THE HOLOCAUST FORGIVE NEVER. FORGET NEVER EVER CHURBAN EUROPE
“זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק”
REMEMBER what עמלק did to you
DON’T FORGET – לא תשכח
The Fifth World Holocaust Forum was held in Yerushaliyim, the capitol of the Jewish People. The conference theme was “Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting Anti-Semitism”. It was attended by most world leaders, representing nationalities from around the world. A significant momentous historical gathering.
All of them payed tribute to the survivors of the Holocaust and honored them by pledging to fight Anti-Semitism in the future. They celebrated the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp amongst many others, seventy five years ago. Six million of our brothers and sisters were systematically exterminated at that time. Many left to rot, unburied or just reduced to ashes in the crematoria. Our Holy Torah Scrolls were burnt and desecrated, cut apart and manufactured into jackets, pocket books and the like. Even after there bodies were mutilated, their remains were violated and their body fat transformed into soap. The atrocities are beyond description. Jewish men, women and children were brutally murdered and slaughtered in death camps across Europe, having committed no sin other then being Jewish. Entire communities, hundreds of years old, were simply uprooted and torn apart for absolutely no civilized reason. Didn’t matter how religious a Jew you were, whether you were Orthodox, Conservative or Reform. Didn’t matter if you were a practicing doctor, professor, industrialist, entertainer, tradesmen, housewife or student. Your contribution to society was of no significance. If you had Jewish blood you were targeted. Babies and children, fathers and mothers, young and old alike, loyal descent harmless citizens were forced out of their homes at gun point and herded off like cattle to crowded Ghettos lacking basic daily human essentials. Entire families suffered starvation and sickness in cramped unsanitary quarters. Eventually they were all hauled away in trucks not knowing their final destination. Stuffed into cattle cars for a three day journey to hell on this earth. Locked inside without any room to move or stretch, no light to see or fresh air to breathe, no food to eat or facilities. Just try to imagine what they went through. I am so heartbroken, when thinking of the agony and suffering our families must have endured.Their final destination, a Nazi concentration camp. Upon arrival, those fortunate to survive the treacherous trip, were forcibly separated from their families. Can we begin to contemplate the fear in their eyes. Can we hear the cries and screams of the panic stricken husbands being torn away from their wives and fathers with mothers being torn away from their children. Hard to imagine the fear and panic that gripped our loved ones at that time, as they faced the unknown. Their crying and screaming, pain and agony must have been unbearable as they were forced to part from their loved ones for the last time. If by chance they survived the first selection by Doctor Mengele and were not immediately taken to the gas chambers, they were moved to cold wooden barracks where they were shaved and stripped of all their belongings, clothes and valuables. If by chance they had gold teeth, they were extracted. The order of the day was total dehumanization. Work them, torture them and when they are no longer of any value or use, after all their strength has been depleted, kill them. Production line mass murder, extermination in gas chambers, followed by final internment in the crematoria was everyone’s final destination. Their goal, to erase and eradicate the memory of the Jewish People from the face of the Earth. The Nazi’s destroyed our synagogues, our Talmudic academies, our holy books. They even targeted our holy Rabbis and their students, just to be sure. Nothing at all was sacred. They ransacked their homes, stores and places of business, stole their property, personal belongings and all their assets.
This genocide went on for years and years and the world ignored the reports and remained silent. I ask, where were the people in the higher echelons of society? Where were the politicians, professor’s, academicians, scientists, medical professionals, leaders, actors, writers, laborers? Where was the world at large when the news was broadcast on radio and printed in newspapers about the atrocities being committed? What happened to the human heart, to mercy, to dignity, to honesty, to the value of life? I beg and search for one good answer.
