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What the Rebbe Said (and Didn't Say) About the Holocaust
 | Is G-d responsible? How can His actions (or inaction) be defended? Should they be defended?
54 Comments Posted
What an excellent article, i have always wondered about what the Rebbe felt about the holocaust and now can understand it myself much better, thanks for all your articles they are so inspiring keep up the good work, may we merit to see Moshiach now.
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Theologians often attempt to explain theodicy questions (a term referring to a theoretical justification of the goodness of G-d in the face of evil in the world) by portraying evil as something which comes about as a result of sin. Rabbinic figures have made similar declarations in an attempt to explain the atrocities of the Holocaust.
In defense of the Righteous who perished in the Holocaust, the Rebbe scathingly responded to such assertions by pointing out this argument's many flaws:
1. Most Jews can't be held accountable for sins given their Halchaic legal status of someone who is uninformed (i.e, "tinuk shenishbah")
2. Judgment of reward and punishment is based on the quality of mtizvot not quantity (only G-d can determine thisnot man)
3. It is also incorrect to assume that all punishment is a result of sin. In the Torah, Moses contests G-d regarding the 400y exile in Egypt which came about for NO particular sin.
Thank you Chabad.org for further illuminating this subject!
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Thank you for explaining this. many people I know are holocaust survivors and I do not know what to answer when they ask me these kinds of questions.
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Finally the rebbe's view brought out in a "short but to the point" manner - for everyones benefit
Thank you very much - we really appreciate it. Keep up the good work, we all support you
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A sane and normal person cannot fathom out the Holocaust and the Rebbe is quite right in pointing this out. You can write 6 million pages of testimony on this subject but they will be naught when compared to the horrors of actually seeing two small Jewish children stood hand in hand waiting to be shot, then being shot. You can easily visualise the guns being fired, you can imagine the last farewell messages and even guess what was said, and you can easily imagine the farewell hand holding that must have took place in the gas-chambers. What you cannot imagine is that it would ever have happened.
So in some respects your imagination binds you to your own private Remembrance of the Holocaust, with this act of Remembrance being your declaration to the world that you yourself, hold hands even today with the victims, and let it be said, you don't have to be Jewish to do so.
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To answer this question you must accept that the Jewish community is a circle or group of like minded people, all sharing similar aims and values, and within this circle G-D resides. His Spirit and safety is central to the beliefs of these people. With some deception and cunning this group of fairly ordinary and peaceful people are attacked by armed men, by sinful men intent on ruining their few joys and hard earned lifestyles, which include by tradition the right to practise their religion as they so choose and to speak freely with others. Etc.
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It matters a great deal to this groups continuation of faith and principles that they are not the attackers and they do no harm to others [not even to those who attack them] and that they stand United. The moment just one of these 3 acts of spiritual defiance occurs "then G-d appears". You see he was always there - it just needed a period of great hardship or war, for ordinary men and women to see the Faith in the Lord in action.
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This was very interesting. and it is very sad! i am jewish too and hitler is cruel!
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why does hashem allow evil to occur.It is the biggest question mankind asks.Why is there mans inhumanity to man.Maybe without evil in the world we would not know hashems goodness.
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"in the editor's note it says "on one occasion the Rebbe devoted a significant part of a 10th Teves address to speak about the Holocaust..." it would be nice to know which year so we can look it up. Thanks
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God permitted human action to run its course a course which, as the Rebbe pointed out, was the result of a non-Divinely-based authority.
The holocaust is horrible, no doubt, but so is the state of Jewishness in places like the US where non-orthodox synogogues seem more and more like churches, where Jews have not been taught from childhood how to pray and how to revere the Torah. Bar-mitzvahs become raucous parties whose focus is what color kippot to order and what lettering should be on the invitations. There is little serious discussion about the meaning of mitzvot and what does it mean to arrive at the age when a boy is able to make a commitment to them.
All these tragedies, be they mass murder or assiimilation, are stuff that prompts us to demand Moshiach. But, we must earn him.
