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| Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) |
But even if one is not a survivor or the child of one, the
horrors of the Holocaust are well documented. And by now, well known to anyone
paying the slightest bit of attention. 6 million Jews were slaughtered just for
being Jews and for no other reason.
Those that survived went through virtual hell. Whether in Nazi
controlled ghettos, concentration camps, death camps, forced labor, starvation,
disease, torturous medical experiments or in hiding with a constant fear of
being discovered. Many of them lost entire families. In fact I did not know my
own grandparents. As is the case with most children of the Holocaust. Most of
those grandparents being part of the 6 million!
That only scratches the surface of those horrors. Ask any survivor about their story and you will hear more. A lot
more! Each with their own unique horror story. My own parents’ stories are
harrowing!
It therefore angers me when the Holocaust is in any way used
for other agendas. Which just happened. Again. this time it was by the
current darling of the mainstream media, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(AOC). She compared the Trump administration's practice of
holding migrants seeking asylum to concentration camps. That shows a complete ignorance
of what the Holocaust was all about. While those detention camps are certainly not
luxury hotels, they are nowhere near concentration camps. Not even remotely
close!
She deserved to be called out for that by fellow
Congresswoman Liz Cheney who said:
6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this.
AOC’s retort to that was equally ignorant:
For the shrieking Republicans who don’t know the difference: concentration camps are not the same as death camps," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. "Concentration camps are considered by experts as 'the mass detention of civilians without trial.' And that’s exactly what this administration is doing."
Her ignorance about Nazi concentration camps is astonishing.
Instead of doing even the most minimal research she doubles down on
that comparison. But what do you expect from the left? They are all about their
agendas. Even if it means distorting the truth through ignorance (willful or otherwise)
by making inappropriate analogies. It’s so sad that she
has such a high profile which gives her the platform to spout her nonsense.
All that being said, however, it reminded me about something
that has bothered me for some time now. The idea that in far too many cases the
Holocaust has become the virtual definition of Judaism. This is not to minimize
the terrible loss of 6 million Jews or the suffering of survivors. Those that
were murdered are holy regardless of whether they were observant or not. That is
why they are called Kedoshim. When someone dies because they are a Jew, it becomes a Kiddush HaShem. That
makes them holy.
As for the survivors - the pain they suffered is unfathomable. Their stories
should certainly be told. Those that remained faithful believers and observant despite
what they had gone through are heroes – living legends!
But even those that lost their faith may NOT be questioned.
Although I have my issues with the Satmar Rebbe, R’ Yoel Teitelbaum, I agree
with him about one thing. Which is that
anyone that survived the horrors of Holocaust will surely have a place in Olam Haba
- the world to come. Whether they remained religious or not.
But that does not mean that the Holocaust defines Judaism.
It most certainly does not! It so sad when I see so many elderly survivors
whose only connection to Judaism that remains with them is their Holocaust
experience. Not that I have a right to criticize them. But I do have a right to
reject the notion that the Holocaust defines who I am as a Jew. It most
certainly does not. Nor should it define anyone’s Judaism.
Judaism is only about one thing: Serving God by living our
lives the way He wants us live them. Nothing more and nothing less. How one determines
that from the words of the Torah is what
makes Judaism so complex and makes observant Jews so diverse. But there is
not a doubt in my mind about the basic fact that Judaism is about serving God,
whose word was revealed at Sinai.
