Jews' Beliefs and the Holocaust

Jews' Beliefs and the Holocaust

In the eyes of many Jews, the Shoah was the most evil act taken out on

the Jewish community. 'Shoah' is a Hebrew word meaning 'desolation'

and has become the preferred term for the Holocaust for Jewish

scholars who believe the word 'holocaust' has lost its significance

having been overused. 'Holocaust' is a Hebrew word meaning 'burnt

offering'.

Many people have different views into why G-d let this happen. In this

section I will discuss what numerous writers believed about the events

during the Shoah.

Bernard Maza believed that the Jews had strayed from their traditional

path. The killings of 6 million Jews made many of them lose their

faith in G-d. Maza believed that the Shoah was the beginning of the

redemption and the righteous people that died pathed the way for Jew

to survive in the future.

Ignaz Maybaum thought that those who died in the Shoah were chosen by

G-d to become special sacrificial victims to bring about G-d in the

modern world. Maybaum believed that in the past the Jewish community

had suffered three Churbans (3 major disasters), these included; the

destruction of Solomon's Temple, the destruction of Howard's temple

and the Shoah. Maybaum said that the victims of the Shoah, died

because of the sins of others and that Jews during the Holocaust

represented 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. He also believed that G-d was present in the

concentration camps just as G-d was present in ancient times.

Fackenheim used the concept of 'Tikkum' (the belief that the

resistance of the Jews brung about the mending of the world), to

explain why pregnant women for example refused to have abortions, so

that more Jewish life could be brought into the world.