In what senses and to what extent are the Holocaust and Israel central to contemporary Jewish Identity?

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

Natalie Conn-3024022

6 pages altogether

In what senses and to what extent are the Holocaust and Israel central to contemporary Jewish Identity?

Few events have affected Jewish identity more than the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel. Zionist’s long, cherished goal of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine was finally achieved on May 14, 1948, when David Ben Gurion proclaimed the existence of the state of Israel. Jewish loss of life during the Holocaust directly contributed to the overwhelmingly support of the international community for the creation of a sovereign Jewish nation. It is evident in modern times that so many contemporary Jews (mainly conservative and reform) in Israel and the Diaspora consider these two events to be key factors in shaping their Jewish identities.

One hundred years ago the majority of Jews especially living in Eastern Europe would have based their Jewish identity around prayer and Jewish law and tradition (Halakhah), however this was before two significant incidences that affected all Jewish people around the world. After the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel, so many contemporary Jews have shifted their focus from prayer and tradition to the rebirth of Judaism focusing on resistance, continuity and love and connection to the Jewish homeland of Israel. From Swastikas on train station walls to Arab Israeli conflicts to the commemoration of Yom-Hashoa (Holocaust remembrance day) to the celebration of Yom-Ha atsma’ut (Israel’s birthday), all affect contemporary Jews around the world and continue to shape our modern, Jewish identities.

Jews do not need to compete in a morbid contest as to who has suffered the most in history. It is important, however, to explain why the Holocaust is a unique part of human history why it has so strongly affected the identity of the modern Jew. While bearing their unique witness to the Holy One of Israel and to the Torah, the Jewish people have suffered much at different times and in many places. But the Shoah was certainly the worst suffering of all. The inhumanity with which the Jews were persecuted and massacred during this century is beyond the capacity of words to convey. All this was done to them for the sole reason that they were Jews. Out of the 15-17 million Jews alive in the world in 1939, six million or about 40 percent were annihilated. Counting only the Jews of Europe, the percentage is about 65 percent.

The Jews who had managed to survive the Holocaust, whether inside the caps or outside in hiding or on the run, had now to experience another challenge: starting new lives thousands of miles from their birthplaces and bereft of any possessions. Many of them soon realized that the old feudal world of Europe had to be ended. Furthermore Michael Berenbaum explains that some Jews soon after saw Hitler as G-D’s tool for re-shaping the world (The world must know, ‘afterward’ pg 220). Many Jews after 1945 drifted away from prayer and tradition and to some extremes lost their belief for G-d and he love for the chosen people. The post Holocaust period became a very confusing time for many Jewish people. Their once very stable Jewish identity had now been greatly tampered with and for some even destroyed. Religious thinker Richard Rubenstein, have said that “G-D is dead”. They Jewish direction and could not yet find anything to relate their Jewish ness with.

The Establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 for so many holocaust-surviving Jews was the creation of the state of Israel. For them, the establishment of a Jewish state was the light at the end of the tunnel and more importantly the rebirth of a more modernized Jewish identity, which for many brought them back to hope for a better life and a stronger belief in G-d. The confrontation of the holocaust led to a renewed understanding of their own national goals which were, a homeland for the Jews seeking a haven, a place to re-create life and ...

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The Establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 for so many holocaust-surviving Jews was the creation of the state of Israel. For them, the establishment of a Jewish state was the light at the end of the tunnel and more importantly the rebirth of a more modernized Jewish identity, which for many brought them back to hope for a better life and a stronger belief in G-d. The confrontation of the holocaust led to a renewed understanding of their own national goals which were, a homeland for the Jews seeking a haven, a place to re-create life and live in freedom, an end to Jewish vulnerability and the quest for national security through self-reliance and self-defense. This hope allowed the Jews who suffered from the holocaust to build on their ashes and rebuild a Jewish identity, which so many had lost during this period.

The holocaust gave the Jewish people an opportunity to re-find and recreate a modern Jewish identity to withhold. The creation of the state of Israel for many of them was the first step into the belief that this was possible.

