One of the hardest questions that has plagued us, as believers, since the beginning of time is “the question of evil”. For those who believe, as we do, that Hashem is all knowing, all-powerful, and all good, it seems impossible to understand how evil can exist in this world. How can bad things happen to good people, and how can it be that He allows the wicked to prosper? Even tzadikim like Avraham Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu asked this question of Hashem. Nothing in history however, raised this question as strongly as did the Holocaust. How do we explain the baseless, cold-blooded genocide of over 6 million of our people? Answers to these questions have been presented by many Jewish thinkers with answers varying from the traditional explanations …show more content…
The first level, the most basic of the three, explains suffering as a stepping stone to good that will follow. The suffering may be bad, but it is in essence good because that will be its final outcome. This explanation can be manifest in various ways. One form it could take is the traditional Jewish approach to suffering, the approach of reward and punishment. This explains all punishments prescribed by the Torah, even the death penalty, as a form of cleansing to prepare a person for Gan Eden. The Chassidic description of Gehinnom is also one of cleansing; the soul suffers in Gehinnom temporarily so that it will be able to enjoy Olam Habbah for all eternity. Another form this explanation of suffering could take is that of “yeridah l’tzorach aliyah”, a descent for the purpose of ascent; a person suffers so that he will be able to properly appreciate the good that follows. There is a famous story told of Rabbi Akiva that perfectly expresses this level of understanding of suffering. Rabbi Akiva was once traveling and when night began to fall, he looked for a place to lodge for the night. No one in the town was willing to host him so he resigned himself to sleeping in the forest. As he settled down for the night, his donkey, which he used to travel, was killed by a passing wild animal, and not long after, his rooster, his alarm clock, died as well. Rabbi Akiva turned to his s’farim as a way to pass the time and suddenly, a gust of wind came and blew out the candle. As each of these unfortunate things occurred, Rabbi Akiva responded, “Kol mah d'avid Rachmana l'tav avid”, all that God does He does for the good. In the morning, Rabbi Akiva wakes to discover that the town has been decimated by bandits and all of the preceding seemingly negative events had really save him. He now saw that what Hashem had done to him was really for the
Not even the most powerful Germans could keep up with the deaths of so many people, and to this day there is no single wartime document that contains the numbers of all the deaths during the Holocaust. Although people always look at the numbers of people that were directly killed throughout the Holocaust, there were so many more that were affected because of lost family. Assuming that 11 million people died in the Holocaust, and half of those people had a family of 3, 16.5 million people were affected by the Holocaust. Throughout the books and documentaries that we have watched, these key factors of hate and intolerance are overcome. The cause of the Holocaust was hate and intolerance, and many people fighting against it overcame this hate
After listening to a testimony from Ralph Fischer, a Holocaust survivor I have gained a new level of understanding to what happened in those few years of terror when the Nazi party was at power. On top of that I have learned that they are just like other people in many different ways. As a child, Ralph went to school, played with friends, and spent time with his family. All that is comparable to any other modern-day child. However, as the Nazi party rose to power he was often bullied, left out, or even beat for being Jew. Although not as extreme, I have often been mistreated because I was different, and it’s easy to understand the pain of being left out just because you are not the same. Eventually he had to drop out of school and then had
Imagine sitting at school and hearing that one or both parents have been brutally killed for just being an American, or going through watching an entire religion being picked off and killed just for their beliefs? Even though those two scenarios seem far fetched and even similar, those were very real events that have scarred the human race for years now. The terror attacks of the Twin towers being hit by hijacked planes on September 11th, 2001, and the gassing of millions of Jews, known as the Holocaust, were very similar attacks, but the perpetrators and route taken were very different. Most of everyone is familiar with the german attempts at eliminating an entire religious
The Holocaust was one of the most tragic and harmful things to befall the human race. Yet not a lot of people understand just how terrible it was. But if we don't know about it, how will we know if history will ever repeat itself or not? We need to know because we can't let it happen ever again. There is so much to know as well. From the life of Anne Frank to World War II as a whole, there are so many things involved its unbelievable. But what exactly is the full depth of the Holocaust, and what was all a part of it.
For some, it seems that the Holocaust in another lifetime, but for others it will be something they will never forget. Holocaust was a time for fighting. The Jewish would fight for the right to live as they were killed solely for being Jewish. The Holocaust began in 1939 and would continue through 1945. It was introduced by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, although he did not act alone. His mission would be to “exterminate” all minorities, but most abundantly, the Jews. Based on information given by About.com, it is estimated that 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. Six million of these were Jews.
Holocaust Facts The Holocaust has many reasons for it. Some peoples’ questions are never answered about the Holocaust, and some answers are. The Holocaust killed over 6 million Jews (Byers.p.10.) Over 1.5 million children (Byers, p. 10). They were all sent to concentration camps to do hard labor work.