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The Holocaust in my opinion proves only mans inhumanity to itself.Just like the German People, we, look to blame someone else, for our own attitude in, turning a blind eye, passing the buck, waiting for someone else to save us, when its within ourselves to see & do what is right, when mankind is blind to see ,we still need to show our light so they will see & recieve a little spark also. We should be strengthened by the wickedness of this world & resolved to bring everyman a small spark of light bringing all of humanity a little closer to, "Hashem" . bless his name.
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The Rebbe's talk is in Sefer Hasichos 5751, volume 1, page 225
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it seems we were warned about all of the "horrors" that would be perpetrated on us if we turned our back on His ways. And indeed the Germans were very good at forfilling that prophesy. And then also included was the good news...we got our home back! Next year for many ...was in Jerusaleum! Thank G=D
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theres a great story about a gerer rebbe in israel. someone who used to be religious and stopped came to see him. he was so upset about the shoah. the rebbe said to him, i have no words for you, but i can cry with you.
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Whilst no one can ever fully and convincingly provide a reason, in the aftermath we suddenly get Israel back after nearly 2000 years.
Jewish fighters reclaim the promised land, just like in the days of Joshua.
Punishment-redemption-return to Israel.
Ironic?
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yes - B'nei Yisrael are allowed in Israel again - but the Germans took hatred and sorrow to a new level. We must do our utmost to preserve ourselves from the politics of apathy that persist - why isn't the Nazi Socialist Party illegal in America, for instance?
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Quite simply the most poignant thoughts ever communicated on this the saddest and most sensitive of subjects. From destruction the Rebbe dedicated his life, his service of G-d, to renewal and to reaching out to those who are far away. Without a soul the body is empty; some dedicated their lives to building a physical home for the Jewish people, some to bringing the wicked criminals to justice, all are valid and have their place but the Rebbe dedicated his life to building the soul of the Jewish people and in so doing re-ignited its vibrancy and secured its survival, achieving far more than any material response could ever (have hoped to) achieve.
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sometimes evil is alowed to flourish so it can come to light and be destroyed.
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As an Israeli born Jew who lost virtually all his father's family to the Nazis, I think I've inherited the right to speak on Shoa and have an uncommon view.
Jews outside of Israel are always bemoaning the loss of Shoa. I'd like to suggest a different attitude. We Jews are G-d's vanguard, watchmen of His to the world. Since our Holocaust, there have been others. Everyone is fond of using the phrase "man's inhumanity to man" but no one says (e.g.) "Look, abortion there it is." Or "AIDS and we sell instead of give away the cure. There it is." Or "Darfur. Stop being so greedy, stop life as normal and stop the Holocaust of Darfur. It's man's inhumanity to man."
That is what we Jews should be doing. As the ultimate victims, we are uniquely qualified for the task of pointing out to the rest of the world incidents of "man's inhumanity to man."
So long as all we do is bemoan Shoa and ask the world to pity us, I think they secretyly think "The Jewish Problem."
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The one thing I have a problem with is NOT having people try to blame G-d, but the fact that we have lost 5 million people in the telling of the holocaust. There were 11 million murdered by the Nazis - 6 million Jewish people and 5 million non-Jewish people. Why do we eliminate the 5 milllion as though they didn't count? The death camps were, and are, the greatest evil that man has perpetrated en masse!
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All I know is G-d gives us tests, not for us to fail, but for us to ACHIEVE. He would never want His children to fail, He loves us far too much. The evildoers are the ones who strayed from Him and turned to sin. We are victorious. Good will always prevail over evil.
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easy for people to tell what attitude is the right/wrong concerning the Holocaust. Most of it is hurtful and offensive. What do they know? I spent nearly five years of my early childhood, witnessing firsthand how my family was murdered, being experimented on in the most cruel way and being left alone as the only survivor of the family.
Seeing things and going through things which is beyond words, and which no child should ever know. There is a tremendous comfort in the Rebbe's way: no explanation, no other demands than this rebuilding our lives, Jewish lives. I strongly believe that it is an act of loving kindness from G-d by withholding the answer to: "Why?" I don't want an answer, nor need one when I scream in anguish; all what I need and want is His comfort, and THAT I have been granted through the years.
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Answers from Judaism in general conclude that we humans cannot know how G-d thinks/acts. What happened is for reasons we cannot begin to understand.