Richard Rubenstein explains that for the majority of Holocaust surviving Jews that moved to the United States soon saw the very negative holocaust and very positive creation of Israel as incidences that shape who they are as Jewish people. Holocaust awareness, resistance towards anti-Semitism, equality under law and ongoing support for Israel and the thresholds for modern Jewish identity for so many Jews especially in the Diaspora. (After Auschwitz, Richard Rubinstein, pg 15).

Furthermore Jacob Neusner also explores the idea of why so many Holocaust survives and mid twentieth centaury Jewry ask themselves the question “why should I be Jewish at all?”. His answer clarifies the ideas that have been discussed previously in this essay, however it would be remiss not to emphasise how strong the impact of the mass murder in the death factories of six million of the Jews of Europe and the creation of the state of Israel three years after the end of the massacre had on the reformation of contemporary Jewish Identity. Neusner explains that “The Holocaust proved that gentiles should not be trusted, so Jews should stay Jewish and redemption, meaning the creation of the state of Israel, proved that Jews could take care of themselves, so they should identify with the far-away state as their reason to be Jewish”. Therefore it is evident that Holocaust and redemption Judaism is the creation of the twentieth centaury, third and forth generation after the end of the Holocaust (Jacob Neusner, Jews in modern times). This idea of Holocaust-redemption Judaism is a key element in the recreation of modern Jewish identity.

As a result of the creation of Holocaust-Redemption Judaism, the emphasis on religion and Jewish tradition withered into the background and especially for the forth generation bore little relevance. “The parents kept dietary taboos, the children did not” (Jacob Neusner, Judaism in modern times, 'American Judaism, Holocaust and redemption, pg, 207). Furthermore, the parent’s practiced distinctively Jewish occupations dominating only a few fields such as commerce and bankers, the children did not. They embarked on a new road, furthering their education at universities and entering new fields of work such as law and architecture.

By the end of the twentieth century, Australian and American Jews lived the lives of average Australians and Americans however nearly all Diaspora Jews are supporters of the state of Israel and more importantly, “they also regard their own “being Jewish” as inextricably bound up with the meaning they impute to the Jewish state” (Jacob Neusner, Judaism in modern times, American Judaism of Holocaust and Redemption, pg 214-15). This is a very controversial statement made by Neusner because many other writers such as Martin Gilbert (the author of ‘Israel, a history’) and David Vital (The origins of Zionism) interpret a similar phrase as following of Zionism. That is a desire to go live and work in the state of Israel. However Neusner is not implying this. On the contrary, the majority of the Diaspora Jews are not Zionists and Zionism does not connect to their contemporary Jewish identities. What he is saying is that, Diaspora Jews “engage in a life of organizing for the accomplishment of good works” as part of their connection to Israel the Holocaust and in turn their Jewish identities. For example they may raise money to allow Jewish refugees to get to Israel where they will be provided with food and shelter, they may send Jewish children in the Diaspora to Israel to personally strengthen their Jewish identities and furthermore, they may raise holocaust awareness which will in turn help prevent another Holocaust from happening. In addition, many Jews in the Diaspora portray their Jewish identity through political views and actions. Many Australian Jews especially in Sydney support the Likud party (meaning union; bloc of right-wing parties brought together in 1973 by general Ariel Sharon) by means of letters and rallies in support. Again, since political action forms a vital part of support for the state of Israel, many Diaspora Jews work hard in political affairs, seeking friends for the Jewish community and the state of Israel in the country in which they live. For Example, the Jewish community of Sydney has raised their concerns about the current situation in Israel to their member of parliament Mr. Peter King and in response to their actions he has written to Israeli president Sharon expressing his support. “In doing this, the Jewish community undertakes selfless commitments that demand much of their energy and time. These are some of the many examples that Jewish people especially in the Diaspora may portray their Jewish identity in modern society. Furthermore these acts that have help to create Jewish modern identity have only eventuated as a result of the Holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel. This is very important to realize when trying to understand how contemporary Jewish identity came about.

