Korach and Iran When Arrogance Demands Justice

Korach and Iran: When Arrogance Demands Justice

In the light of the Torah and Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s “Iron Wall”

The story of Korach is one of the most powerful and tragic chapters in the Torah. A man from the sacred tribe of Levi, a relative of Moses, Korach could not accept the role given to him by God. He wanted more. He wanted everything.

But his ambition came wrapped in righteous slogans: “The entire congregation is holy!” His rhetoric sounded almost democratic, but in truth, it was a rebellion against the Divine will — an attempt to destroy the sacred order and place himself at the top.

Today, thousands of years later, we see that same spirit — the spirit of rebellion, pride, and destruction — embodied not in one man, but in an entire nation. That modern-day Korach is the Islamic Republic of Iran.



Since 1979, Iran has made no secret of its mission. The destruction of Israel is not just a slogan — it is state policy. It’s written on missiles, declared from pulpits, and taught in schools. And like Korach holding the sacred incense pan, Iran cloaks its fanaticism in spiritual pretensions.

And for decades — the world endured it.
America sought compromise.
Europe pleaded.
Israel exercised restraint.

But even God’s patience has a limit.



In 1981, Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered the destruction of Iraq’s nuclear reactor.
In 2007, Israel neutralized a reactor in Syria.
In 2025, Israeli airstrikes targeted Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

These were not isolated events. They were expressions of a single doctrine — the fulfillment of Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s Iron Wall:

“As long as the enemy believes they can destroy us, they will not negotiate in good faith. Only when they understand it is impossible — will they begin to speak.”

But Iran, like Korach, refuses to see reality. Even after devastating blows to its military and nuclear facilities, it escalates. It launches hundreds of drones, sponsors attacks through proxies, and repeats the same empty words: “We have won.”



But the Torah teaches: there comes a moment when the earth opens its mouth.

Moses pleaded with Korach to stop. He was given a chance. But he chose pride over peace.
And then the ground swallowed him whole.

Today, Iran is doing the same.
Israel offered a pause.
The world offered a window.
But the response was more rockets, more defiance, more blood.



Kabbalah teaches that each nation has an angel — and that God holds a book in which the actions of peoples and nations are recorded. This book is written not with ink, but with deeds. Not with a pen, but with history. Not with metaphors, but with the lives of the innocent.

Iran has already written itself into that book.
And each new act of aggression deepens the line that leads to judgment.



Israel is a nation of life. It does not seek destruction. It builds, it heals, it prays. It has never been the first to strike. But when defense becomes a moral duty — silence becomes complicity.

And if Iran continues down the path of Korach —
if it insists on igniting the region,
if it mocks every gesture of mercy,
if it answers every warning with fire —
then Israel will have the full moral right to unleash weapons of justice.
Not out of revenge.
But out of necessity.
Out of life.

So that the earth does not perish.
So that the world does not burn.
So that the story of Korach — now playing out before our eyes —
does not become an endless cycle,
where pride blinds,
holiness is trampled,
and nations fall because some refuse to stop.



The Torah was not given in vain.
It is not just a book for the Jews —
It is the source of all the world’s great religions.
They may call it by other names. They may interpret it in their own ways.
But the root remains the same.

And those who refuse to see the root,
those who ignore the source,
are doomed to repeat the same mistake Korach made.

Today, Iran still has a choice —
to see, to understand, to step back.

But if it refuses,
if it insists on defying history, morality, and God —
then what happened once in the wilderness
will happen again on the stage of nations:

“And the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them alive…”



By Rabbi Michael Salita / Moshe ben Yisrael Salita
New York, 2025