The Torah sets a blueprint for the importance of 'bottom-up democracy' - opinion

One of the many shocks that the Jewish people endured on October 7, 2023, was the near total incapacity of the Israeli government and army to respond to the crisis. Kibbutzniks waited for hours in their sealed rooms for the IDF to come to their rescue, not knowing that local army bases had been overrun by the terrorists.

Arguably, an immediate retaliatory attack on the Gazan city of Rafah on October 8 could have taken control of the border with Egypt, prevented any more missiles and weapons from entering Gaza, and saved countless Israeli soldiers and Palestinian lives.

However, an Israeli response was not forthcoming for weeks, and Rafah was not attacked for a further seven months. One hundred thousand Israeli refugees from the border communities near Gaza and Lebanon were evacuated, with no clothing, bedding, or other necessities. When IDF soldiers were eventually sent to Gaza and Lebanon, after a day or two, there was insufficient food for them and a lack of helmets and bulletproof vests. The top-down leadership in Israel failed, and it failed big time.

Fortunately, much of the slack was taken up by the civilian sector. Lone Israelis, hearing about the attacks on their brethren near Gaza, grabbed guns and drove to the scene, killing hundreds of terrorists and saving thousands of lives.

“Brothers in Arms,” a left-wing NGO established to bring down the Netanyahu coalition, immediately refocused its $10 million fund toward collecting clothes and bedding for Israeli refugees and helping to rehouse them. Jews all over Israel and the Jewish world (including one particularly able and astute New York businessman) collected money to buy modern helmets and ceramic vests for the soldiers, sourcing them from international suppliers and delivering them to each battalion on the front lines. The resourcefulness and resilience of the Israeli people showed that we are up to any challenge.

In this week’s parasha, Korach challenges the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses’s response is to call for God’s help, and ultimately the ground opens up and swallows Korach and his followers alive. 

Contrast this with Moses’ reaction to the two men prophesying in the camp (described two weeks ago in Parashat Behaalotcha). Here Joshua suggests that they are challenging Moses’ leadership and should be imprisoned, yet Moses defends them, saying “If only all the people could be prophets!”

How should we understand these different responses? Why is Korach considered arch enemy number one, while Eldad and Meidad are held up as examples for the whole Jewish people?

The Torah's lessons on democracy

I think the Torah is teaching us about “top-down democracy” vs “bottom-up democracy.” Korach argues, “We’re all holy! So why do you [Moses and Aaron] have to lead us?” Two hundred and fifty men join Korach in this claim, and it seems they are calling for a more distributed form of government, perhaps more akin to Communism. However, the Mishna in Pirkei Avot defines any unholy argument as one that is similar to the conflict “between Korach and his company,” which suggests that Korach was actually fighting against the 250 men who arose alongside him. In fact, Korach was really advocating for a leadership contest, similar to our modern democratic elections, presumably assuming that he would be the winner. That is an example of “top-down democracy,” which Moses (and God) do not endorse.

So, why did Moses approve of the two men “prophesying in the camp.” Prophets are smart. They see into the future. Presumably they also inspire others to believe in their vision and to act. Management of society from the bottom-up is the most democratic system of all. Moses’ dream was that the people would have the good sense to know what to do, and that his role as leader was to enable the people to take control of key aspects of their lives.

On October 7, we saw a glimpse of how that might work in a modern state of Israel with 10 million citizens. For a few months, we were not only the Start-Up Nation but the Social Start-Up Nation. This is surely the most democratic form of government, but it depends on one key ingredient: unity of purpose.

The Jewish people are more unified today than any other nation in the world, primarily because of the Torah and our system of Jewish education. If we can build on this success and create a scaled-down form of top-down leadership (perhaps with just 20 seats in the Knesset?) and a reduced bureaucracy, whilst enabling the general public to step up and take more control of (previously) government-run services, then we could all become prophets and fulfill Moses’ vision three millennia later.

Korach’s mistake was that he wanted a presidential election when what was needed was to enable the people to step up to the challenge. One hundred years ago, any president or prime minister was in possession of the best information for his nation, through his secret service with teams of spies and scouts across his land and beyond.

However, in this Internet era, a New York-based businessman can know more about modern helmet regulations than an army general. So why do we still depend on our centralized leadership to make all the crucial decisions for us today? With elections on the horizon in the US, and calls for new leadership in Israel, perhaps we should all take a moment to consider what the best form of political governance should look like in the 21st century. As Moses said, “If only all the people could be prophets!”

The writer is an educator living in Efrat. His book Transforming the World: The Jewish Impact on Modernity has been republished in English and Hebrew in memory of his wife Lucy and daughters Maia and Rina, who were murdered by terrorists in April 2023.