The Three consecutive parshiyos of קרח חקת בלק form a common theme to help us prepare for the Three Weeks. The first and obvious common denominator is that all of them have three letters in their names including the letter ק. In Korach the name begins with a kuf, in Chukas the kuf moves to the middle of the name, and in the last parsha Balak the kuf moves to the end of its name. Another fascinating less noticeable observation is that all three share an experience a פי a mouth phenomenon. The Mishna says that Ten things were created Erev Shabbos בין השמשות during the time of twilight, פי האתון, פי הבאר, פי הארץ the mouth of the donkey enabling it to speak, the mouth of the earth to open and swallow Korach and his entourage, and the mouth of Miriam's well which opened and closed its mouth to nourish Yisrael when needed.
The Maharal on this Mishna explains the extra ordinary character of these three things that were created Erev Shabbos at twilight. The period of twilight Erev Shabbos is sandwiched between two worlds, the world of nature and the world of Shabbos which is Olam Habah. Therefore the mouth of the well, mouth of the earth and the mouth of the donkey are physical creations yet they possess an extra spiritual and holy character as well. This explains the letter kuf in all three for the kuf represents קדושה as the malachim say קדוש קדוש קדוש three times.
The Mishna says Avos 1,21 that three behaviors remove a person from this world הקנאה התאוה והכבוד מוציאים את האדם מן העולם. If one indulges in these pursuits of jealousy, lust, honor, he will become disconnected from the real world which is Hashem who conceals himself behind nature which He constantly sustains. These three middos were placed in the world for man to elevate them into kedusha. For instance the jealousy of other people's possessions should be channeled into jealousy for someone else's devotion to mitzvos, dedication to learning Torah or growing to change his middos for the better. As Chazal say Baba Basra 21 קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה. The drive of תאוה intense physical desire for pleasure, lust, passion can all be sanctified if they would be channeled into spirituality, a passion to help others, to learn Torah, occupy oneself with chesed projects etc. For those who seek honor Chazal tell us that the more one runs after it the more it runs away from him. But even honor can be sanctified by being driven to bring about the kovod of Hashem. For instance when one perceives himself as the son of royalty the King of the universe, this will help him conduct his everyday mundane actions at a higher level of self respect and not stoop and degrade his actions to animal behavior unbefitting his role and stature. A Ben Torah is expected to act with a higher quality performance in Middos and mentschlichkeit than the regular person who doesn't sit and learn Torah most of his day.
In our three parshiyos we encounter three mouths of twiight in these potential elevations. Korach was jealous of Ahron's kehunah. Having a world free of jealousy is of great significance to Hashem. Jealousy in the world which causes both physical and spiritual death started at the very beginning of creation when Kayin killed Hevel because Kayin's korban was not accepted as his brother's. To understand Kayin in a deeper way, Hashem told the earth to give forth עץ פרי עושה פרי a tree that gives forth fruit and that the tree itself tastes like a fruit. The Torah writes that the earth did not listen to Hashem and only gave forth a tree that bears fruit. Maybe it figured that people will not eat from the trunk itself when there are fruits available. However Hashem's cheshbon was that there should be no jealousy in creation therefore the trunk of the tree might be jealous that the upper part of it is better than the bottom support of the trunk (see Rashi Bereishis 1,26). The earth was cursed for its alteration of Hashem's wish on the sixth day of creation for creating jealousy. Kayin felt that his purpose was to correct this jeaulosy. His name קין is gematriah קנאה with the four letters. קין also is gematria עץ for he felt that it was his task to blot out any jealousy of the עץ of the tree which did not have the taste of the fruit in it. That is why he chose to bring from the ground flax where there are no fruits and a trunk to be jealous over. However, flax was still an inferior product which was inappropriate to bring as a sacrifice.
When his korban was not accepted Kayin became sullen. Here I try to repair the earth's rebellion against Hashem and He rejects my Korban. He did not realize that he possessed jealousy the very middah that he was set out to uproot from the world. Hashem tells him אם תטיב שאת . Use your jealousy for the good and copy your brother and bring to Me a better and more appropriate product and it will be gladly accepted. Kayin remained with his jealousy and instead knocked out the competition who was Hevel his brother. His punishment was נע ונד in the land. You Kayin had an opportunity to elevate this midda and correct the earth's shortcoming but you failed. You cannot use its space anymore to settle on top of it as before.
