Did god truly abandon the Jewish people and break his covenant?
Intro- After the inhumane acts committed in the holocaust primarily to the Jewish race, Jews have come to question god and his involvement in the holocaust. People normally view god as a supreme power that protects and does everything perfect for the good of people. God is known to make no mistakes and is aware of every single thing in the universe. As far as people know god doesn’t allow for any single incident, tragedy or misfortune if it results in something other than the greater good for his people. In addition, god is the giver of life, opportunity and hope for everyone and demonstrates his love in every day and minimal aspect of life. However, Jews themselves began to question god’s relationship with the Jewish race and searched for the answer to their question. Jews couldn’t comprehend why god would allow for such harsh, cruel, inhumane, hateful and exterminating actions against the Jewish race. In the eyes of some Jews the events against their race came to raise questionable thoughts and emotions toward god and his
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Moche is the first person that openly accuses god of murder. His actions trigger a trial to determine if god broke his covenant with the Jews. As the trial begins Kuhn states that the holocaust is a test of faith and they should hold on to their faith and get through it. Whereas, Akiba states that “God is not good. He was never good. He was only on our side”. Akiba provides evidence like the flood and slow death of Ashiba’s son for seven days. To continue, Akiba concludes that god has turned against the Jews and “has made a new covenant with someone else”. In a similar manner, the court find god guilty of breaking the covenant. Given these points people can’t deny that god is guilty and responsible for breaking the covenant with the Jewish
Dawidowicz suggests that, “Despite the recurrent cycles of disaster that marked their history, the Jews have been committed to a fundamental and abiding optimism grounded in the teachings of Judaism. All creation, Genesis declares, is good. Whatever God does, the tradition teaches, is for good.” (Dawidowicz, The War Against the Jews, 342). This is a fact, which shows that despite their tragedy, they still tried to continue on with religion and succeeded.
At a time of loss, the German people needed a reason to rebuild their spirits. The Jews became a national target even though Hitler’s theory could not be proven. Even as a Jew, he accused the Jews people for Germany’s defeat in order to rally the people against a group of people Hitler despised. The story-telling of the Jews’ wickedness distracts the Germans from realizing the terror Holocaust. Millions of Jewish people died because Hitler said they caused the downfall of Germany. Innocent lives were taken. The death of millions mark the rise of Hitler. He sets the stage for the largest massacre in
...f the major Optimism of the Jews is that they could not comprehend the killing of all their people. They see it as a task that contains no possible way to be fulfilled. They justify it by saying “Was he going to wipe out a whole people? Could he exterminate a population scattered throughout so many countries? So many millions! What methods could he use?” (6). The answer to their question is yes but there is many chances to escape this fate, although the Jews of Sighet deny it.
The Jews’ close relationships slowly deteriorated due to dehumanization. In the beginning the Jews looked out for one another, but once in Auschwitz, everything they once were and believed in started to fade. For example, Akiba Drumer used to be a rabbi, endlessly praying his days away. After being in the concentration camps he loses his faith for God, saying “It’s over, God is no longer with us… I suffer hell in my soul and flesh … How can I believe, how can anyone believe in this God of Mercy?” (p.76-77). After suffering so much, Akiba can’t even believe in his closest relationship of God anymore. This causes the past Rabbi to lose faith in not only god, but in everything else as well. Akiba loses himself abandons the one thing he used to rely on to dehumanization, and ends up accepting his death. Like Akiba Drumer, another man lost to dehumanization was Rabbi Eliahu’s son. The ...
This anti-Jew sentiment would further be sensationalized by rumors, political movements, and the biased, fabricated newspaper reports of the
because of the sins of others and that Jews during the Holocaust represent the life of mankind. Maybaum doesn't provide an answer as to why G-d. could have allowed his chosen people to die in the Shoah. Emil Fackenheim was a Rabbi, living in Germany, who survived a concentration camp. He said the killing of the Jews in the Shoah was radical evil and the Shoah cannot be separated from Jewish history. for that reason, for that reason.
All the pain and torture the jews had to endure during the holocaust. Wiesel told a young jewish boy about how he tried to keep the memory alive, that he had to Explain THREE specific examples of this transformation from Elie’s experience beginning in Sighet to his liberation at Buchenwald. The jews view of God differed in the holocaust. Some thought there was no way there could be a God since he let the jews suffer through the holocaust. Others thought that God was testing them to see how strong their faith was towards him.
Before the nineteenth century anti-Semitism was largely religious, based on the belief that the Jews were responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion. It was expressed later in the Middle Ages by persecutions and expulsions, economic restrictions and personal restrictions. After Jewish emancipation during the enlightenment, or later, religious anti-Semitism was slowly replaced in the nineteenth century by racial prejudice, stemming from the idea of Jews as a distinct race. In Germany theories of Aryan racial superiority and charges of Jewish domination in the economy and politics in addition with other anti-Jewish propaganda led to the rise of anti-Semitism. This growth in anti-Semitic belief led to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power and eventual extermination of nearly six million Jews in the holocaust of World War II.
