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| President Biden meeting with survivors at Yad Vashem a while back (ABC) |
My parents were of the latter half. They were not in any of the concentrations camps. Both survived hiding in bunkers or in the forest. But they assured me that their suffering was not any less severe – albeit different - than those who survived in the camps. The experiences were horrific for all survivors!
It is now over 75 years later. Is it time to move on and stop dwelling in the past? After all we live in unprecedented freedom since then. Those of us that are fortunate enough to live in the US have the added luxury of - not only being fully accepted by the vast majority of our our non Jewish neighbors, but are even admired by them.
Intermarriage is at an all time high. While that is of course tragic, it helps to demonstrate the degree of our full acceptance by our non Jewish neighbors. Opportunities for success in just about any field one can imagine - are unprecedented.
Furthermore, never has the relationship between the Jewish state and the US been closer than it is now in spite of the controversy raging in Israel.
Over the years. presidents on both sides of the political aisle have paid homage to victims and sympathy to survivors. As did President Biden yesterday in a statement which in pertinent part said:
Tomorrow, Jill and I will pause to mourn the six million Jews who were systematically and savagely murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust…
As we join nations around the world in bearing witness to this dark chapter in our shared history, we also honor survivors and their stories—pledging to always remember, and to keep faith with that sacred vow: “never again.”
“Never again” was a promise my father first instilled in me at our family dinner table, educating me and my siblings about the horrors of the Shoah. It’s a lesson I’ve passed on to my own children and grandchildren by taking them to Dachau to understand for themselves the depths of this evil—and the complicity of those who knew what was happening, yet said nothing.
Perhaps the institution most responsible for not letting the world forget the Holocaust is Hollywood. Whose values are - ironically - not in concert with the values of the Torah (to say the least). They have seen fit to produce at least one major Holocaust themed film every year. Sometimes more than one.
Along these lines - this evening a Holocaust themed documentary produced by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea will air on PBS (9:00 PM CDT)
However as most Jews all too well know antisemitism has increased substantially over these past few years. Attacks against Jews - some of which were violent and even deadly - have multiplied. Especially against Chasidim - who are the most visibly Jewish among us.
How do we reconcile these two opposing phenomena? On the one hand things have never been better and on the other there is all that antisemitism.
I don’t think its too difficult to answer that question. There have always been antisemites in America – even now in the post Holocaust era. But I don’t think their numbers have increased all that much. I just think their attacks (both verbal and physical) have. Neo-Nazis, white supremacist groups, and assorted closet antisemites have been emboldened to harass us and/or attack us due to a variety of factors that are beyond the scope of this post. Which has led many of them (in some cases celebrities with a big fan base) to come out of the woodwork that in the not too distant past would have laid dormant.
And then there are those series of negative articles about Chasidm in the New York Times. Even if they had some merit (which I believe they did), those front page articles certainly contributed to the problem.
And yet despite all that, the vast majority of us still live freely and even thrive in most cases without ever having experienced any antisemitism,
That is what I see on this day. Even though we are fortunate to live in a country like this, it is still important to continue the message of ‘Never Again!’ Because if we don’t ‘remember’... if we choose to just get on with our lives and ignore our past, we may very well be doomed to repeat it as victims once again. God Forbid.
I wish to therefore express my profound gratitude to every American in this country regardless of race, religion, or political perspective for helping in a variety of ways to keep memories of the Holocaust fresh in our minds every year. God bless the United states of America.