Answers from atheists conclude that megalomaniac charisma can inflame a mob mentality
Answers from agnostics range from empathy to apathy.
From Hitler, Stalin, Mao , Pol Pot, Darfur ...
I have found a hundred answers and questions for the Holocaust, but not one that suffices. It is a most difficult question that faces modern Jewry. Yes, Israel was a derivative of the Holocaust. But most Israelis are secular. Many religious or not leave Israel if they have the means. It is the same for many Russian Jews and Argentine Jews emigrating to North America. Security and financial opportunity are powerful attractions.
I apologize if this is off course. I just don't think that i will ever find the answer. I always get that feeling when so much is written over an extended time frame and an extensive search turns up more questions than answers. Sad.
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how can you say we are victorious? more than six million of our brothers and sisters were so brutally murdered, and we will continue living in hopes that our destiny will not be the same, while knowing that nothing is impossible, and history may repeat itself at some point.
This isn't a victory, it is simply the way life is. The days go by and turn to years, decades, and centuries, and the Holocaust is now a tragic happening, among many others, in our history.
We are not victorious, and we shouldn't think we are.
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Like the post above from Anchorage, Alaska, I've heard other comments about the 5 million non-Jews who perished in the death camps, making it 11 million victims rather than 6 million. The reason why Jewish groups focus on the six million Jews who were killed is that Hitler had declared war on the Jews. Hitler's goal was to exterminate all of the Jews, and he nearly succeeded. While the five million non-Jews who perished in the camps represented only about two percent of the total population of Europe, the six million Jews who died were 75% of the Jewish population of Europe. Whole communities were destroyed by the Nazis. There are more than 450 communities in Poland where one can still find a Jewish cemetery but no live Jews anymore. The Jewish life of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Holland and Greece was totally destroyed. Of course we grieve over all victims of Hitler, but mostly over the deaths of our own because we have still not recovered from that blow.
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I never asked why. I never asked for a reason.
I do not think there is; as the Rebbe said;
---Can we presume to assume that an explanation small enough to fit inside the finite bounds of human reason can explain a horror of such magnitude? ---
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I am, as they say, a "Jew-by-Choice." The six million were my family also. I have struggled for years to know how to deal with this reality. The Rebbe's comments are so wise! In this day when being Jewish can still cost one his life, it would be tragic beyond words for us to hide our Jewishness for the sake of survival. What survival?! I cannot judge the choices others may make, but for me: better to die a Jew than to live a lie.
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The 28th of Nisan in Israel marks the other side of Passover: freedom carries with it a terrible price. The joy of freedom of Passover is tempered on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) by the memory of the millions who were murdered, the entire communities wiped out and European Jewry almost totally destroyed. And the Jewish people face another threat of mass murder in our own time. Freedom today means being prepared to sacrifice Jewish lives to preserve the existence of this people. No Jew wants war but what happened in the recent past must never be allowed to happen again. In the past, the Jew could only wait until others decided his fate. Today, he is in charge of his destiny and I think the Rabbi would agree the physical redemption of the Jewish people in their own homeland will lead to the redemption of all mankind. But first to deal with Iran and bring its evil to end. May G-d bless the State Of Israel and leaders at a decisive moment in Jewish history and may the entire Jewish people be secure forever
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Both my parents are survivors, but their siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, and many cousins were murdered before I was born.
I can't treat this is some arbitrary lesson. This wasn't some happening, it hurt my family severely. I try to find a way to process this event that preceded my birth.
I never knew most of my relatives. This is so uncommon, I don't even know how to say what I mean exactly.
The loss is mine, and that of my family, but how do I bear it? How do I learn from it? How do i go on from it? How can I make it contribute to my life, or learn from it?
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May G-d richly bless all those who lost loved ones with a deeper understanding of his great heart of love. 'All your waves have broken over me...'
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I can relate. Qustions without answers, except hollow spin. Walk in your boots, I get the same deadness on the matter.
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The question shoud be: Where were we and not where was G-d!
