THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

philosophy, and to present a religious alternative with poetic charm and philosophicalcohesiveness. The book is a classic Jewish masterpiece.The alternative that Halevi presents is an enchanting story on conversationsbetween the king of the faraway Kuzaries and his “Jewish friend,” who convinces himthat the Jewish faith is superior. In fact, the book was written for internal apologists.The epic story was meant to explain to the masses of Israel, who were impoverishedand suffered great persecution by the other two sister religions, which wereprospering, why we are still the best. Above everything else, we are at the top of theladder. The inorganic are at the bottom, above them are the flora, then the fauna, thenthe speaking human, then the Israelite, the Jew.Five hundred years later, another Jewish great, Rabbi Yehuda Liwa ben Bezalel,known as HaMaharal of Prague, left his mark on the Jewish canon. He was arenaissance man with extensive and extraordinary knowledge of the Talmud,Kabbalah, philosophy, and the sciences. His works and beliefs significantly influencedthe Hasidim movement a century after his death. The basis of his views is the earlyseeds of the national theory and it can be viewed as a preparatory contemplation forthe revival of Jewish nationalism.HaMaharal based his theory on his predecessors, Hazal, one of our sages. One ofhis basic principles is the Jewish nation’s exalted role in human history. Like Halevibefore him and others after him, he draws a precise line between a Jew and a non-Jew:“It is written that this nation is holy, that it tends towards [God], for it isthe beginning of all nations.” In another place he interprets theuniversalistic, humanistic phrase, “Favorite is Man for being created inhis image,” thus: Although it says man, it does not include all the humanspecies, as it has already been said, “You are called man and they arenot called man” . . . Nevertheless there is the form of man in theNations as well; only that the principal form of man lacks in thenations. The stage of Israel in relation to the nations is as the stage ofthe nations in relation to the nonspeaking animals. 9Innumerable volumes can be filled with words and ideas of this type, just as we can,and should, bring the opposing views, as the works of the antimessianic Maimonides,