My wife and I are children of Holocaust survivors. We grew up with their memories, fears and sudden outbursts, as they recalled their unresolved trauma. My mother once told me that she was only fifteen years old when the Nazi’s entered her town and ransacked her home. Unbelievable that she was forced to experience the atrocities of Auschwitz at such a tender young age. She vividly described how she stood in line with her mother during her first selection. How they trembled in total fear while waiting to pass before Doctor Mengele – The Angel Of Death. How he sent her to the right – Life and her mother to the left – Death. How they held on tight to each other and how the Nazi soldiers merciously tore her from her mothers arms and shoved her towards the opposite direction. Crying she told me it was the last time she saw her mother. Miraculously, more then once did she survive the life and death selection. If Auschwitz wasn’t enough, she also suffered through the infamous Bergen Belsen death camp. She described her trip to the gas chamber and how she escaped. How she endured and survived slave labor, hunger, lashings, threats, freezing cold, immense fear, early morning line ups, cattle car trip, starvation, typhus, tuberculosis. How she lay amongst a pile of corpses dieing alone. My heart bleeds when I try to imagine my poor mother, a beautiful innocent young girl being torn away from her loving family. First from her father and then from her mother and then experiencing all these unimaginable brutal hardships. At liberation she was barely a living corpse. She told me how a liberating soldier of her camp noticed her on the ground unable to move and how he lifted her up in his arms and brought her to the field hospital, where they administered emergency medical assistance and succeeded in saving her life. For three months she suffered and languished alone in a hospital. Physically trying to recuperate but mentally possessed, constantly reliving her horrible experiences. It took many months before she was well enough to enter a DP camp. Her survival was nothing short of a miracle. Didn’t even know if she was a sole survivor, or if anyone else from her family or community somehow managed to escape and stay alive. Will never understand how she survived it all, maintained her faith in Hashem and had the inner strength and courage to move on and build a beautiful family together with my father. A true heroin amongst other survivors. Her determination to live on is testimony to the strength contained in the eternal Jewish human spirit.
It is really beyond human comprehension how a sophisticated nation like Germany made eliminating the Jewish People a priority of their war effort. Not only is Germany accountable for what went on during the war years. The rest of the world is guilty as well. German plans for Jewish annihilation was public knowledge, widespread and known to all. Even pictures smuggled out of the camps were published in the mainstream media. I ask, of what value was the worlds progress, sophistication, education, technological advancements, religious practices and any other of their false attributes worth, if they could stand by silently and witness this kind of inhumanity and wanton mass murder. Man literally turned into a predatory animal, a vicious beast lacking the minimal basics. Its alarming how the world at large could remain silent. An everlasting stain on those living in that generation, with very few exceptions. That no country took up arms in time to save the defenseless and to stop the murderers from committing organized mass murder. The blood of my grandparents and great grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins rests on their hands. May it forever remain a stain on the consciousness of their countrymen. I shall never forget the horror stories my mother told me. I will never forget my father-in-law screaming out in his sleep, reliving the horrors. Physically he survived, but the nightmares lived on. How can I ever forget the story my mother- in- law told me about her experiences on the death march. How she watched an SS officer kill three sisters in cold blood right in front of her, for helping each other during the march. How frightened she was that the same thing would happen to her and her two sisters who were also struggling during the march. How young and old were forced to march in sub freezing temperatures without any food, proper foot wear or adequate warm clothes. How the weak and innocent were shot to death in cold blood and their bodies left to rot on the side of the road. I can never forget while growing up as a child with the survivors, orphans and widows, having to listen to them bemoan their Holocaust experiences. Just listening to them speak about their lost beloved family’s, their trials and tribulations in the camps, left an indelible impression. I for one will never forgive Nazi Germany for robbing me of the opportunity of experiencing the love of a grandmother. Is it possible to pardon any one of those monsters knowing that they wiped out my father’s entire family? Only he and one sister managed to survive. People’s of the world, you talk about forgiveness? How can anyone forgive someone else’s meaningless death? How does one forgive other people’s pain and suffering? I don’t have that right, nor do you. The victims never gave us the right to forgive. NEVER, EVER. The Holocaust remains a filthy stain on humanity forever. We the Jewish people must never forget or let our guard down, no matter what, no matter how rosy current events may seem.
When Antisemitism and Racism continue to go unchecked, people in disguise can reach the lowest level. The world must adopt a strict policy of zero tolerance in these matters and prosecute violators immediately without delay. Last time it was the Jewish people primarily. In the future it can be any people and any nationality, if we allow unmitigated hatred to fester and go unchecked. My heart cries and aches when I try to pounder the human suffering experienced. It is beyond human comprehension that animals disguised as people were allowed to perpetrate such henious crimes by choice. Yes, by choice. No excuse is acceptable from any person, from any country, no matter who they are. Can we even fathom what six million individual lives mean? We all know what we would do today, just to save one life. How much suffering each victim endured. The executions they witnessed daily. The smoke pouring out from the crematoria consuming their loved ones. In essence six million worlds were destroyed. Every child could have gone on to marry and raise a beautiful family and each father and mother could have continued to nurture and raise their children to adulthood. It’s not just six million people the Nazis murdered. It’s that plus all future generations. The loss is incalculable. To say six million is an understatement and cheapens the crime perpetrated against God, his people and all civilized humanity. It is said that the Jewish People only represent a miniscule portion of the entire world population. Less than one percent, yet the Jewish People have made the greatest number of contributions to the world per capita than any other race, religion, culture, nationality or society. The contributions we have made to the advancement and welfare of mankind is immeasurable.
