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Introduction
The Holocaust was the most massive extermination of Jews in the nations history. It resulted in the extermination of over 6 million Jews, and destroyed or displaced much of the Jewish population in Europe (Heuman et al. 4). Such a major event in a peoples history had a tremendous effect on its theology. Rabbis and other religious leaders had to explain the horrible events that have transpired, through the lens of religion, in order to have the faithful draw lessons from it, find meaning in the terrible sacrifices that were made, and, eventually, move on. At the same time, the theological opinion on the matter split, with some parties viewing it as a punishment for past and present sins, while others denied the connection between the Divine and large-scale human cruelty. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the four major viewpoints that have been developed because of the Holocaust.
Holocaust and Amalek
A prominent view on the Holocaust in the Jewish theology is derived from the Hebrew Bible. It connects the image of Hitler to that of Amalek, and his actions to the punishment bestowed by God for their ancient failure to completely destroy those who lived in Canaan (Heuman et al. 119). The ancient task that God instructed the Israelites with was to obliterate Amalekites from beneath the heavens (Heuman et al. 120). It was a genocidal objective in its own right, one that the Israelites have failed to accomplish, as the king of Amalek, named Agag, survived the purge.
This point of thought, thus, describes Holocaust as a kind of divine consequence of that failure. Some view it as punishment from God, while others as a kind of historic revenge against the Israelites by the descendants of Agag, whether in body or spirit. There is a separation between the two opinions, with the public opinion on the matter heavily weighting towards the latter. The former would presume Hitler to be an agent of Gods will, which, given the numbers of people killed by the Nazi regime, many consider anathema (Heuman et al. 123). Nevertheless, this is not a theological viewpoint adopted or endorsed by the modern orthodox Jews. It refuses agency to other people and nations, and portrays the major event in the history of the Jewish people as either direct divine interference or as a failure to listen to the Lords warnings, many thousands of years ago.
Holocaust and Unfaithfulness
A controversial view towards Holocaust was developed after the Second World War and voiced by individuals such as Joel Teitelbaum, Zvi Yehuda Kook, and other leaders of Messianic Zionists (Katz 132). These individuals viewed the Holocaust as divine punishment, in which they had several connections with the theoretics of Amalek. However, instead of viewing the disaster as a punishment for an age-old crime, they cast the blame on the present sins of the existing generations. In their explanation, the Jewish nation were sinful, and that sin had corrupted the soul of the nation. The reason for controversy of this worldview was that it pinned the blame for the atrocities not on the Germans or historical circumstances, but on the survivors and victims of the Holocaust (Katz 135). Teitelbaum stated that it is the heretics who have brought upon the calamity by violating their sacred oaths to God, lured the majority of the Jewish people into heresy, forcing the Lord to lash out in anger never previously seen, one that struck both the unfaithful and the righteous.
This view, though widely unpopular, is being preached and practiced by many Haredi rabbis. This is a sect of ultra-conservative orthodox jews that practices the scriptures in its most literate interpretations. They believe that a second Holocaust may happen, should they not thwart it away by recognizing their sins and offering proper respect and reparations to the Lord (Katz 134). They remain staunch critics of European Jewish communities, whom they see as having abandoned traditional Jewish values. As it is possible to see, one of the major effects of Holocaust, thus, is the self-deprecation and self-blame among some of the Jews for the events that were largely outside of their control.
Holocaust as Means of Spiritual Betterment
The most controversial viewpoint has been derived from the speech of Menachem Mendel Schneerson in the 1980s Chabad Lubavitch. He said that by 1939 the Jewish nation was incredibly sinful and corrupt and on the way to spiritual destruction (Rubin, Divine Zeitgeist 2). As such, he compared the Holocaust to a surgeon removing a limb so that the rest of the body may live. This kind of viewpoint, also described as the Auschwitz Theodicy, has been widely criticized by the majority of Rabbi, both orthodox and not (Krawcowicz 47). The reasons for criticism are clear once more, Hitler is somehow portrayed as the Instrument of God, whereas the victims as deserving of their fate (Krawcowicz 51). The followers of this idea reject such a view of them and their beliefs by stating that those individuals who have perished in the Holocaust have become sanctified, as their sacrifice allowed for the rest to maintain their purity. Nevertheless, it remains a highly unpopular opinion.
