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Why did Moshe criticize Bnei Levi's motivations rather than just their actions? The Midrash reveals that criticizing someone's inner motives is like hitting them with a stick - it's invasive and potentially wrong since only Hashem (ה׳) knows true intentions. Measure Hashem's response teaches this very lesson about proper rebuke.
This shiur explores a profound teaching from the Midrash about the proper boundaries of criticism and rebuke, using the story of Korach as the focal point. The Midrash states that when Moshe told Bnei Levi 'Rav lachem' (you have too much), criticizing their motivations for seeking power, Hashem (ה׳) responded with the same words - 'Rav lach' - when Moshe later pleaded to enter Eretz Yisrael. Rabbi Zweig develops the fundamental principle that criticism should focus on actions, not motivations. When we criticize someone's inner motives, we engage in something invasive and potentially destructive - what the Midrash calls 'hitting them with a stick' (mochisa b'chutri). Actions are observable by everyone, but motivations require us to presume we can read someone's heart and mind, which is both arrogant and often inaccurate.
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Parshas Korach
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Why is flattery worse than idolatry? The shiur explains that flattery transforms evil (ra) into good (tov) by making someone internalize that which is false as something positive. This mobilizes a person's yetzer tov—their instinct for good—to pursue evil, using their deepest forces for self-preservation to destroy themselves. The ultimate antithesis of creation's purpose.
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