Ten years later, Rav Schach was speaking to a fellow named Rav Dovid Rottberg. He recounted his conversation with Rav Chaim Ozer and then quipped that it's been over a decade since then, and he is still living in terrible poverty, never knowing where his next meal will come from.
Thirty years later, in the early 1980s, Rav Dovid Rottberg was in B'nei Brak and he went to visit Rav Schach. By then Rav Schach was the renown Rosh Yeshiva of Ponovezh and was known across the globe as the leader of the Torah world.
At the beginning of parshas Beha'aloscha, the Torah instructs about the mitzvah of lighting the menorah.
Rashi, quoting Medrash Tanchuma, asks why the mitzvah of Aharon preparing and lighting the candles of the menorah is juxtaposed to the special korbanos brought by the Nesi'im, enumerated in detail at the end of parshas Naso?
Ramban understands G-d's promise to Aharon as referring to the candles of the Chashmonaim at the time of the Chanukah miracle. The korbanos were only brought when the Bais Hamikdash stood, but the mitzvah of lighting Chanukah candles, which resulted from the efforts of the descendants of Aharon, remain in effect even during the exile.
A few parshios later we read about the disastrous story with Korach and his rebellion against the authority of Moshe and Aharon. Korach and his followers reasoned that they should have the opportunity to perform the avodah in the Mishkan that was exclusive to the kohanim.
Korach is remembered infamously for all time. His rebellion is one of the great tragedies of the nation during their years in the desert, because it was prompted by vitriolic jealousy.
If one would have asked Korach how he could be engaged in such a terrible endeavor, he would have undoubtedly replied that he was acting with altruistic motives. He might have very well pointed to the Torah's narrative with Aharon and the candles. He would have noted that it was considered virtuous that Aharon felt chalishus hada'as about not having the same opportunity to serve Hashem as the Princes. Korach may have reasoned that it was the same feeling of chalishus hada'as that was driving his challenge against Moshe.
What indeed is the difference between chalishus hada'as, which is considered virtuous and laudable, and jealousy, which is considered deleterious and lowly?
Chalishus hada'as is felt when one had previously thought that a certain accomplishment or level was personally unattainable, until he sees that someone else was able to master it. At that point, he is bothered that he hasn't done so as well. The other person's accomplishments demonstrates to himself his own failing.
Jealousy however, is focused on the other person. It bothers the jealous person that someone else has something he doesn't. He isn't driven by a quest for personal greatness as much as by a quest for accolades and recognition to outshine everyone else. He is not motivated by ambition but by avarice.
The challenge is that sometimes it can be genuinely hard to identify one's own motive.
How can one know if a feeling he has is a result of chalishus hada'as or jealousy?
The answer is if one is able to be pacified/mollified by being shown how he will be able to accomplish the same things, albeit at a later time of place, that is indicative of the fact that it's chalishus hada'as. If he feels pained by his lack of accomplishment and is sincerely driven by a desire to bring about greatness, he will be comforted in knowing that he has done all he can, and the positive result will occur, if even at a later time.
One who is jealous on the other hand, won't be satisfied in knowing that he has done his best. The fact that someone else is ahead of him or accomplished something he hasn't will continue to burn within him, and give him no peace.
When Aharon felt chalishus hada'as, Hashem told him "Yours is greater than theirs". In other words, Hashem was telling Aharon, "You feel badly that you couldn't bring about kavod shomayim in the same vein as the princes. Let your heart not be troubled! The time will come when your descendants will generate greater kavod shomayim based on the mitzvah that you fulfill, and it will be even greater than what has been accomplished by the Princes." When Aharon was reassured that there was no failing on his part and that he would have a share in honoring Hashem, he was satisfied. The fact that it wouldn't come for a millennium didn't bother him. He had done all he could and was guaranteed positive results.
Why did Hashem allow Korach to see that the prophet and future leader Shmuel would descend from him? That fact provided the real test whether Korach was altruistic or merely jealous. When Korach recognized that Shmuel would descend from him, that should have pacified him. If his real motive was to bring about kavod shomayim, he should have concluded that it will come, but not yet, and not from him. The fact that Korach drew the opposite conclusion and demanded greater prestige because of his worthy descendant, showed that he was driven by selfish desire for power, and jealousy.
Imagine if we went back to the late 1700s where we found a scholar, Aryeh Leib, living in abject poverty. It's so cold in his ramshackle home during the Galician winter that while he writes his novel Torah thoughts, he has to keep the ink he's using under a pillow to keep it from freezing. His table consists of a board supported by two barrels.
If that scholar is motivated by a drive for personal recognition, then that won't comfort him. But Rav Aryeh Leib hakohain Heller, author of Shev Shmatsa, Ketzos Hachoshen, and Avnei Miluim have become mainstays and part of the gold standard of Talmudic lomdus. Rav Aryeh Leib was indeed motivated by a drive for kavod shomayim above all.