Kosher Bookworm: A literary Kaddish for the martyrs of the Holocaust

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A review of relevant literature for the Fast of the Tenth of Tevet

Reviewed by Alan Jay Gerber

Issue of Dec. 25, 2009 / 8 Tevet 5770

According to several essays that I recently read by the gedolim Rav Aharon Lichtenstein and Rav Yehuda Amital, the fast of the tenth of Tevet is a "Yom Kaddish Ha-kelali," a day to recite kaddish for people whose date of death, as a result of the Holocaust, is unknown.

It is among the most persistent canards leveled at our people over the past century: that Jews as a people, and Judaism as a faith, are in league with both Communist ideology and the international Communist conspiracy. Nothing could be further from the truth. While numerous individuals over these many years have sought common cause with Communists, they did so as errant members of our faith who in no way represent our beliefs and ideals. Communism is an ideology based upon deceit, murder and a studied disbelief in G-d. Nothing in the Jewish faith is in sync with so wretched a way of thinking. Yet, the myth persists. These claims have been uttered both by those who knew better, and by those who out of malice or ignorance repeated lies as an excuse to deprive us of our basic civil rights, our property and, ultimately, our lives.

Recently, a book was published entitled, "The Massacre of the Jews of Lithuania" [Geffen Publishing House, 2008] by Dr. Karen Sutton of Touro College in New York. Aside from her excellent description of the horrid panorama of the Holocaust in the Baltic state of Lithuania, and the complete destruction of its gifted, pious, learned and educated community, I wish to focus upon one particular facet that she delved into that relates to the above.

Dr. Sutton devotes the third chapter, "The 1940/1941 Soviet Occupation and Its Impact on the Jewish Tragedy," to the relationship between Lithuanian Jewry and the indigenous Communist apparatus, as well as with the Soviet Communist organization before the Nazi occupation. In a subsection called "Lithuania Embraces the Jew=Communist Equation," she debunks the excuse of Jewish collaboration with native Communist and Soviet forces used by the Nazis and the home grown Lithuanian fascists to effectuate one of the most horrific and efficient Holocaust-related operations during that era, resulting in the almost total annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry.

The research employed in this effort by the author is most impressive especially when one considers the fact that she utilized primary sources to prove her most valuable point, that the average Jew was innocent of these lies, and in fact, that Lithuanian Jewry was both ideologically and programmatically very far from the Soviet organizational orbit. In other words, the Jews of Lithuania were far more loyal and patriotic Lithuanians than their Christian compatriots.

This assessment by Dr. Sutton makes this what I consider to be a valuable and long-overdue piece of scholarship in this area of European as well as Jewish history.

The role that Lithuania plays in the Holocaust era is further related and expanded upon in a chapter in another book of a totally different literary genre, titled, "The Bugs Are Burning" [Devora Publishing, 2009], authored by two Five Towns physicians, Dr. Sheldon Hersh and Dr. Robert Wolf.

This book explains the role of East Europeans in the exploitation, subjugation and murder of their Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust. If this theme sounds familiar, it is. The subject was treated in great scholarly detail 13 years ago in a book by Daniel Goldhagen titled, "Hitler's Willing Executioners." "Bugs" is a variation on the theme, elaborating in greater, more human terms, the tragedy that found neighbors murdering neighbors out of racist and bigoted spite. The weird title of this book is related directly to this tragic circumstance, and is explained by the authors at the very outset.

"'The Bugs Are Burning' was deliberately chosen as the most fitting title for our study...[it] epitomizes a pervasive anti-Jewish mindset that long predated the rise of National Socialism in Germany and which helps explain how the local citizenry not only tolerated, but eagerly participated in the murder of Jewish neighbors," Hersh and Wolf wrote.

The authors explain further that this term in the book's title had its genesis of use by Warsaw ghetto historian, Dr. Emmanuel Ringelblum Hy"d who related this term to the bigoted chatter of those on the Aryan side who observed the persecutions of the Jews, the smoke and destruction, and regarded the Jewish victims being incinerated therein as just so many insects, so many bugs.

The authors continue: "The bugs are burning, provides clarity and insight into how many locals responded to the destruction of their Jewish countryman. This chilling disdain for Jewish life is not that of an isolated, unbalanced hatemonger, but is representative, in fact, of a conviction shared by many in Europe whose collaboration with Nazi Germany was critical for the successful annihilation of millions."

This work details the collusion of hate and murder that was perpetrated in Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Croatia, Poland, and even, after the war, in such places as at the Kielce pogrom in 1946 — the murders of Jews returning from the Holocaust by their former Polish neighbors.

For anyone who will be reciting Kaddish this coming Sunday, Asara B'Tevet, this book would be a most appropriate reading experience before, during or after the fast. It would also make a great addition to the libraries of our area middle and high schools, both public and private. As quality history and as literature, it would be of benefit to children of all people of good will, especially at this time of year.

When considering "The Bugs Are Burning," kindly please make note of the following: chapter one, titled "Premonitions," will prove to be one of the most haunting pieces of literature on this subject that you have ever read. The use of historical references and events is towering and most enlightening. The context will prove to be a bit discomforting.

For additional reading on the spiritual aspects on the Holocaust, may I suggest that you explore Rabbi Dr. David Weiss Halivni's "Breaking The Tablets: Jewish Theology After the Shoah"[Rowman & Littlefield, 2007] wherein he, a Holocaust survivor himself from Sighet, details his spiritual take on his views of prayer and Jewish living, both as a survivor, a witness and as an observant Jew.

I wish to conclude with a brief personal reflection and review of a recently issued translation into English of a classic Chasidic discourse first delivered by Rav Menachem Mendel Schneerson zt"l, on the eve of the fast of the Tenth of Tevet in 1977.

"The Path To Selflessness" [Kehot Publishing Society, 2009] goes to the heart of Jewish destiny and the themes that we will experience both this coming Sunday and in next week's parsha, Vayechi, of Jacob's blessings to his sons. The rebbe details his interpretations of the deeper than literal meaning of the Bible's text and points to us in an uncanny manner the future that the Almighty holds out as our destiny. This is one sefer that one should keep close to your Siddur and Chumash this coming week. It should give you some comfort, especially given the events affecting us daily here and in Eretz Yisrael.

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