Ben Halpern raises a very interesting point in his response to Daniel Bell’s essay on ‘A parable of alienation-1946’. In his response he explains that traditional family life is the basis for disintegration. Furthermore, he conveys that in order to find a community that you recognize each Jew must do this individually first. Some may have to “drop the chosen people concept and reinterpret ancient themes with contemporary values of democracy and progressiveness” while others will hold on and maintain these ancient values labeling the rest of the Jewish people as aliens. However, what he stresses is that even though there are so many different directions to follow in order to find ones Jewish identity, there is a much more direct access to Jewish identity and community and a much more “immediate call upon our love The struggle for Israel for life is a spectacle that must enlist the concern and sympathy of any man, women or child who can view it directly, without the distortions of special interests.” (The Jew in the Modern World, ‘’letter to an intellectual, PG 299-300). Ben Halpern conveys a very important point that many Jews rejects and that are; no matter to what extent you practice Judaism, a Jew must always love and support Israel. This should be part of every Jews identity.

From the latter argument made by Ben Halpern a very important issue contradicts this and that is that although the Holocaust and the state of Israel to a grave extent recreates and shapes the contemporary Jewish Identity for many Jews, there is one particular group who would disagree with this idea of a modern Jewish identity.

The majority of the Orthodox Jews in Israel and the Diaspora especially the Chassidic Jews (extremely orthodox Jews) do not connect their Jewish identity with the Holocaust and the state of Israel. This is because in the Torah (Holy scroll that is the written law expressing the covenant between G-d and his people) states that the Jewish people must not return to the Palestine/ now the Jewish state of Israel until the coming of the Messiah therefore it is not allowed for Orthodox Jews to focus their Jewish identity around Israel. Similarly, many orthodox Jews believe that the Holocaust occurred because G-d was punishing the Jewish people for their sins, thus walking away from G-d and the Torah. This was evident before the Holocaust when so many Jews explored conservative and Reform Judaism. However today, many contemporary Jews (especially conservative and reform/liberal) reject and ignore this Orthodox argument. Many orthodox Jews especially those living in Brooklyn New York and Meir Sharim in Israel still base their Jewish identity of prayer and tradition as previously back in Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centauries.

For the majority of Jews in Israel and the Diaspora, the holocaust and the state of Israel to a large extent contributed to the creation of the contemporary Jewish identity. It can be concluded from this essay that a large number of third and forth generation Jews find pre holocaust and Israel Judaism somewhat conformative, irrelevant and for some, uninteresting. What were required in order for all these Jewish people to re-find or strengthen their Jewish identities were a more modern approach and outlook towards Judaism. Many Jews found a new outlook through the horrific events of the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel. As David Neusner so clearly and correctly states, “access to the life of feeling and experience, to the way of life, that made one distinctive without leaving the person terribly different from everybody else emerged in the Judaic system of the Holocaust and redemption”. (Judaism in modern times, ‘American Judaism of Holocaust and Redemption, PG 220). This allowed Jews to be intensely Jewish once in a while, and on the other hand not being singled out as different. This balance has emerged from the Holocaust and the state of Israel and more importantly been accepted by so many Jewish people as key incidences that emphasies their personal Jewish identities that enables them to be proud Jews in a modern society.

Bibliography:

-Neusner. J, Judaism in modern times, Blackwell publishers, 1995

‘American Judaism Of Holocaust and Redemption’.

-Glazer. N, Judaism in modern times, Blackwell publishers, 1995

‘The year 1967 and meaning’.

-Mendes-Flohr. P & Reinharz. J, The Jew in the modern World, Oxford university press, 1995

Ben, Halpern, ‘Letter to an Intellectual. A reply to Daniel Bell (1946).

-Gilbert. M, Israel a History, Transworld publishers LTD, 1998.

-Published by Weber. L, The Holocaust Chronicle, Publications International LTD, 2000

‘ The Aftermath’

-Berenbaum. M, The world must know, Little, Brown and company limited, 1993, ‘Afterword’.

-Rubenstein. R, Approaches to Auschwitz, Atlanta John Knox press, 1987, ‘The Holocaust and its legacy’.