad purchase that he took for himself,” for he took for himself the evil sparks of Kayin, from within the congregation which is, in generality, the Neshamah of Hevel, to be for himself.

The wonder in this is that you see a hint and secret: MK"CH, KY"N, עולה בגימטריא KR"CH. And the reason of the matter is: for Korach took, in the sense of a “purchase,” the sparks of Kayin to be for himself, and from that aspect.