Trying to Understand the Holocaust

Question

This is a difficult and extremely sensitive question that has stirred within my soul. I fully understand atrocities such as the Atlantic slave trade, the Holocaust,Trail of Tears , ethnic cleansing and genocide. This mirrors the spirit of Amaleq. It is a base,reprobate & murderous nature infused with superiority idealogy. Doesn’t torah exempt obedient people of God’s irrefutable covenant from such heinous acts ? Micah 2:7 Do not MY words do good to them that walk uprightly? Psalms 74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of habitations of cruelty. 1Samuel 14:6 For there is no restraint to YHVH to save by many or by few. Psalms 73:1 Truly G-d is good to Yisrael,to such as have a clean heart. Psalms 19:11 Moreover by them(judgements of G-d) is your servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 2Chronicles 19:7 For there is no iniquity with YHVH our G-d,nor respect of persons,nor taking of gifts. Proverbs 24:23 These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. I realize all the situations mentioned above slavery, Trail of Tears,ethic cleansing,genocide correspond to gowy nations. Man’s inhumanity to men. Torah coverage didn’t apply. Unfortunate indeed! Yet the holocaust baffles the mind. Why did the Jews have to suffer this way? Proverbs 24:11 If thou for bear to deliver them that are drawn unto death,and those that are ready to be slain; Proverbs 24:12 If thou say,Behold we knew it not;Does not He that ponders the heart consider it? and He that keeps they soul, does He not know it? and shall He render to every man according to his works? Numbers 23:19 El not a man that He should lie. I sincerely hope you can clarify this?

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Answers

  1. I am not sure how anyone can possibly imagine that the Holocaust came into being because of any other reason than the Jewish Nation not collectively fulfilling the Will of God. That concept is entrenched in the Torah itself and throughout the writings of the Sages. What is true is that it is impossible for anyone to try and pinpoint any particular problem or sect within the Jewish People as being responsible for what happened. It was a collective punishment for the entirety of the Jewish People as is clearly spelled out in the Torah where God explicitly delineates what will happen to us if we do not follow His Torah and keep His commandments.

    Although it is a subject that we are incapable of truly understanding, there are a couple of extremely thought-provoking books that help to try and give over in a limited way the Rabbis’ approach to the Holocaust.

    With God in Hell by Eliezer Berkowitz

    Path Through the Ashes published by ArtScroll

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team