The holocaust left the Jewish people many unanswerable questions. The two main questions involve the existence of God and the nature of Evil. It is not surprising that after the holocaust many Jews were unsure of whether God existed, and if he does then he could not be omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing) and all loving and caring. To let an event like the Holocaust happen, God must either be all powerful and not all loving, or not all powerful but all loving. The Jews must have also wondered why the tragedy was inflicted on them, when they were God’s chosen people. The Jewish people also asked why the rest of the world did not help them and whether the Jews will continue to be persecuted as they have been for so long.
(ii) Explain the views of a Jewish writer in response to questions raised by the Holocaust;
As a child, Elie Wiesel was exiled from home with his family, and sent to the Nazi concentration camps, along with millions of other Jews. Unlike the rest of his family, Elie was “lucky” enough to have survived these camps and wrote about his experience.
Before being sent to the camps, Wiesel was devout Jewish child and his strong faith in God caused him never to doubt the Lord’s actions. On hearing reports of the horrors in the camps, Wiesel believed that there was some reason behind God’s will and secure in his faith, would not question him. Like all of the other Jews in his town, Wiesel was waiting for God to intervene before anything happened to them;
“Our optimism remained unshakeable. It was simply a question of holding out for a few days...Once again the God of Abraham would save his people, as always, at the last moment, when all seemed lost.''
Even on arriving at the camp, Wiesel’s faith in God was sustained for some time. There were explanations of why God was allowing the suffering and torture of his people; some believed they deserved it or that it was a test of faith.
Despite holding on to his faith for so long, Wiesel finally stopped believing that God held a justifiable reason for what was happening and why he could stand back and watch millions of innocent Jews be killed;
“For the first time I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the all-powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for?”
Those that were not killed, had to live with many unanswerable questions, and on watching a young boy being hanged, a man behind Wiesel asked, “Where is God now?" Wiesel, answering within himself said;
“Where is He? Here He is hanging here on this gallows...”
The God that Wiesel prayed to, worshipped and had loved for so long, died to him at that moment. It is not that he denies God, but has questions in his existence. How could He allow suffering, torture and death of so many innocent people and not even justify his silence?
(iii) Explain the views of a different Jewish writer in response to these questions;
Eliezer Berkovits was a leading rabbi, theologian and teacher, who wrote many books, including “With God in Hell”, and “Faith after The Holocaust.” During the holocaust, Berkovits did not blame God for the suffering and pain the Jews were put through, nor did he blame God for not intervening and saving the millions in the concentration camps. Like many others, Berkovits held a strong belief that God gave human beings free will, and it is up to the individual to use this as he or she wishes.
Berkovits views express that God does not cause or purposely inflict pain and suffering on human beings, but we the human beings do. We misuse the free will that was given to us by God, and by doing this we have to suffer the consequences. God does not have to intervene every time a human being commits a sin, just to prevent the suffering of an innocent person; it is not his responsibility to prevent humanity from accepting the consequences of our actions;
“God is responsible for having created a world in which man is free to make history.”
Berkovits makes it clear that the free will given to man is dependent on God’s decision not to intervene when there is a disaster or tragedy. For example, if during the holocaust God had decided to reveal himself and save his people by killing Hitler and The Nazis’, then man’s free will would no longer exist.
When people claim that God cannot exist, as if he did he would not have allowed the holocaust to happen, Berkovits argues that when so many were ready to give-up on God, he showed his presence with the creation of the State of Israel in 1948;
“God reveals His presence in the survival of Israel. Not in His deeds, but in His children. There is no other witness that God is present in history but the history of the Jewish people.”
- Give your own response to the view that “Nothing like the Holocaust could ever happen again.” Give reasons for you answer showing you have considered other points of view.
Many people believe that the only way to prevent anything like the Holocaust happening again, is to make sure that there are constant reminders of the horrors and suffering experienced by the Jews. Those that believe that nothing like this could happen again, are putting their faith in humanity that no one could allow such a tragedy to re-occur. By reading or watching films about The Holocaust, we will not forget the scale of what happened, and by teaching the facts in school, The Holocaust will not be forgotten. There are also many centres, museums and web sites dedicated to remembrance of The Holocaust and a Holocaust Remembrance Day has been introduced in Britain.
The Holocaust was not only unique because of its scale, but also because the rest of the world had no idea what was happening. Because today we live in a world of mass communication, through newspapers, radio, twenty-four hour news shows and the Internet, it would be impossible to keep something of such a large scale a secret from the rest of the world.
During the holocaust there was nowhere for the Jews to escape to and they were treated as unwanted foreigners in many countries. However, since the State of Israel was declared in 1948, the Jews can now return to their homeland.
Although many hold the view that nothing like the holocaust could happen again, I think that it could, although maybe not necessarily against the Jews. In 1948 The Convention on the Punishment and the Prevention of the crime of Genocide stated that genocide means any act committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group. It also stated that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
However, since 1948 millions have been killed all over the world due to genocide, and those responsible have not been punished. From 1975-1979, The Cambodian genocide caused over one and a half million people to lose their lives. This genocide was similar to the holocaust as millions were sent to work camps and it was undocumented at the time.
During 1994 genocide took place in Rwanda, and over one hundred days a systematic slaughter of men, women and children took place, killing approximately 800,000 people. The following year another genocide took place in Srebrenica, 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed, and many women and children were tortured, raped and killed.
These are just a few of the genocides in recent years, and ethnic cleansing, for example in East Timor, and massacres are also taking place all over the world. Although these disasters are not on the same scale as the holocaust, the simple similarity is that millions are being killed for ethnic reasons and the world still turns a blind eye. A country might not want to get involved in the prevention of these massacres as it could mean having to go to war, and along with the trading they might lose from other countries, the economy would suffer huge affects.
Finally, I believe that although there has not been a disaster on the same scale as the holocaust, genocides have taken place. This proves history repeats itself and unless The United Nations and International Community draws up a universal Declaration of Human Rights, ethnic cleansing will continue to happen.