G-d could do nothing because to do so, He would also have to intervene every time a brother raised his hand against another with intent to injure in any way. That being so, there would be no redemption since G-d would be constantly altering our own free will in making those decisions.But there is a judgement day in which righteousness will rule and give account to all actions.
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All we can do is to strive for spiritual excellence, being able to attain it with this dark cloud of recent history hanging over our heads, makes it hard to forget, or to forgive.
One feels vulnerable, each and every time a search for a survivor, leads to several lost souls, on a transport list. You look at the list and your heart just plummets when you see the Death Date; part filled in. It is very difficult not to become beset by anger, obsessed with the search, and at times even to lash out at innocents.
Each time we uncover another relative we go through the stages of bereavement, anger, hatred, guilt, and resentment. As we study our fellow man, and wonder - how could YOU let this happen!
Acceptance and forgiveness - are not welcome in our hearts. And the fear that it will happen again haunts you, with every new marriage, and child born into your line you weep, both out of Joy, and out of fear for the future and safety of your newly formed family addition.
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It's one thing to say 'forgive', but it's quite another to actually do it. If we can somehow make the act, with G-d's help, we are the ones who are better for it. For our own dignity, our own sanity, and our own peace, let's truly forgive. Forgiving is not saying the murders, rapes and atrocities were okay...it is heroic in such circumstances and shows great strength and depth of character.
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we can say, as did Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning, that never was there a greater search for meaning in these apparently godless times and there wre within the camps so many acts of kindness and generosity without bounds, such heroism, such courage within bottomless anguish.
I believe I was there and there are many others with similar beliefs -- that our souls returned and that this is a story that only the Divine can answer fully. I do believe there is an answer and that this answer will be revealed to us all because G_d does not play dice with the universe and we are beloved.
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Every time I meet a Holocaust Survivor I ponder at their humanity, resilience, dignity and strength. I am fortunate to have known many and count myself as very fortunate to have been mentored in business by one in particular.Our business relationship afforded us many hours of conversing about many things, life, family, friends, G-d and the Holocaust.
I think I was a better friend than student and most certainly not a protege. I could not find forgiveness and still can't. I am not saying he forgave but he certainly showed no hostility.
Another friend of mine whose grandfather was tortured by the Nazis and had many family killed by them actually met a relative of Adolf Eichmann when in company with myself. He shook his hand as was happy to be friendly, I turned and made an excuse not to associate.
He said " You Australian Jews are not a forgiving lot, I saw your face. You would have preferred to have ripped his head off."
I said " I just can't. That is up to Hashem."
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The deepest of questions involves a peoples who have not only been blessed but have also deeply suffered, as in terrible pogroms, targeted for hatred throughout history, have experienced the unthinkable as in this question of the Holocaust, Hollow cost? We know the phoenix rises from the ashes of all tragic events. Suffering begets a transformative need to change the world, for compassion, and it does unlock the door to new stories of amazing courage, survival, and acts of grace. We do know the aftermath.
There are deep miracles arising from the despair and horror of such pain, and these we record and do celebrate and marvel.
Could it be the redemptive nature of such suffering has a cosmic reason that only G-d can deeply answer and that in questioning we are raising ourselves toward such answers in addition to that other raising, which is a reaching within the quest for an answer that leads us back to a Divine source?
I think there was a whisper of this in the camps at the very end.
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Ruth - Your writings are fascinating. Thanks.
Yasher koach.
To all, have a Great Shabbos !
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My parents were also Holocaust survivors. They were the only ones left of both their families. I never knew a grandmother, grandfather , aunt uncle, etc. The rebbe's answer is wise, but for someone who was not brought up religious, it is of no help. I also don't understand why people when writing about the destruction, say "killed". This is not the word to use. The correct word is: murdered. Can there be any more horrible deed than was done to the Jews of Europe. The were all murdered. Those people who bring into the discussion other atrocities like Darfur and Pol Pot, are to my mind qute unfeeling. They disregard the suffering of the people touched by the Holocaust, as if saying; stop already. There are others who also suffered. Of course we know. But still it is a very cold hearted person who uses this kind of argument concerning the Holocaust.
Also, I thought that both Temples were destroyed on the ninth of Av?
