Additionally, the Torah states that they were “Anshei Shem” - “men of great renown”. Why would the Torah specifically bestow upon them, or acknowledge, this prestigious title specifically here - in context of this terrible Aveirah? 

On May 7, 1931, the most sensational manhunt New York City had ever known had come to its climax. After weeks of search, "Two Gun" Crowley—the killer, was at bay, trapped in his apartment on West End Avenue. One hundred and fifty policemen and detectives laid siege to his top floor hide-away. They chopped holes in the roof; so that they could smoke out Crowley, the "cop killer," with tear-gas. Then they mounted their machine guns on surrounding buildings, and for more than an hour, one of New York's fanciest residential areas reverberated with the crack of pistol fire and the rut-tat-tat of machine guns. Crowley, crouching behind an over-stuffed chair, fired incessantly at the police. Ten thousand excited people watched the battle. Nothing like it ever been seen before on the sidewalks of New York.

When Crowley was captured, Police Commissioner E. P. Mulrooney declared that the two-gun desperado was one of the most dangerous criminals ever encountered in the history of New York. "He will kill," said the Commissioner, "at the drop of a feather."

But how did "Two Gun" Crowley regard himself?

We know the answer to this question, because while the police were firing into his apartment, he wrote a letter addressed "To whom it may concern..”. In this letter Crowley said: "Under my coat is a weary heart, but a kind one - one that would do nobody any harm." 

Now, interestingly, a short time before this event, Crowley had been in his car on a country road out on Long Island. Suddenly a policeman walked up to the car and said: "Let me see your license." Without saying a word, Crowley drew his gun and cut the policeman down with a shower of lead. As the slain officer fell, Crowley leaped out of the car, grabbed the officer's revolver, and fired another bullet into the prostrate body. And that was the killer who said: "Under my coat is a weary heart, but a kind one—one that would do nobody any harm." Crowley was sentenced to the electric chair. When he arrived to the chair on his final day, did he say "This is what I get for killing people"? No, he said: "This is what I get for defending myself." 

The point of the story is this: "Two Gun" Crowley didn't blame himself for anything. 

Is that an unusual attitude among criminals? If you think so, listen to this: "I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man." That's Al Capone speaking. Yes, America's most notorious Public Enemy—the most sinister gang-leader who ever shot up Chicago. Capone didn't condemn himself. He actually regarded himself as a public benefactor—an unappreciated and misunderstood public benefactor. And so did Dutch Schultz. Dutch Schultz, one of New York's most notorious criminals, said in a newspaper interview that he was a public benefactor. And he believed it.

Lewis Lawes, who was warden of New York's infamous Sing Sing prison for many years, on this subject declared that "few of the criminals in Sing Sing regard themselves as bad men. They are just as human as you and I. So, they rationalize, they explain. They can tell you why they had to crack a safe or be quick on the trigger finger”.*

The Torah is not just teaching us that good people can go bad. It is teaching us that even when they do so, they will still be convinced that they are truly good people doing good things – still “Anshei Shem”, “men of renown - even when that is the farthest thing from the truth. Many meforshim, including the Be’er Yosef, explain that Korach and his followers were not simply rebelling against Moshe. Rather, as ridiculous as it sounds to us - they felt that they were actually making deep hashkafic, accurate points, and they felt that they were truly in the right to fight against Moshe Rabbeinu himself; They felt that their actions were appropriate for Anshei Shem - meaning that they were doing great things. The Torah is thereby teaching us an incredible insight that is set within human nature: mankind has an uncanny ability to justify their own actions, and can even feel that the most atrocious act is worthy of renown, and therefore one should always be wary of this fact and be on guard against it.  

Living Inspired 

As illustrated by the above, deep-rooted in every human being’s heart is the conviction that he or she is always right, and justifiable, no matter what. Our subconscious becomes experts in creating deep hashkafic arguments as to why we are correct, or at the very least, not to blame. 

My father always pointed out to me that no sane criminal, in all of history, ever looked into the mirror and said “I am an evil person. I like being evil and that’s okay”. Rather, they blame life circumstances, the system, the people they are harming, or a plethora of other excuses to justify why they are either correct, or, why they cannot really be blamed for their actions. For example, a thief may tell himself that he’s stealing from people who already have plenty of money, that insurance will cover it, that they have no choice because they have to survive, etc.

By the Torah pointing out that Korach’s followers were “Anshei Shem”, as well as by recording this episode with Korach in the Torah for all time for us to study, Hashem is teaching us in our Parshah that this is human nature. Why is Hashem doing so? At the very least, so that we can be on guard to fight against such behavior and thoughts.**

None of us our perfect. What should we improve in? Let’s take an honest look at ourselves & let us be skeptical of any argument that we don’t do anything wrong, or that we don’t have an area where we can improve in - or at the very least - let’s be skeptical of any argument that something we already do well can’t be done even better. Doing so is an excellent exercise in cheshbone ha’nefesh. If one would do so for even 1 minute - once a day, once a week, or even once month - it would be the key to truly achieving greatness.

Gut Shabbos 

__________

*- This is an excerpt from “How To Win Friends And Influence People”, by Dale Carnegie. R’ Avigdor Miller, on multiple occasions, had publicly recommended that everyone should consider reading this book to learn its insightful & universal lessons.

**- This tendency to always feel one is right, is also important when dealing with others. People don’t like criticism - they feel they are always right. Be careful when criticizing. 

In the words of Dale Carnegie (“How To Win Friends And Influence People”, by Dale Carnegie): “If Al Capone, "Two Gun" Crowley, Dutch Schultz, and the desperate men and women behind prison walls don't blame themselves for anything—what about the people with whom you and I come in contact?

John Wanamaker, founder of the stores that bear his name, once confessed: "I learned thirty years ago that it is foolish to scold. I have enough trouble overcoming my own limitations."

Wanamaker learned this lesson early, but I personally had to blunder through this old world for a third of a century before it even began to dawn upon me that ninety-nine times out of a hundred, people don't criticize themselves for anything, no matter how wrong it may be.

Criticism is futile because it puts a person on the defensive and usually makes him strive to justify himself. Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person's precious pride, hurts his sense of importance, and arouses resentment. B. F. Skinner, the world-famous psychologist, proved through his experiments that an animal rewarded for good behavior will learn much more rapidly and retain what it learns far more effectively than an animal punished for bad behavior. Later studies have shown that the same applies to humans.

By criticizing, we do not make lasting changes and often incur resentment. Hans Selye, another great psychologist, said, "As much as we thirst for approval, we dread condemnation." The resentment that criticism engenders can demoralize employees, family members and friends, and still not correct the situation that has been condemned.

George B. Johnston of Enid, Oklahoma, is the safety coordinator for an engineering company, one of his responsibilities is to see that employees wear their hard hats whenever they are on the job in the field.

He reported that whenever he came across workers who were not wearing hard hats, he would tell them with a lot of authority of the regulation and that they must comply.

As a result he would get sullen acceptance, and often after he left, the workers would remove the hats.

He decided to try a different approach.

The next time he found some of the workers not wearing their hard hat, he asked if the hats were uncomfortable or did not fit properly.

Then he reminded the men in a pleasant tone of voice that the hat was designed to protect them from injury and suggested that it always be worn on the job.

The result was increased compliance with the regulation with no resentment or emotional upset. Case in point.