How have we been able to accomplish so much with so few? Our strict adherence to the Torah and all its commandments and principles, divinely inspired and given to us by G-D. Our mission now is to perfect the world and to be a light onto the nation’s. Hashem gave us the brains to do it. We must use them properly. We are Hashem’s messengers.That is how and why we continue to survive and outlive all civilizations that preceded us. No matter how hard they may try, the world can not eliminate the Jewish People. We are Hashem’s eternal people and belong to Him. We Jews are the greatest wonder in the world. How we exist is purely a daily miracle. No power in this world can destroy us or extinguish the holy flame that burns in every one of our Jewish souls.
We are under Hashems watchful eye and protection every moment, leading us through golus, at his pace, for reasons only he knows. But we are very close to victory and redemption. We have miraculously survived all the exiles, the destruction of our first and second temples, massacres, war, torture, inquisition, blood libels, crusades, programs, holocaust, and whatever else the envious Gentile world could think of. Despite all this we have excelled in science, humanities, philosophy, literature, art, culture, politics, commerce, economics, business, finance, sports, journalism, marketing, advertising, inventions, technology, medical breakthroughs, etc. The list goes on and on.
Truthfully speaking the people’s of the world owe the Jewish people a debt of gratitude. What would their life be like without us? But our greatest contribution has been the spreading of the Torahs teachings and its values. The Ten Commandment’s, morality, ethics, civility, truth, justice, family life, a rest day, just to name a few and the belief in the one creator, Hashem Yisborach. Our accomplishments are endless. Despite all the odds against us, we still manage to win proportionately the largest number of noble prizes. It boggles the mind to try and understand the gentile mind trying to destroy all our hidden potential, which they themselves benefit so much from. In fact they benefit from our potential ninety nine times more then we ourselves do, since we are out numbered by them ninty nine percent to one. How foolish is it then for Anti-Semites and Jew haters to go on persecuting the Jewish people. Just imagine what all the murdered Jewish potential acumen and ability could have accomplished for humanity had it not been extinguished. Just by judging from what has been achieved under the most trying circumstances, can one begin to appreciate the loss. Nations of the world, do you still not understand that you are ruining it for yourselves, your families and communities. Every nation from time immemorable who offered the Jewish People refuge, peace and tranquility saw their countries prosper. Undoubtedly it was the merit of the Jews who lived there. The nation’s benefited from our genius, our talents, and our intellect in all areas. How foolish of them to cause the Jewish people harm and hardships. They only hurt themselves by not protecting us. Study history and you will find that the moment the Jewish people were exiled from any country, very soon thereafter, that entire country’s economy plummeted. Therefore we call out to you people’s of the world, cherish us, treat us well, so that you may prosper together with us. Don’t continue to make the same mistakes as those who preceded you. Learn from history that the Jewish People are eternal. Heed the words of the prophet, ” those who bless you shall be blessed and those who curse you shall be cursed”. History has proven that these words are one hundred percent true. Our oppressors are gone, their memories lost, or at best are of little importance today . However the resilient Jewish people continue to overcome, to grow, to expand, and to flourish. Our creativity knows no boundaries. Hashem is no doubt on our side. Our job now is to fully get on Hashem’s side. Let’s for just a moment stop and hear what scholars of the world have said about the Jewish people, to better understand and appreciate ourselves. Really, how is it that we are able to muster the strength to keep on marching forward despite all the calamities and persecutions that have befallen our people? The odds are truly against us. Our continued existence is a true daily miracle.
The great statesman Winston Churchill once said, “some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.
President John F. Kennedy once said, “Israel was not created in order to disappear – Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom.
David Ben Gurion, first president of the State of Israel once said, “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.” The world renowned gentile scholar Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe once said,” Energy is the basis of everything. Every Jew, no matter how insignificant, is engaged in some decisive and immediate pursuit of a goal. It is the most perpetual people of the Earth.” President John Adams once said,
“I will insist the Hebrews have contributed more to civilized men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal faith, I should still believe that faith had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nation’s. They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews.”