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The word was initiated with the Holocaust. Yes there is unimaginable pain as a result. By pointing out other genocides, Pol Pot, Stalin , Rwanda, Darfur i am not sure that by empathizing with those victims besides those of the Holocaust makes one cold hearted. Is it better to care only about the Holocaust victims, and feel nothing for other victims of genocide ? I am not sure that we need a guage saying which one was worse. They are all terrible crimes against humanity, and all regrettable.
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is a life of the astonishment of story arising out of the ordinary in that so much for me is what I call "mirroring". This brings me tothe inevitable conclusion that G-d's apparent absence from our lives at these times of horrific suffering was only this, apparent, because the supreme author of all life cannot be separate from what is Created.
And so perhaps the deepest paradox here is that knowing and putting G-d on trial. What is apparent is a parent. The children of the camps drew butterflies and butterflies are for souls. I must believe in my heart of hearts as Anne Frank that it will allcome out all right. Her words sustain me at times of deepest despair.
I say there is a reason her Diary has gone around the world and that lines continue to grow around The Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. Everywhere I go I find myself walking into the Diary of a young girl.
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Again I must wehemently disagree with Anonymous who when speaking about the Holocaust reminds people of Rwanda, etc. No one, especially someone who knew real suffering in contrast to those who read about it in books, would be indifferent to those atrocities perpetrated on innocent people. In fact, we know what they went through and are shocked that such inhumanity was allowed to exist in our times. But to compare these horrors to the Holocaust, shows a deep detachment from what the Holocaust was. The Holocaust was a single occurance in the world's bloody history, and comparing it to other horrors, is on par with Holocaust denyial. Also, on the human level it is cold hearted. Imagine someone escapes, battered and bloody from muderers, and needs your succor. But you, instead of binding his wounds, and supporting him say: yes, but my neighbor also suffered. He had a very traumatic incident with a dog...
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So when i meet a relative of a Holocaust survivor, i express my deepest sympathy for his unimaginable inhumane ordeal and loss. When i meet a survivor of Rwanda, i express my sentiments, knowing that it was nothing compared to the Holocaust, maybe like a dog bite, because to think otherwise is Holocaust denial.
So, i agree with you, ny ny, " Never again ! " The Holocaust has no comparison. However, i would avoid being in the presence of a Holocaust survivor and a Rwandan survivor at the same time.
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Hi, I know I am not part of the discussion directly above, about genocide and how there have been terrible events that do remind us of what happened to us those nightmare years.
I want to remind us all that it WAS the denial of what happenedvto the Armenians by the Turks that was so denied that did give Hitler his insane notion that it would be OK to go ahead and decimate us Jews.
this is sobering and YES I do deeply mourn what happened in what the Armenians term a genocide. it was horrific. the Turks deny this today: That IT happened.
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The suffering of others is not a dog bite. The game of comparison is insidious. As met one on one, the sufferer from Rwanda and the Holocaust survivor are the same. As humans we re all the same under the skin. We suffer and bleed when stabbed. But if one really knows about the Holocaust, and I would suggest that every person, whether Jew or gentile, but especially Jew, learn about it not only from "Shindler's list", but go deeper in reading about the exact facts. Then, perhaps, there would not be comparisons made. That anonymous doesn't really grasp the horrible singularity of the Holocaust, is expressed in his patronizing, finish in his acquiescence, and then the "but" retraction. It is in the downgrading of the Holocaust. The ieveling idea that all cultures have the same weight, and all disasters have the same stature in human history, that permits the raise of the "New antisemitism."
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One hears many times that people should forgive and forget. This is especially propounded by Christians who really do have a lot to be forgiven about. It is also psychologically sound, as carrying a grudge is unhealthy to our psyche. But I honestly would like to understand what exactly Mr. Yaakov Rubenstein had in mind when he said that forgiving isn't saying that it's ok, but doing so is heroic ans shows great strength of character. So what exactly is forgiving? What does a person say to him/herself in this case? It is not ok, that this thing was done, but...?
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May i suggest " It is not ok, that this thing was done, but ... ' Never Again ! ' or ... ' only G-d knows why ! ' "
These are suggestions only. There are no words that can finish the sentence to everyone's satisfaction.