Some will say that the Jewish people cannot be held responsible for the crimes committed, because they are the victims. This is not the case, however; the Jewish people could have prevented a great deal of pain and suffering that they experienced. Elie wrote “And thus my elders concerned themselves with all manners of things - strategy, diplomacy,politics, and Zionism - but not with their own fate” (8). The Jewish people had heard of what the Nazis had done to the foreign Jews of Sighet, their town; a Jew had returned and told them, but they refused to listen; they ignored his warnings. Furthermore, the Jewish people had many chances at this time to escape; most notably emigration to another country. The Jewish people ignored the warnings they had received, and their chance to escape; for this reason, they bear a certain degree of responsibility for what
Hostile to Semitism is a long way from another idea; its vicinity has discolored and molded history, from the earliest starting point of the Jewish faith, up until contemporary times. While anti-Semitism is majorly highlighted in new testament, one of the most incriminating event, in the New Testament, attested to the Jews, is the Jewish peoples responsibility for Jesus killing; Judas, a Jew, betrayed Jesus, leading to his crucifixion, Pontius Pilot, also a Jew, was the direct cause of the crucifixion of Jesus, and various other Jewish leaders were held responsible (New International Version Mark 14:43-46, Acts 27).
The Jews have been the only people accused of deicide and this caused hatred from Christians. During the diaspora, the Jews settled in the Mediterranean countries, although they settled as far away as Europe. Constant uprooting prevented the Jews from becoming agriculturalists and pastoralists, therefore they worked at trades. During the middle ages, the Jews made ornamental glass objects and worked at money lending. They were seen as prosperous and resented by the people of the countries where they settled. Resentment built against the Jews by the less prosperous people of the settled countries. The attitude of the Christian church was summed up, from our lecture, by John Chrysostom who wrote: “The Jews are the odious assassins of Christ and for killing God there is no expiation possible, no indulgence or pardon.” The churches were reluctant to help the Jews during the holocaust because of the long-standing hatred. The Jews caught in German-occupied areas after World War I had little help except for few organizations and many countries did
Jews have been persecuted throughout all of history. A deep seated hatred has existed in many nations against them. Throughout history Jews could not find a resting place for long before they are thrown out of over 80 countries including England, France, Austria and Germany (Ungurean, 2015). Deicide is one of the reasons why Jews are hated. It is said that Jews are the responsible party for the killing of Jesus. The gospels describe Jews delivering Jesus to Roman authorities while demanding that he be crucified and his blood be on their children (Schiffman, n.d.). As a result Jews are held accountable for the death of Jesus and they are hated by many.
It is mentioned that the bishops tell the common folk that “the Jews have stolen your religion and yet the Jews live with you in your own land.” As a result, these words create violence as the common folk “rush out together in search of Jews, and when they find one they kill him.” The killings and violence committed during this time was also predominately recognized as acts of vengeance for many bishops and other Christians deem “the Jews as Christ-killers.” Again, this idea supports the notion that Jews created mischief and thus, the cruelty directed to them is understandable and
He has not stopped believing in God, however. Perhaps he has stopped believing in the particular God he has grown up worshiping. The last sentence shows us that he still believes that there is a God, he simply no longer trusts him. He feels as though his people have been betrayed and God is allowing the Jews to become victims for no apparent reason.
In the Jewish faith, death is seen as a natural process. Jewish rituals surrounding death focus on showing respect for the deceased and consolation for the living. After death, the body is never left alone. The body is laid on the floor, covered, and candles are lit with the “shomerim” meaning “guards” watching over the body. Many Jewish communities have a burial society, called the chevra kaddisha (holy society), that clean the body and wrap the body in a plain linen shroud. The body can not be cremated or embalmed and autopsies are discouraged. Coffins are not required according to Jewish customs, but if one is used, there must be holes drilled into them, so they come in contact with the ground. The dead are placed in a plain casket and buried within 24 hours, before sunset, on the day of death. Jewish mourning traditions begin grief with the tearing of one’s clothing (Rich, 1996). Mourners “cut their clothing with a razor- on the left for a parent; on the right for a spouse, child, or sibling- to symbolize the tear in life that death has produced (cite textbook, pg 358).” After burial of the deceased, a healing meal is made for the family, which is followed by the next phase of mourning, known as shiva. Shiva is a seven day ritual in where mourners sit on low stools or on the floor, do not wear shoes, do not shave, do not work, do not bathe, have sex, or eat meat, and remain in the same clothes they tore at the time of death. Following shiva, mourners do not attend social gathering for 30 days, this is known as shloshim. If someone is mourning a parents death, the “shloshim” is expanded to one year (Rich, 1996).