Mennonite Central Committee's Cry for Home Campaign: Some Jewish Views

At least nobody threatened to beat me up.

That’s what happened the last time  I wrote about the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

 

The man who left the threatening message on my phone was angry because he felt I was attacking Israel.

I assume he was a Christian, since he also “cursed me in the name of Jesus.”

Over the years, I’ve learned that no issue I write about riles people up more than Israel-Palestine. I can count on getting angry e-mails each time I do it.

After writing last month about Mennonite Central Committee’s new Cry for Home campaign, however, the responses were reasonable and reasoned—although one person questioned my faith and another accused me of inciting “Jew hatred.”

At the end of that column, I indicated I was interested in sharing perspectives from members of the local Jewish community. I got a number of responses, on both sides of the issue.

“For decades, polls show most Israelis seek peace and are willing to make major compromises to achieve it,” wrote Adam Levene on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.

But “tragically, the Palestinian leadership walked away from these offers without even putting forward a counter-proposal.”

Also disturbing for him is that Hamas “rejects all peace efforts and Israel’s very existence.” This, he said, “destroys hopes for a positive Palestinian future.”

The Federation, he added, shares MCC’s hope for “a peace in which Israeli and Palestinian children alike will only know security, mutual acceptance, and reconciliation.”

But this would require “acknowledging the real barrier to peace posed by the Palestinian leadership.”

Belle Jarniewski, Chair of the Freeman Foundation Holocaust Education Centre, said she opposes “the occupation, as do many Israelis,” but finds MCC’s campaign “frustrating” since it is “singling out Israel again.”

She agrees there are many injustices, but said not all “are Israel’s fault.”

A large segment of Israel’s population would “happily get out of the territories tomorrow if a safe and peaceful agreement were possible,” she added, but “for that to happen, Israel needs a partner in peace.”

Israelis “remember what happened with the unilateral pullout from Gaza, which led to missile attacks and incursions that no one wanted.”

What Alan Green, Senior Rabbi at Shaarey Zedek, finds difficult about the MCC campaign is that it “misapprehends the true intent of the Palestinian leadership, which is to destroy the state of Israel.”

Green also believes “the vast majority of Israelis” would be happy with a true two state Solution, “where Palestinians and Israelis both respect the right of the other to a land and home of their own.”

But this, he said, “is not, nor has it ever been, the Palestinian program.”

Sidney Halpern noted that Israel has no recourse but to defend itself when attacked.

“If Israel would put down its arms there would be no Israel,” he said. “If Palestinians would put down their arms, there would be a Palestinian state.”

Other members of the Jewish community indicated their support for MCC’s campaign.

Rubin Kantorovich, a son of a holocaust survivor who describes himself as neither a Zionist or religious, sees the campaign as “positive.”

“The rights of the Palestinian people are being trampled upon by the Israeli state and its backers,” he wrote. “This state of affairs must change and I support the MCC for their stand which all people should support.”

Mark Golden said he opposes the “ongoing Israeli campaign against Palestinian human rights.”

He feels this way, he said, “because I am a Jew,” and because he feels the “need to prevent and end the prejudice and suffering which characterizes so much of Jewish history everywhere . . . only in this way can Jews too be safe and secure.”

Harold Shuster is the Manitoba representative to the national Steering Committee of Independent Jewish Voices. He said he “applaud[s] the courageous stance” taken by groups like MCC in calling for “justice and peace in the Middle East.”

My conclusion? There are valid points to be made on both sides. But what might be more important than making one point or another would be for people with differing perspectives to meet and talk about this issue

Conversations like that won’t bring peace to the Middle East, but maybe they could create a little bit of peace and understanding right here in Winnipeg.

From the Nov. 10 Winnipeg Free Press.

In Palestine, "Everyone Needs a Home" says Mennonite Central Committee

“Everyone needs a home—where families are safe and secure, where their basic needs are met, where they can come and go freely, and where they can imagine a future.”

That’s the way a new campaign from Mennonite Central Committee on Palestine and Israel begins.

“But that is not the reality for Palestinians,” it goes on to say.

Living “under Israeli occupation, Palestinians regularly experience demolition of their homes, confiscation of their land, restrictions to their movement because of checkpoints, walls, and permit systems,” MCC states.

Thinking about MCC’s new campaign, some may wonder: With all the huge needs in the world today, why focus on this issue?

On the MCC Ottawa Office blog, Esther Epp-Tiessen, the agency’s public engagement coordinator, offered the following reasons.

“We are responding because of the urgent plea of our partners,” she wrote, “especially Palestinian Christian partners.”

These partners, she added, have for years been urging MCC to take “a bolder stance in calling for an end to occupation, oppression and injustice.”

Another reason is “because of the increasingly desperate situation of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.”

