Korach- Emunah and Ma'aseh

 וַיִּקַּ֣ח קֹ֔רַח בֶּן־יִצְהָ֥ר בֶּן־קְהָ֖ת בֶּן־לֵוִ֑י וְדָתָ֨ן וַאֲבִירָ֜ם בְּנֵ֧י אֱלִיאָ֛ב וְא֥וֹן בֶּן־פֶּ֖לֶת בְּנֵ֥י רְאוּבֵֽן׃

רש''י: ויקח קרח. פרשה זו יפה נדרשת במדרש רבי תנחומא: ויקח קרח... באו ועמדו לפני משה. אמרו לו טלית שכלה של תכלת חיבת בציצית או פטורה. אמר להם חיבת. התחילו לשחק עליו,  אפשר טלית של מין אחר חוט אחד של תכלת פוטרה, זו שכלה תכלת לא תפטור את עצמה 

Rav Shlomo Zevin explains a deep yesod from this. Emunah in Hashem and performing mitzvos are not two separate things. They are meant to go hand in hand with each other. We see the Gemara in Berachos (13a) explains, why does “שמע” precede “והי'ה אם שמוע”? In order so that one should first be mekabel ol malchus Shomayim and then be mekabel ol mitzvos. One must first have a clear picture that there is a Commander and then understand that there is a commandment. 

The flip-side is true as well; plain emunah, unconnected to mitzvos, is not real emunah. It is not founded in anything and therefore has no real body to it. The Torah says, “כי ה' אלקיך אש אכלה הוא” (Devarim 4:24); Hashem is compared to a fire. And just as flame without a wick cannot last, so too, emunah in Hashem cannot last unless it has the wick of mitzvos to sustain it. 

The techeiles and lavan in tzitzis represent these two ideas, Emunas Hashem and Ma’aseh HaMItzvos. Chazal tell us that techeiles is similar to the sea, which is similar to the sky, which is similar to the Kisei HaKavod (Menachos 43b). The Gemara there brings pesukim to show that Kisei HaKavod is blue. Rashi there explains that is through the visage of the techeiles that we are reminded of HaKadosh Boruch Hu. So, here we see the connection to Emunas Hashem. Whereas by the rest of the tzitzis, the Torah says “וראיתם אתו וזכרתם את כל מצות ה' ועשיתם אותם” (Bamidbar 15:39). Here we see the connection to Maaseh HaMitzvos. 

What was Korach’s argument? He claimed that there was no need for the actual performance of mitzvos. “כי כל העדה כלם קדשים ובתוכם ה'”, everyone is holy! Everyone is connected to Hashem. Rashi explains that Korach was exclaiming that it was not only Moshe and Aharon who were at Har Sinai and heard “אנכי ה' אלוקיך”. That is to say, all the nation were directly commanded the foundations of faith; “אנכי ה'” and “לא יהי'ה לך אלהים אחרים”. But whatever mitzvos came through Moshe, Korach claimed that Moshe himself made them up, and that Bnei Yisrael had no reason to abide by them.       

This is why Korach claim to Moshe was that a tallis which is entirely techeiles surely is patur from tzitzis. That is to say, a people so connected to Emunas Hashem don't need all of "Moshe's mitzvos."

ובני קרח לא מתו
Rav Zevin writes that there are people in every generation that foster the propagation of this Korachian philosophy, that faith alone is enough to get by. The Torah here is telling us otherwise, Emunas Hashem must go hand in hand with Ma'aseh HaMitzvos.