Holocaust Remembrance Day breaks my heart. Not only because of all the incredible amounts of pain, suffering, and loss, but because everywhere I look, there is no message in all of this madness. I turn on the TV and am overwhelmed by stories filled with death and horror; but what am I supposed to take out of all of this? Throughout our lives we are exposed to the Holocaust, but at some point, even memory fades away…
I am writing this note because I want to challenge everyone to think new thoughts. I want people to realize that Holocaust Remembrance Day can be the most powerful reminder for the Jewish people to love each other, and actively care for one another, without bias. And through this caring, this unbelievably high Ahavat Chinam, we can stand up against our enemies and prevent any catastrophe from ever happening again.
In Israel, a two minute siren goes off on Holocaust Remembrance Day. All across the country, everyone stops their cars, even on the highways, and stands together in respectful silence.
We all know that Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas and others are all mobilizing and openly threatening to destroy us. War seems to be an ever-present danger, but we have the power to shine and stand together as a people. Throughout our history, we have always had ups and downs, times of peace and times of war; but one thing always held true: when we cared for one another, when we took responsibility for each other, we were able to stand up to any threat, even against all odds.
So that is the message I give to you. To Love. To Care. To take responsibility for all our brothers and sisters because we are one family. And to actively spread the message throughout the Jewish people in Israel and abroad. Now is the time of the Omer and we are counting down to Matan Torah – receiving the Torah. Rabbi Akiva’s students were all killed because of a lack of respect for one other. So let us work on taking the incredible pain and brokenness we feel today and cleanse our hearts from the hatred we feel against each other. At every moment, we have an opportunity to genuinely care and act from a place of higher love.
We are meant to be a light onto the nations. I believe we can be.
- A Tale of Yom Kippur: With Eyes of Love - 9/16/2010
- Rethinking the Holocaust - 4/12/2010
- It’s Purim Time!! - 2/27/2010
What’s up with the name “Jewlicious?” I find it slightly offensive, as if we are delicious in some way but it’s not exactly complimentary. Thank you.
Vicki, you may not realize it but you really are tasty.
Really? You think the term “Jewlicious” is offensive? Or possibly offensive? I assure you that Jewlicious is dedicated to positive Jewish experiences and is mo way meant to be insulting. For that please visit http://Heeb.com or http://jewcy.com. 😉
If Kelsey or Bisman are reading this, relax! I was just kidding!
I am not Jewish, nor do I live in Israel. However, I love history and consider the Holocaust an awful event that must never be repeated. Holocaust Remembrance Day is a vitally important day for the world because, because the Holocaust was an event we cannot afford to repeat.
First of all, I would like to say that the Holocaust was a terrible and shameful event in the recent history of humanity. The source should not cause one to overlook that.
That being said, I have to disagree with Mr. Wilensky.
First of all, wouldn’t you say, Mr. Wilensky, that a portion of Darwin’s theories and Eugenics had a more direct influence of the actions of the third Reich? And Eugenics was supported by the international bankers in the early 1900’s. If one were to take a look into some of the Bankers in those times (Rothschild, Rockefeller, Warburg, Morgan, etc.), they would see that those people were driven by no religion except the religion of domination and power. Whether those people were Christian, Catholic, Jewish, etc. had no bearing on their actions, just the same as the manipulated Hitler.
The Catholic church undoubtedly had connections with the Nazi party, but look at the Catholic church’s history. I think it would be unfair to say the teachings of Christ (which the Holy Roman Catholic Church does not believe to be the most important aspect to Christ-based faith) inspired Hitler and his party to murder 6 million jews, and other “undesirables.”
Ultimately, what is important is not to divide humanity through blame, but to unite through love. What happened was terrible, and the fact that certain people stood by while the Holocaust occurred is disgusting, but that should inspire one to not allow eliminations of any kind to happen today.
Heyy Talya,
I think that it was really mean and that clearly they didnt have any respect or tolerance for you guys.
and i feel so sorry for you guys and that is why you can add me on msn if you have it and you can talk to me about it if you want and if you feel comfortable and if you dont then i will understand.
but the offers there anyway.
skye.
xoxo
Talya,
Thank you for much for this post. I couldn’t agree more.
As the world commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the revolt of the Warsaw Ghetto, it’s also important to understand, and remember, what was it that drove the Germans and their helpers in the various countries they invaded to perpetrate the Holocaust.
In Germany they evolved the ancient hatred toward Jews into something modern, secular, and pseudo-scientific, something the post-Enlightenment, highly cultured German people could accept as a replacement for the old Christian antisemitism. By the time Hitler came to power the racial underpinnings of his antisemitism were so strong no one in Germany thought of the old theological animosity. To 20th century Germans, the Jews were hateful for causing the loss of WWI, for being racially inferior, for Bolshevism and—simultaneously—for capitalism. To those Germans, however, any message of hatred that conformed with their worldview formed by almost two thousand years of Christian teachings about Jews made sense and was acceptable.
Elsewhere in Europe, particularly in the East where the genocide took place and where the Germans found no shortage of auxiliaries for the genocidal duties that took place behind the front lines, the situation was different. Neither the Poles, nor the Lithuanians, nor the Ukrainians, nor any of the others who willfully collaborated in the execution of the “Final Solution†had been brain-washed by Nazi racial propaganda. In those countries the locals hated Jews for the same reasons other Europeans had hated Jews since the time of Emperor Constantine: for killing Christ, for poisoning wells, for bringing about the Black plague, for killing young Christian boys to extract their blood to make Passover bread, for being minions of the devil, for being greedy money-lenders (conveniently forgetting it was Christian laws that pushed Jews into that profession to start with), and any number of other baseless accusations.
So, now that the world is paying attention at the result of this hatred when looking-in through the old electrified fence at Auschwitz-Birkenau, we should not forget where antisemitism came from, and recognize that part of that foundation is still in place in Christianity.
Gabriel Wilensky
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Author
Six Million Crucifixions:
How Christian Teachings About Jews Paved the Road to the Holocaust
http://www.SixMillionCrucifixions.com
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