Never Forget!

 

By: Jonathan Seidel

The holocaust was a unique Jewish genocide but it was not the first. It evolved to a new ontological factor with no escape. Taking place in the secular world devoid of religious institutional power further delegates its own mess of evil. Yet, the moment the holocaust is penciled as the sine qua non of Jewish suffering, not only are past tragedies ignored or suppressed but the meaning fades. The holocaust’s uniqueness permits its consequences.  

The genocide was abhorrently special but it is also rooted in the same anti-semitic lingo as the medieval tactics. The holocaust cannot be singled out as the exception. Nazi propaganda used christian polemics to dehumanise Jews. Jewish persecution hit a new level of destruction but the metric was the same, the methodology differed. Yet different era requires different approach. The holocaust provided the same conclusion that being that Jews needed to be expunged. The Nazi vision targeted Jews but the final solution was not the initial goal and evolved to systematic murder. 

The Jewish response need not alter from its earlier persecutions. The holocaust was not a blimp in the history of Jewish persecution nor was it to modern Jewry. Russian pogroms had pushed many Jews to immigrate to Palestine. The Dreyfus affair in France sparked zionistic tendencies in the anti-semitic democracy. The modern world could not save Jews. The greatest irony of the holocaust was the German liberal annihilation of Jews. The state’s position in a country Jews had felt safe brought the greatest horror. A reason many Jews fear a future American genocide. It also would not be her first. American universities refused to accept Jewish students in the 50s and 60s. 

Jewish suffering has existed for millennia and new haters find various ways of humiliating Jews. The hellenistic way differed from Hadrian who differed from christians who differed from muslims who differed from nazis. Each era posited a new way to harm Jews and each used the same false hope to Jews. Medieval kings invited Jews to help the economy and then kicked them out when they weren’t necessary. Germany did the same. The nazis realised the Jewish threat and thus decided in the end to kill them. Those who they did not kill ended up being their achilles heel. It was the Jews who contributed the most to WWII victory. They worked on the Manhattan project built the atom bomb and the end of the war. The secular freedom brought the greatest terror but also the greatest payback (though the state of Israel would probably be the greatest payback).

The holocaust is not to be seen as a revolutionary event in need of a new religious perspective. Placing it on the mountain of suffering points to a new paradigm of religious observance. Indeed the absence of God and the horrid torture favours a modified religiosity. Yet this again undercuts the history of religious cruelty. The holocaust is in the pantheon of Jewish suffering but it is not alone. The crusades, inquisition, Chmielnicki massacres all merit substantial account. The latter is readily forgotten. The holocaust receives ideal mention as it so fresh in our minds but we must not forget that it was a culmination instead of an unplanned motive.

Theodicy was relevant in each example of Jewish suffering but indeed only matters in a world of liberation. The choice to despair God for secularism. The medieval Jews were stuck in denominational tribalism. The inquisition bread the first “secular Jews”. Jews who secretly held to their belief but were outwardly christian. They were liberated by choosing to deny God. Conversos over time lost their faith and assimilated but the choice was limited. Secularism provided an opportunity to do away with religion entirely with no consequence. No longer beholden to the tribe. Apologetics and justification were archaic. The modern world gave Jews the out they needed to abandon God and their Yiddishkeit. 

The holocaust singled out does more damage than good. It posits a paradigm shift to a new view of Judaism. The need to distinguish it from past events presents a new order based on the holocaust. Its socio-historical context is necessary to recognising its rampage. It differed to its predecessors but also was identical in other areas. The holocaust was tragic but it is part of a long history of Jewish suffering that continues today.