According to Epp-Tiessen, “the theft of land and the building of illegal settlements for Israeli Jews in the occupied West Bank continues apace,” and the “demolition of Palestinian homes, schools and orchards goes on with impunity.”

Palestinians who resist “are increasingly bullied, silenced, imprisoned.”

They are also launching the campaign “because we care also about Israeli Jews,” who are also “harmed by the words, walls, and weapons that divide them from Palestinians.

MCC’s 68-year history in the region is also important, she said. 

“Our history and continuous presence . . . has given us insights into the ongoing conflict, as well as a special burden to help in supporting a resolution to the conflict.”

Another reason is “because of our faith.”

“Our commitment to Jesus compels us to stand with the oppressed, lovingly speak truth to power, and actively seek a just peace in the land where Jesus walked,” she shared.

Through the campaign, MCC is asking people to sign a petition that urges the Canadian government to “prioritize the human rights of Palestinian children and hold Israeli authorities accountable for widespread and systematic ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian child detainees.”

MCC’s campaign does not ask Canadians to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, which calls for boycotts of products made in Israel; for organizations to pull investments out of Israeli companies; and for government sanctions against Israel.

After reading Epp-Tiessen’s post, I called Rick Cober Baumann, MCC Canada’s new Executive Director. I had a different question for him.

Considering recent flare-ups of anti-Semitism in the U.S., and even here in Winnipeg, was he worried that the campaign might add to the anxiety of Canadian Jews?

He acknowledges this is a concern. “We want to make it absolutely clear that we don’t want to promote antagonism against Jews, in Canada or Israel,” he says.

That’s why the campaign affirms the fears of Israelis, who also “live with ongoing fear and trauma . . . they too long for safety and security.”

MCC “clearly recognizes the insecurity and lack of safety felt by Israelis,” he says, noting that in the past MCC had not fully taken this into account.

“This time we are making more of an intentional effort.”

MCC also wants to be “more responsive to the Jewish community,” in Canada, he says. This includes looking for ways to dialogue with Canadian Jews about this issue. They also want to dialogue with members of that community who also want to find a “non-violent and just peace in Palestine.”

Thinking about the campaign, Cober-Baumann recognizes that “not everyone will be happy” with it. Yet he still believes it’s important.

“Our advocacy effort is based on our experience,” he said. “It shows us there is an occupation, and that a deep price is being paid for that occupation by the Palestinians. It grows out of the reality on the ground.”

Through a Cry for Home, he hopes that MCC’s supporters, and other Canadians, will come “to a deeper understanding of the situation.”

What do Winnipeg Jews think about MCC’s campaign? That will be the subject of a future column.

From the Oct. 28 Winnipeg Free Press.

Of Israel, Palestine and Threats of Physical Harm

Over my 14 years of writing a faith page column for the Winnipeg Free Press, I have received a number of responses criticizing the things I have written.

Ninety-nine percent are respectful, decent, and thoughtful. I always reply, addressing the issue at hand and thanking writers for taking the time to reach out—and encouraging them to submit their thoughts to the letters to the editor. (Few do.)

There’s almost no way of telling what will spark someone to write. Sometimes you think a controversial column will generate responses, but nothing comes.

Other times, you think nobody will care and the e-mails pour in.

But there is always one issue that I know will generate reaction: Israel-Palestine.

No matter how balanced or neutral I try to be, I know I will hear from people who condemn me for not being 100 percent unequivocal in support of Israel.

Who are these people? A few Jews, but almost always people who identify as Christians.

Most of them are reasonable, using the Bible to show me the error of my ways.

But others want to let me know how bad a Christian I am for even suggesting the Palestinians just might have some good points to make about their experience. For them, that is clear evidence of my anti-Israel bias.

I reply, as always, thanking them for their responses. And then I forget about it.

But not this time. For the first time in my column writing career, I have been threatened with violence.

It came after a column I wrote about conflict over the Al-Aqsa mosque/Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

In the column, I wondered whether sacred places like these were really worth fighting and dying over.

I thought it was a neutral kind of piece, criticizing both Israelis and Palestinians for using geography against one another.

A few people wrote in reply, two Jews and a Christian Zionist. The comments were respectful, suggesting I could have done more to promote the Israeli point of view.

But one person was different. He called and left two messages on my phone. I was out of town, so didn’t get them until many days later.

In the first rambling message, he began by casting doubts on my faith and intelligence for not taking the Israeli side.

He went on to describe the Palestinians as a "deadly, ugly people."

He then “cursed" me "in Jesus name” for not supporting Israel.

Not a big deal, I thought; I've been told before I will burn in Hell for my opinions. But this was the first time I was cursed.

His second message came about 15 minutes later. This time, things went darker. He wanted, he said, to come and “kick my teeth right in.”

Wow.

It’s been about 50 years since I was last threatened with violence. Back then, it was a schoolyard bully when I was about 10 years old.

