“The whole community - every one of them is holy and the Lord is among them; why do you raise yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?” (Numbers 16:3).
Wasn’t Korach correct? Aren’t we all holy?
No, answers Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch. He points out that we are “men of a holy calling” (anshei kodesh) and are exhorted “to be holy” (kedoshim tiyu) - but we are not holy, yet. Korach’s mistake - his first one anyways - was to “mix up what [the Jews] are with what they should be.”
We are indeed a holy nation. We are “hallowed to G-d, belong with every fiber of [our] individual and national life exclusively to G-d.” But very few of us individually have lived up to our holy calling. That’s why we need a leadership class (i.e., Kohanim and Levi’im) and off-bounds sacred territory (the Kodesh Kedashim). Their purpose is to show us the way.
A person who considers himself holy may cease striving. After all, he has reached his destination. What need has he for teachers and leaders?
But we have not yet reached our destination. Indeed, the “whole ranking of the nation into Kohanim, Levi’im, and Yisraelim - and the Sanctuary fenced off in the center - preaches to all kedoshim tiyu [be holy] but not yet: kedoshim atem [you are holy],” writes Rav Hirsch.
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch(1808-1888) - head of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, Germany for over 35 years - was a prolific writer whose ideas, passion, and brilliance helped save German Jewry from the onslaught of modernity.
Elliot Resnick, PhD, is the host of “The Elliot Resnick Show” and the editor of “The Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch Dictionary.”