The Ari writes that Korach was a gilgul of Kayin brought back into the world to correct his horrific deed of killing his brother over jealousy. Had Korach fulfilled תטיב שאת he could have made such a tikkun that would have brought Moshiach as hinted in תטיב which is gematria משיח בן דוד עה"כ. However, his jealousy did not let go of its clutches on him and he was taken out of this world alive. His first punishment for not fixing the earth's shortcoming was נע ונד. With the second punishment of the פי הארץ he had no space of earth even to stand upon and was swallowed up completely. He died by a twilight punishment the mouth of the earth. Korach had the power elevate his jealousy but he chose not to do so.
There was also a midah keneged middah in the way that Korach died. The Medrash says that Kayin and Hevel divided the world. Kayin took the earth and Hevel took all the movables. Kayin then asked Hevel to remove himself from standing on the earth because it belongs to him which was an irrational claim. Kayin got angry to the point that he killed him. Therefore the Kayin in Korach also died because there was no earth beneath him to stand upon.
In Chukas we have the פי הבאר the באר של מרים . It had a mouth and it was open when they needed to drink otherwise it was closed. The Beair Miriam symbolized תאוה as rav Chaim Vital writes the yesod of water symbolizes the pursuit of physical desires that can lead a person astray from Torah and mitzvos. It also demonstrates that Hashem miraculously sends parnassah to everyone according to their needs. We too must have the same perspective and understanding when we work. If one has the correct kavannah and purpose to why he labors, he will fulfill תטיב that it too can be sanctified and bring Moshiach even though it is physical. There is an entire Shulchan Aruch Even Haezer of Hilchos Business that elevates the workplace and its employees. It needs one's consciousness to transform the mundane into קדושה.
Another revelation of the פי הבאר in Chukas is that it brings out the recognition of the "behind the scenes" of Hashem's protection over Am Yisrael. As Rashi writes 21,15 there were high cliffs with a deep narrow valley. The cliffs were near each other that a man could stand on one of them and converse with a friend on the other, and the road went through the valley. The Emorites said when Yisrael will enter the valley to pass through let us go out of the caves in the cliffs above them and kill them with arrows and stone projectiles. These cavaties were in the mountain on the Moavite side. In the mountains of the Emori side opposite the cavaties were horn projectiles. When Yisrael came to pass through, the Eretz Yisrael mountain moved next to the mountain at the Moavite side. The projectiles entered the cavities and killed them.
Hashem said who will inform my children of this miracle. After they passed, the mountains returned to their original positions and the well descended to the valley and brought up from there the blood of those who were killed and their arms and limbs, and carried them around the camp . When Yisrael saw this they sang.
When we work we must strengthen our emunah and remember Hashem is working for us behind the scenes and it is not כחי ועוצם ידי our talents, strategies and efforts. Just because one makes parnassah it doesn't mean that he has a license or obligation to experience every novel pleasure, technology, or life style that deranged or money mongers make available to us. One must remember that the פי הבאר has a mouth that opens and shuts and is not always open 24/7. Parnassah has a בין השמשות character and must be elevated by realizing that we only are really making a hishtadlus while Hashem is behind the scene giving us פותח את ידך exactly what we need and what is coming to us.
In parshas Balak, Billam's episode with Yisrael symbolizes the midda of kovod on steroids which he sought and that was his downfall. Billam had an insatiable desire for kovod which Balak could not fulfill. .אם יתן לי בלק מלא ביתו כסף וזהב Chazal say he possessed a נפש רחבה an unlimited desire for kavod Avos 5,19.
Hashem said to Bilam only what I tell you to say you should say. By saying this Hashem opened up a window for Billam to fulfill תטיב to better himself for in this manner you will bring kovod to Hashem and to yourself. Chazal say that that the malach standing in front of Bilam after the donkey spoke up and shamed and degraded him, was killed by the malach in order to protect Bilam's kovod so people could not point to the donkey and say wow this is the donkey who totally destroyed the famous Billam prophet. What? Hashem is worried about the kovod of this low life pervert who was out to destroy Am Yisrael! Hashem was demonstrating to Bilam תטיב - how to channel kovod into spiritual pupose and meaning not to shame one in public even though he is evil. Yet Billam like Korach also did not take the תטיב challenge and his kovod took him out of this world. The sefarim write that the three aveiros upon which we must give up our lives instead of transgressing them are symbolized by קנאה תאוה וכבוד. Jealousy can lead to murder. Lust can bring one to immoral relations. Honor can lead to idolatry for the drive to be honored by everyone to have power and control, can lead to delusions that he is a diety אדמה לעליון .
