THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

most meaningful clash to take place among the Israelites who left Egypt in the Sinaiwilderness. It was a bitter struggle over the character of Israelite leadership. Unlikethe national leadership of today, a leadership of mortals, whose source of legitimacyis the constituency of voters, aware Moses’ leadership was authorized and inspiredby the divine. That generation was of the revelation and omnipresence of God amongthem. This incorporeal God was their electorate body. Therefore the dispute betweenKorah and Moses and Aaron was not just about who was leading and whorepresented the people before God. It was a hot debate on God and his Holiness, theidentity of his emissary on Earth, on the people and their essence, the nation and itssoul.Korah assembled a flock of disgruntled leaders and supporters, and confrontedMoses and Aaron, arguing: “As all the congregation all are holy, and God is amongthem, why then do you elevate yourselves over the congregation of God?” 6 Heactually renders an alternative theology to Moses. Korah assumed that holiness isautomatic for all individuals and to the entire community, and he summed it up withthe phrase “all are holy.” In effect, he was proposing a religious condition thatexempts the believer of any responsibility for existence and reality, as the believer isconsidered automatically holy, as if holiness was etched into his genetic code.Korah’s “all are holy” Judaism implies that even the unqualified, bad, and maliciousare holy. For them, God’s choice of his people and person is granted, and thereforeall of us are elevated above other humans, who are our friends and colleagues in thefamily of peoples and nations. Korah’s holiness is only for the Jewish race.Moses is shocked. Korah’s theology is completely antithetical to him. Moses’reply is given in another place in the Bible, in the Book of Leviticus, 19:1–2, “Andthe Lord spoke unto Moses, saying: Speak unto all the congregation of the childrenof Israel, and say unto them: Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.”Later the text lists basic commandments, relating to values, which derive from theconstitution of the Ten Commandments. These rules are the foundations of thebiblical society of justice. They include respecting parents, social conscience, justice,and ethics in human relations and an endless love for the other. They include the verymeaningful sequence of equal love to your God, your fellow and the resident alien:“And you love him like yourself.” Moses’ holiness is a Sisyphean effort to repair theself and improve the world. It is an acquired, not inherited, holiness; it’s nevergranted forever and therefore has to be earned and maintained continuously. Moses’