Yom Hashoah is a time for us to take a day to remember the murdered victims of the Holocaust who died because they were Jewish. The events of the Holocaust are being recognized more and more throughout the western world, but only the first half of the previous sentence seems to have meaning in that context.
The murdered victims of the Holocaust teach the world about a terrible act of attempted genocide. It creates an unprecedented reference point of the evil to which humanity can sink. It still generates heated debates on the ethical use of Nazi scientific experimentation data. Governments take time to recognize the horror of the events, and laws are there to protect the denial of these events. The intent is to preserve the memory of the victims and to try to keep this moment in history as an anomaly. All of these things are essential and good. But the word “Jewish” rarely gets highlighted.
Holocaust education has been transformed into genocide education, and although there are certainly crucial and much-needed lessons for all human beings to take from this education, it doesn’t include the foundational role of anti-Semitism in the Holocaust. Without making the clear connection between the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, the most fundamental Jewish lesson is never taught.
Shocking studies within secular western schools reveal that the average adolescent involved in Holocaust education believes that Jews really did control all the money and media in pre-Nazi Germany. Of course, this doesn’t excuse genocide, but it means Jews were partly to blame, since they conspired to control the wealth. This is the result of Holocaust education without the anti-Semitic component.
As Jews, we hold the value of honouring others and preserving any life that is threatened as one of our highest priorities. We don’t speak too much of ourselves, either, because it sounds prideful or because it builds the image of the Jew as victim. By not emphasizing that six million Jews died because they were Jewish and guilty of nothing, we aren’t revealing or confronting the subtle acceptance of anti-Semitic myth that lies just beneath the surface of these discussions.
A recent paper delivered at Yale University discussed studies conducted within secular Holocaust education venues that revealed classical anti-Semitic attitudes and beliefs among top students. The Holocaust education they received removed the Jewish component and left anti-Jewish myths unchallenged. By removing anything Jewish, the education was now multicultural.
Interestingly, ancient Jewish text touches on the question of warfare that includes the component of perception. The Torah describes the nation of Amalek as a nation that embodies evil for its own sake. Amalek launched an unprovoked attack against the Israelites in the desert. We’re commanded to remember what this nation did and to erase its name from the world.
Tradition believes that Haman and Hitler were descendants of Amalek. According to the midrash, one of the most severe damages we endured from Amalek is that although they failed in an ultimate battle against us, they changed the perception of the other nations with regard to Israel. Henceforth, the fledgling nation had to fight the battle of perception as well. How chilling and parallel it is that while the Nazi regime was defeated, its legitimization of anti-Semitic views remains widespread and growing.
This year on Yom Hashoah, we must be certain to remember the words of the Sages who warned us of true evil. It’s not only the number of victims that are to be remembered. It’s also crucial to remember their innocence. True evil is clever enough to know that changing the perceptions of the world and convincing them of a lie is still a victory.