Holocaust as a Severance of the Link Between the Lord and Humanity
After the Holocaust, a popular belief among many Jews was that the Lord had forsaken them. A proponent of such a viewpoint was Richard Rubenstein, who stated that the intellectually honest conclusion after the Holocaust could only be that God is Dead (Katz 82). While this view point does not explicitly deny the existence of the Lord, it states that for a divine being to allow such an atrocity to happen to their people could only mean that their benevolence does not extend towards these people no longer. No crime or infraction, Rubenstein says, is deserving of a punishment of that magnitude. Such a viewpoint dealt a serious blow to Jewish theology and faith, as it turned many Jews away from their beliefs and towards atheism (Katz 85). At the same time, it gave birth to sects who thought that through dedication and faith, it is possible to win back the Lords favor.
Modern Theological Views among the Population
The majority of the Jews views the Holocaust as a tragedy perpetrated by people, without the divine interference. They believe that the worst things that happened to them were not forced upon them by the Lord but rather by a power-hungry dictator. Some view the crisis as a kind of test placed upon them that they had to pass, akin to how the Hebrews had to wander across the desert for 40 years (Rubin, A Linguistic Bridge 7). There are inclinations in viewpoints towards one or several theological perceptions as described above, but no significant dedication to any. The faithful, though initially split by the horrors of war, have since become united and more amorphous in their religious views of the Holocaust (Rubin, A Linguistic Bridge 5). The general consensus is that it was a great crime committed against their people.
Analysis of the Impact on Theology
It is obvious that the effects on the theology can be largely split into three broad categories. A branch of the theological thought views the event of the Holocaust as a kind of divine punishment for the nations sins, past and present. This point of view does not hold a lot of popularity among the faithful, but serves a s a root of consolidation for the ultra-conservative Jews (Loeventhal 403). The divergence here comes from whether the people were being punished by God as a result of a failure to vanquish the ancient enemy, or for the departure from traditions among the orthodoxy. The view of the God abandoning the Jews has also been prominent directly after the war. Based on these viewpoints, it can be seen that the effect on theology largely scaled towards negative, either forcing the faithful to double down on their belief, in an attempt to prove to the Lord that they deserved mercy, or making them abandon the faith completely.
It appears that contemporary beliefs held by the majority of the Jewish faith appear as a kind of compromise between many different interpretations of Holocaust and the secular notions of solidarity and respect. It is the reason why the radical ultra-conservative views have never taken much root and are currently affecting only a small percentage of the population. It is curious that the majority of the views see the event as Gods wrath rather than promoting the story of salvation of the Jewish people by God from a human-made evil. The reasons for such interpretations being rare revolve around the concept of the omnipotence of the Lord, meaning that the atrocities that happened during the Second World War could not have happened without his knowing and without his implicit consent. These views resemble those voiced by Rubenstein, and partially explain the idea why theological discourse moved away from the second Exodus like the one initially performed from Egypt.
Conclusions
Holocaust had a major impact on the Jewish theology by providing an earth-shattering tragedy the likes of which the Jewish have never seen in the past, to explain. In many ways, it completely altered the pre-war theological discourse and forced some radical ideas to be seen as viable by at least some percentage of the population. The overall effect on the faithful could be considered as negative, since it drove many away from religion or into the ultra-conservative circles bent on either reconnecting with the Lord or chastising those already dead. Contemporary opinions among the faithful, however, lean towards the secular view of the conflict, showing that the link between Jews and their religion may be weakening. Holocaust may have served as an integral part in developing such a viewpoint, by demonstrating to many Jews the uncaring and unmerciful face of God.
Even 80 years after the tragedy, it appears as though its echoes still send ripples through the Jewish theology. It is likely, however, that with the time passing and people who lived through the event departing, the religious understanding of Holocaust will be reshaped and treated closer to something akin to Exodus from Egypt.
Works Cited
Heuman, Fred, Bernhard H. Rosenberg, and Fred S. Heuman, eds. Theological and Halakhic Reflections on the Holocaust. KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 1992.
Katz, Steven T., ed. The Impact of the Holocaust on Jewish Theology. NYU Press, 2007.
Krawcowicz, Barbara. History, Metahistory, and Evil: Jewish Theological Responses to the Holocaust. Academic Studies Press, 2021.
Loewenthal, Naftali. The Afterlife of Religion: Memoirs of The Holocaust and the Haredi Spiritualization of Modernity. Polin Studies in Polish Jewry 33.1 (2021): 401-424.
Rubin, Eli. A Linguistic Bridge Between Alienation and Intimacy: Chabads Theorization of Yiddish in Historical and Cultural Perspective. Geveb. Web.
. Divine zeitgeist The Lubavitcher Rebbes Appreciative Critique of Modernity . Academia. Web.
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