Lessons learned
Hello Rabbi
These days we come across people’s lessons from the Holocaust. What I noticed is that some conclude that we need to be careful not to become Nazis ourselves and some conclude that we need to increase the consciousness of the Gentiles and that it will not count. Some conclude that there is no God in heaven and some conclude that God is with us even in difficult situations. This is a somewhat general question, but it makes me think about the meaning of the insights we draw from events. It seems as if every event or episode is an inspiration for what a person already thinks in advance.
What do you think about that?
Absolutely true. No one learns anything from the Holocaust (and usually not from other historical events either). Everyone seizes on every event to reinforce the opinion they held in the first place.
Sometimes there are glimmers that give an advantage to a certain side, even if it only comes to confirm an argument. For example, the reasons for the First World War, to this day are not entirely clear (there were many factors). One of the results of the war was the Balfour Declaration, when you consider the number of Jews in the Land of Israel at that time (about 58,000) compared to the number of Arabs more than 450,000, the equality expressed in the declaration and the obvious desire to help the Jews establish an independent home in the Land of Israel, is not clear. Therefore, it can be argued that the war was a significant factor in the process of returning to Zion.
This is not a lesson from the war but cause and effect.
On the Sabbath of the 1st of Nissan 2020
Although for many people the lessons learned from traumatic events are the reinforcement of old worldviews – There are events so powerful that it is possible to notice significant changes in consciousness in many people. Thus, following the Holocaust, many of the survivors came to the conclusion that there is no hope for the Jewish people in the Diaspora – And following this transformation, hundreds of thousands, including many who were not Zionists at all (or who were "armchair Zionists"), flocked to the country.
Among American Jews, the national feeling and commitment to active solidarity in helping their brothers outside the United States greatly increased. There was a parallel change in consciousness among the general American public and in U.S. policy. Until the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States advocated the "Monroe Principle" to avoid political and military involvement in international conflicts.
From then on, Americans understood that it was impossible to remain neutral to what was happening "outside," and that the United States had the mission of being the protective and guiding leader of the entire free world. If a member The United Nations refused to join in order to avoid being involved in the settlement of world conflicts, and the United States joined as a leading power.
The new American feeling that their country should be the "freest nation in the world" led the United States to send an army to fight in ten countries that were threatened by the communists, South Korea and South Vietnam.
The long and futile involvement of the Americans in the Vietnam War led to a retreat in the trend. The realization that idealism leads humanity to its own entanglement in endless wars on ideological grounds led to The rise of postmodernism, which distrusts all ideals.
The world wars and their severe defeats also brought about a tremendous change in consciousness among the Germans and Japanese. Nations that had sanctified militarism and imperialism began to grow disgusted with the way of war, and instead developed the economy. Instead of conquering the world by force, the Germans and Japanese discovered that they could conquer the world with their fine industrial products.
In short:
The human spirit does tend to intellectual inertia, but powerful events also lead to powerful revolutions in consciousness.
With best wishes, Amioz Yaron Schnitzler
Paragraph 4, line 2
… and fight to help countries…
You can learn everything from the Holocaust.
Just an example.
The Holocaust proves that anyone who says to his friend, “You’re talking nonsense. It can’t be. It can’t happen.” is simply an idiot. Because even if he’s right most of the time, the times he’s wrong can lead to the destruction of his family and people.
If it weren’t for the Holocaust, even though he was still an idiot, there wouldn’t be conclusive proof that everyone would agree on.
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