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Is the plunge into this question and deeper than deep are these responses on line.
I do not engage in comparisons. I see no gain in measuring horror against horror.
I agree that we must stop whatever we perceive as such inhuman cruelty wherever. the programs we have of Bearing Witness are so important and all explorations of history that incorporate the wail of why and what for all children. Our hope lies with the education of our children and Never Again perhaps the most important of all "BAN" Ners.
if we all cannot hold hands across the world or even entertain this possibility I have little hope for our future individually and collectively.
if we learn anything from history it must be NEVER AGAIN. this means we are all in this together. or despair cannot contain hope as it does.
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Forgive:
1. To grant pardon for or remission of (something); cease to demand penalty for.
2. To grant freedom from penalty to (someone).
3. To cease to blame or feel resentment against.
4. To remit as a debt.
5. To show forgiveness; grant pardon. -
syn. see; Absolve.
These are the definitions from my Standard College Dictionary. I wonder which definition fits the intention of people who speak of forgiveness. Should we, perhaps, find a less definitive expression, like for instance, Don't dwell on it?
Perhaps I am too sensitive to words and their meaning. That's why I am curious what the person means when he/she says that we should forgive. Did we really think this through? Another problematic expression which many are bandying around is: Never again. What exactly is meant by this, and do all the people using this expression understand it to have the same meaning?
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I may be wrong but i thought that Never Again ! was coined by Rabbi Meir Kahane, a militant Zionist. It referred specifically to the Holocast, and broadly to any other intimidation that Israel faced or was going to face going forward.
Words are only words. They help to connote meaning in communication. This involves a speaker and a listener. In between these two participants is a filter, which transmits the words. The filter is only as good as the ability of the two participants, and is rarely 100 %. Sounds deficient, but language is all we have.
The way i interpret Never Again ! may not be the same as you. If the Egyptian Spring gave thought to pillaging the Pyramids, my message to the Egyptians would be to think twice, because we Jews are not going to rebuild them ... " Never Again ! "
If my understanding of ' Never Again ! ' does not match others, no problem. i'll just filter in your interpretation to mine, just like the definition of forgiveness.
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In order to cope with life and to retain some sanity about it I, and millions of others need to be realists. We need to face facts. Another Jewish Holocaust will occur and its simply a matter of time, if I was a gambling man I'd say that within 25 years time a suitcase bomb containing radioactive material will be exploded in Tel Aviv rendering the city uninhabitable. And within 50 years an atomic bomb will be exploded in Israel causing great damage. These statement are not 'religious arguments, nor do they need further explanation and all the praying in the world to avert a disaster will not do any good. Holocausts happen all over the world because of serious conflicts of opinion between racial groups, or because of hate exploitation, envy, acute nationalism or relatively minor things such as 'job or trade rights protection or religious identity protection. So never again is an empty slogan which ignore the facts. I wish it was not so.
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It does seem for every step we take forwards, we are somehow, forced to step back, and that anti Semitism, in its most virulent forms, has never been eradicated from the world's stage. As Jews, as a people who know what it is to be oppressed, to be hated, to be cut down, to be treated with inhumanity, and the corrosive acts of hate, I think the responsibility, being about healing, tikkun, would be to protest, all inhumanity, wherever it occurs, around the world. It's not about comparisons, as to who suffered the most. It's about how we can make this world a far far better place for our children, and our children's children.
Maybe a bomb will go off, as they do, and maybe virulence and hate are infectious and corrosive and will continue to decimate us all. But I think we must have HOPE, and we must move, each of us, in that direction, or else it's all words, and emptiness is felt in contemplating what is void, meaning our lives, and our very sense of meaning.
Why do it? We MUST.
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I believe the Rabbi may mean that by forgiving, it sets the soul free to live and love again, whereas if one keeps bitterness and hatred within their hearts one would only fall further into despair, Hope I am right about this, As for who are we to question the Lord G-d. does He not mention :I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy? and wasnt the Lord G-d with them when He used foreign people to shield some of them, so that His promise that a remmant would be restored into their own land the land of Israel? I am sorry for all who have suffered so much. God bless
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