Sunday, January 24, 2016

Substituting the Word ‘Goy’ for Nazi

Chasidim of Stamford Hill (Independant)
Update
As noted by an astute reader, this post is based on an article dated September 2015. I had actually written a post on it then - similar to the one I wrote here. 

Someone sent me an e-mail with a link to that article and I did not notice the date. In my haste to write today's post I forgot to check the date - although I did have a vague recollection of such a story from the recent past (noted in this post). My recollection was of this exact article.

I apologize for this error. And I will try not to do it again. There are no excuses for an error like this. But there is an explanation. I am out of town this week on a brief vacation with my wife. And I'm trying not to ruin the vacation by spending too much time on my blog. Hence the rush to publish. 

I have decided to leave this post up since ot does differ slightly from the original - and becuause there are people that responded to it. Once again, I apologize.

I don’t understand how people who think like this can live with themselves. The Charedi world in London, which is located in a neighborhood called Stamford Hill want to make sure their children understand the fundamentals of Judaism. So of course they begin teaching them at a very early age.

One of those fundamental apparently is that Goyim - non Jews are evil people. Three year old children are taught about the holocaust at this very tender age. First I question the wisdom of teaching the Holocaust to 3 year olds. A 3 year old does not have any where near the maturity to understand what the Holocaust was all about. But one thing they do understand is the word, ‘Goy”. And the immediate association they make with that word is ‘evil’.  

These young children are taught that the Goyim caused the Holocaust. The Goyim tried to exterminate us.  The Goyim mercilessly slaughtered 6 million people. The Goyim killed your Bubie and Zaydie. Not the Nazis. The Goyim!

They make no distinctions. Is it any wonder that so many of them grow up thinking that they can cheat the ‘Goyim’ as much as they want – as long as they can get away with it? After all if they are that evil stealing from them is nothing! …A lot less that they deserve!

How do they deal with the fact that they are treated well by the ‘Goyim’ in all respects? They probably think that they are just nice to us that on the outside. But deep down they want to kill us. And if they could, they would.

How do they function with all that hate? They are taught to behave in front of the Goyim. And not let on about what they are taught. They may even go around flattering them in public in some cases. But privately? To these people the Goy is a worthless piece of ‘Nazi’ slime to be taken advantage of whenever possible – as long at they don’t get caught.

This is not the first time I heard about their ‘Chinuch’ in this regard. When challenged about it the last time I heard about it, they explained that they had no Yiddish word for Nazi. And since the Nazis were Goyim - they just called them Goyim. They said that of course they knew that the Goyim in England weren’t Nazis. Problem is they don’t teach it that way to their children. They just use the word ‘Goy’ in instead of Nazi. Because that is the real message they want to instill in their children.

To say that this is an embarrassment to the Jewish people is an understatement. Especially in places where the government actually pays for their education. Like England does.

You would think that after living in a country for many decades – one that is so welcoming to the Jewish people as is England (especially after the Holocaust); where the Chief Rabbi is knighted and made a member of the House of Lords, where Prime Ministers and princes have heaped so much praise on the man they see as the leader of the Jewish people - that would modify that message. But if you would think that – you would apparently be wrong.

Let them use the word Nazi to teach their children what the Nazis did to us. And no substitute the word ‘Goy’.  And not let little children start their lives out by hating innocent people. Because that can and has led to a lot of people from this community committing all kinds of fraud against the Goyim and their government. Because that is immoral and a Chilul HaShem.

I have my differences with Chasidim. I love them as fellow Jews. But not those Chasidim who can do this to their children. Teaching hate of innocent people is not a Mitzvah and most certainly not  not a Jewish trait.