There are times in history when desperate people plagued by desperate situations blindly give evil men power. These men, once given power, have only their own evil agendas to carry out. The Holocaust was the result of one such man's agenda. In short simplicity, shear terror, brutality, inhumanity, injustice, irresponsibility, immorality, stupidity, hatred, and pure evil are but a few words to describe the Holocaust.
“ ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ The gate said as I entered Auschwitz. ‘ I have worked, and now I am free’ I said as I left Auschwitz.” In the book “Night”, you can see the effects of the Holocaust on the mentality of the Jews in concentration camps. Throughout this book the characters change because of the physical and emotional pain they are put through. Elie Wiesel, the author of this book, shows us how much they changed, walking in basically untouched, and walking out with a scarred mind and a weak body. And some come out with their gaze wide and spaced, as if they have been dragged through hell. Shlomo (Elie’s father) changes throughout the book, as well as Ms. Shächter, and Elie himself. The characters were put through so much physical and mental torture that it reflects the realities of the Holocaust well, relating to real holocaust victims.
Suffering arises early in the story and is a theme is a them that will preside over the entire text, valuable to the reader because of The Buddha’s first Noble Truth: human life is consists almost entirely of suffering. When the Buddha is just a baby, the relief from suffering he will provide is predicted. “Be steadfast, therefore, give up anxiety, be cheerful, for your clan will flourish without a doubt; The one born here as your son is the leader of those overcome by the suffering in the world” (B 1.33). The
There is no doubt that the Holocaust is one of the best remembered and most studied genocides in human history. There are very few who would be puzzled by the mention of the Holocaust in today’s world as it’s impacts have been immense and lasting. Many lives were lost during this time, and many atrocities occurred- torture and persecution were pushed past the boundaries of most people’s imaginations. Throughout modern history, the Holocaust has been documented over and over again as the worst genocide- and perhaps even the worst crime- in human history. Many historians have even said it was a unique occurrence that is unparalleled by other crimes in human history. This being said, it is not difficult to argue this statement when observing and analyzing the many components of the Holocaust and of other horrible crimes that have happened.
The Holocaust, the mass killing of the Jewish people in Europe, is the largest genocide in history to this date. Over the course of the Holocaust nearly six million Jewish people were killed by the Nazi Party and Germany led by Adolf Hitler. There are multiple contributing factors to the Holocaust that made it so large in scope. Historians argue which of these factors were most significant. The most significant contributing factor is the source of the Holocaust, the reason it occurred. This source is Adolf Hitler and his hatred for Jewish people. In comparison to the choices of the Allies to not accept Jewish refugees and to not take direct military action to end the Holocaust, the most significant contributing factor of the Holocaust is that Adolf Hitler was able to easily rise to power with the support of the German people and rule Germany.
Suffering can be found on three different levels, mental, physical and emotional. In an everyday life the three levels can be found at school, at work or even on the streets, for example people who are living on the street generally suffer mentally. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak the topic that suffering exists on three different levels is shown throughout the book. In The Book Thief the author shows that the three levels of suffering exist and impacts multiple characters throughout the book . The three levels of suffering impacts many characters such as, the Jews, Liesel and Max.
The Holocaust was looked at wrongly, even though it was an important turning point on the path of Germany and the country's future. Germany had started the Holocaust, which led to the loss of 11 million innocent people’s lives., Although the Holocaust was not entirely negative. It offered Germany a successful future, one of which starvation and death were not a part of. This would not have happened if the Holocaust did not occur. The Holocaust was beneficial for the country of Germany, as it worked as a way of population control as well as helped to create a unified country under Nazism due to the removal of all Non-Aryans, and provided doctors with extensive medical experience through medical experimentation.
The Holocaust, occurred between 1933 and 1945. The actual definition of “holocaust” is a Jewish sacrificial offering that is burned on an altar. The definition has now been altered to describe the slaughter of six million Jews during World War II. The leader of these mass killings was Adolf Hitler. His ideologies of the perfect race, were deemed reason enough to murder millions of human beings. How were the killings done on such a massive scale? Concentration camps. Jews, and other imperfect aryans, (homosexuals, gypsies, and the disabled), were transported to “work” camps. Here, crematoriums, gas chambers, and shootings awaited them. If you made it past your first once-over, you were expected to work in back-breaking conditions throughout
During the Holocaust the mass murder of jews was a worldwide tragedy and when a tragedy happens usually your first question is why? The two groups of devoted researchers for the Holocaust are split into the Intentionalist group and the Functionalist group. As said by Mimi-Cecilia Pascoe in Intentionalism and Functionalism: Explaining the Holocaust “The intentionalist position suffers greatly from a lack of adequate evidence, and consequently cannot prove Hitler’s intentions beyond reasonable doubt. On the other hand, the functionalist position is better able to compensate for the lack of evidence, and thus provides a more solid historical explanation for the Holocaust (Pascoe 1).” The on going argument of whether the Holocaust was intentional or a choice in the moment is the Intentionalist vs. Functionalist case and either side has many different ways of portraying their evidence on the topic; the arguments are both have convincing arguments but in