Now we can understand how these parshiyos can prepare us for the Three Weeks. Chazal say that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because of the Three Cardinal aveirios. The lead up to this was that there were no תטיב by Am yisrael in the three middos of קנאה תאוה וכבוד which takes one out of this world. Losing the Beis Hamikdash took us out of the real world of Hashem that dwells in us ושכנתי בתוכם which then triggered the destruction of the exterior Beis Hamikash outside of ourselves.
Having these parshiyos of three Mouths of Twilight to be read and studied can arouse us to repair our losses and bring Moshiach if we would only dedicate ourselves to .תטיב
This is the story of the travelling kufs in the names of the parshiyos. The first twilight mouth is פי הארץ in which קרח did not take upon himself the קדושה to halt his jealousy and sanctify Hashem's name. The second holy kuf was חקת the B'air of Miriam which conveyed sustenance and parnassah which is given by Hashem. The third holy kuf was in the third parsha בלק third place in the name, the one that seeks honor for himself and experiences a fallout.
The Bnei Yissaschar writes that a kosher mikveh requires the quantity of 40 סאה amount of water. Each se'ah contains 24 lugin. If we do the math 40x24 it equals 960 lugin. The ritual of immersing in a mikveh conveys that one is willing to sacrifice and negate his nature in order to attain תטיב purity and deveikus, for man cannot live under water. 960 is a special number. In the laws of bittul in kashrus if milk spilled into a fleishik soup one needs 60 times greater the amount of soup in order to negate the milk. However if a sheretz which is called a בריה the cholent and is not visible then one needs the cholent to be 960 times greater than the sheretz. A human who seeks tahara is a בריה. The mikveh which contains 960 lugin possesses the spiritual power to purify even a person who was tamei a"k.
We believe that these three parshiyos are the מקוה ישראל ה' that can purify us from these three middos קנאה תאוה וכבוד that destroyed our Beis Hamikdash. If one takes the names of these parshiyos קרח חקת בלק including its nine letters and three words you will arrive at the gematriah of 960. As we explained each parsha refers to its correlating respective "mouth" of ארץ באר אתון. If you take the gematria of these Three Twilight Mouths including their three words you will also arrive at 960. As we mentioned above the fact that these Mouths were created during twilight conveys that they possess a partial holy Shabbos infusion of being above nature. The word for nature is טבע. If one spells it together with its inner letters טית בית עין one arrives at 961. The extra one can be interpreted in many ways. As far at the mikveh, the person who immerses in the 960 lugin is the extra one. Or Hashem is the extra one in which he is toveil .מקוה ישראל ה' If we take the above two gematriahs of קנאה תאוה וכבוד which equals 960 and ארץ באר אתון which also equals 960 and add the kollel to each set, they too equal 961 to convey that the טבע of these three middos can be sanctified and upgraded through the avoda of תטיב.
The Magen Avraham writes in Shulchan Orach Chaim. 98 and it is also brought down by the Mishneh Berurah, that in order to negate a bad thought while in the midst of davening should recite three times the word פי which is gematriah 3x90=270=רע in order to rid oneself of a bad thought.
It could very well be as we just explained that the פי that corresponds to באר ארץ אתון corresponds to the creations of בין השמשות to help battle against קנאה תאוה וכבוד which parallel the three Cardinal Aveiros. That by thinking of these three creations one can rid himself of רע any bad thoughts in these areas as it is tantamount 960 to immerse oneself in a Mikveh as we brought above.
Of course learning Torah has that ability with the power of 960. As the Chida writes Moshe was on Har Sinai to learn the Torah and bring it to Yisrael for 40 days times 24 hours = 960. The word for Mishnah is מתניתין which also shares the gematriah of 960.
We would like to add one more gematriah for the power of Torah to fight against these three cardinal malfunctioning middos that take a person out of this world. The gematriah of הקנאה תאוה וכבוד equals תורה. Therefore we find that the Torah also shares the three פי as found in the passuk Yeshaya 59,21 לא ימושו מפיך ומפי זרעך ומפי זרע זרעך אמר ה' מעתה ועד
If one learns as if he is toveling in the mikveh with all his limbs negated to the learning, and with no other distractions, then he also has the segulah ofזאת התורה אשר שם משה לפני בני ישראל על פי ה' a fourth פי which is gematria ש"ס.