The famous writer Leo Tolstoy one said, “What is the Jew? What kind of unique creature is this whom all the rulers of all the nations of the world have disgraced and crushed and expelled and destroyed; persecuted, burned and drowned, and who despite their anger and their fury, continues to live and to flourish? What is this Jew whom they have never succeeded in enticing with all the enticements in the world, whose oppressors and persecutors only suggested that he deny and disown his religion and cast aside the faithfulness of his ancestors? The Jew is the symbol of eternity. He is the one who for so long had guarded the prophetic message and transmitted it to all mankind. A people such as this can never disappear. The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.”
Last but not least, let me share the famous words of the great author Mark Twain, “If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky way. Properly then, Jews ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream – stuff and passed away, the Greeks and the Roman’s followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
Brothers and sisters, believe it or not, we are the envy of the world. We must stand proud of our Torah Heritage and accomplishments. We need to march forward, never giving up and never buckling under. We have a mission to accomplish. The Torah hints our survival in the following two episodes.
When our father Yaakov fought the angel of his brother Esuv, the spiritual force he displayed was unable to overcome Yaakov. The angel was only able to slightly wound him. The Torah relates that this is the reason why The Jewish People do not eat the Gid Hanoshe of a properly slaughtered Kosher animal. It serves as a reminder that there is no force that can annihilate us. At best the can wound us, but victory at the end is always ours.
Similarly, when Hashem spoke to Moshe from the burning bush. Moshe was puzzled as to how it was possible for a bush to burn and not be consumed. That episode was a sign to all future generations that the bush may burn, the nations may inflict hardships and difficulties on the Jewish nation but our light continues to burn and the bush can not be consumed. We have seen this throughout the generations. No matter how hard the gentile countries try to hurt us, they are unable to overcome us. We always survive in the end and continue to move on to even greater heights. We are all familiar with the great sage of the past generation HoRav Yaakov Emden ZT”L who states in the preface of his acclaimed sefer, “Greater than the miracle of Hashem extricating the Jewish People from Egypt, or the Ten Plagues brought upon the Egyptians, or the splitting of the Red Sea, is the miracle of the Jewish People’s survival amongst the nation’s”.
So we continue to march on, overcoming daily. Our legacy is a legacy of endurance, of succeeding in the face of challenges and uncertainty. Of picking ourselves up immediately after calamity strikes and moving forward positively. We are a nation that is unstoppable. The nations of the world, whether they are willing to admit it or not, enjoy our survival, our expansion, our genius. We must therefore as a united nation stay humble, maintain our moral and ethical conscience, use the Holy Torah as our compass and always keep in mind that it is not us, but rather the gift of Hashem to us. I tell you brothers and sisters, look back in history and marvel over your people’s accomplishments. Where is there a greater people then the Jewish people. Be proud of your heritage. Let us remember Hashem chose us from amongst the peoples of the world. We didn’t choose ourselves, nor did we separate ourselves from the other civilizations. The master of the universe, creator of the world and of all people’s made His choice. As creator he had that right and the world is obligated to respect His choice. It is therefore incumbent upon us His children to live up to His calling. Not to disappoint our creator for choosing us to be His emissaries, to execute His will in His world. As long as the Jewish People live according to Hashem’s will and His Torah, will we be protected and blessed. It is the greatest honor we can bestow upon the six million. To rebuild our lives upon the Torah Traditions transmitted to us by them.
May we all be worthy of His speedy redemption in our time soon.
Respectfully, Rabbi Yaakov Singer
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COME LET US ANNIHILATE THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND ERASE THEIR MEMORY FOREVER
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HASHEM SAID, ETERNAL PEOPLE
ונתתי להם בביתי ובחומתי יד ושם טוב מבנים ובנות, שם עולם אתן לו, אשר לא יכרת
"And I gave them in my house and within my walls, a place and a name, better then of sons and daughters; An everlasting name I wil give them that shall not be cut off "
"נקום לעינינו נקמת דם עבדיך השפוך"
Avenge before our eyes the spilled blood of your servants.
"הנאהבים והנעימים בחייהם, ובמותם לא נפרדו"
Beloved and pleasant in their liftimes, Inseparable in death.
"אני מאמין באמונה שלמה, שתהיה תחית המתים"
I believe with complete faith that the dead will return to life .