And now here it was happening again.

I have to say that, this time, his words struck home. Did he really mean it? Would he show up at my house one day? Did he know where I live? Was my family safe?

Or was he just blowing smoke?

It’s probably just an empty threat, I told myself. Just an angry man spouting hate and anger.

Or maybe there was another motive. Maybe he was trying to intimidate me, to make me reluctant to write about this topic in the future.

If that’s the case, he is mistaken. I will write about Israel and Palestine again, if the topic is relevant.

But I would be lying if I don't say this will be in the back of my mind, or that I won't wonder if a stranger might turn up at my door one day with malice in mind.

Since this was my first experience with a threat of physical violence, I reported it to my editor. 

When this happens, he said, they tend to ignore it unless they believe a real threat is posed. If that's the case, it is reported to the police.

Israel-Palestine, he added, is a topic that brings out the worst in people "no matter what we say or write.”

Like I said before, it’s probably nothing. But it certainly caught my attention. It makes me wonder about the kind of people who say such terrible things.

Especially when so many of them say they are Christians.

We Need More Peace, Fewer Sacred Spaces

It’s hard to imagine religion without sacred spaces.

These sacred spaces can be hills, mountains, rivers, caves, cities, trees and buildings—temples, mosques, cathedrals, and other places of worship.

For believers, these places are sacred because something religiously significant happened there, usually hundreds or thousands of years ago. 

Visiting these places is an opportunity to draw closer to God or the divine, to find inner peace and fulfilment, or to experience something deep and supernatural.

For others, however, they are reasons to fight and kill. Instead of promoting peace, they are sources of conflict.

That’s what’s happening now in Jerusalem, over the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, is located on what Jews call the Temple Mount—the holiest site in Judaism—and what Muslims call Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary.

Muslims believe that the Prophet Mohammed was carried on a flying horse from Mecca to Al-Aqsa during his miraculous night journey. While there, he prayed with Abraham and Jesus on the rock that is now said to be inside the Dome of the Rock, whose golden roof dominates the Jerusalem skyline.

For Jews, it is the site of the first temple, built around 1,000 B.C. It was destroyed 400 years later by the Babylonians. In the first century B.C., a second temple was built; it, too, was destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans.

Over the past 50 years, the site has been a source of tension between Palestinians and Israelis. It is said the Second Intifada, which saw over 4,000 people killed, was sparked by a visit to the mosque by Ariel Sharon, then a candidate for Prime Minister of Israel.

This summer, the site has been the source of unrest and conflict after Israeli authorities restricted Muslim access to the mosque following the murders of two Israeli police officers. In response, Palestinians gathered to pray, and protest—mostly peacefully—in the streets surrounding the area.

Of course, the conflict is over more than what people believe happened on the site centuries ago. Israelis view it as a matter of security and safety, while Palestinians see it as part of the larger effort to control and humiliate them.

Both sides can justify their actions. But I still wonder: Are these principles worth killing and dying over? I posed that question to a Palestinian friend.

He agreed that any deaths arising from the unrest were terrible, but said answers are “not so easy when everything has been taken away from you.”

He noted that, over the centuries, Palestinians have welcomed and incorporated people from many nationalities and faiths—Arabs, Turks, Berbers, Greeks, and Jews, among others.

“Those who came as pilgrims and refugees, found space on the land. But an occupation is a different story.”

This is indeed a different story, for Israelis and Palestinians alike. The Al-Aqsa mosque today stands for much more than a holy place. Both sides, each for their own political reasons, seem to be looking for more confrontation rather than calm.

(And lest Christians think they are above this sort of controversy, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre proves otherwise. The Church, which is said to contain the tomb of Jesus, is administered by six Christian groups under a centuries-old agreement. They squabble constantly over who is responsible for what part of the church, sometimes resulting in fist fights between monks. So bad are the relations between them they don’t even trust each other with the church keys; a Muslim family opens and closes the church each day.)

As for me, my mind keeps going back to the prophet Isaiah, who delivers a message from God about sacred spaces.

As for me, my mind keeps going back to the prophet Isaiah, who delivers a message from God about sacred spaces.

In chapter 66:1-2, God says through the prophet: “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is my resting place? 

^“All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine. But this is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word.”

I don’t know about you, but I think the world would be better off if we had more of those kinds of people today, and maybe fewer sacred spaces.

From Sports Radio Host to Rabbi

Definitely not a typical path to becoming a rabbi, says Winnipeg's Matt Leibl

Winnipeg sports fans were surprised last summer when Matt Leibl, co-host of The Big Show on TSN 1290, announced he was leaving after six years to become a rabbi.

Leibl admits he was sort of surprised himself.

“I didn’t feel a pull to be a rabbi,” says the 32 year-old, even though he has been a long-time volunteer at Shaarey Zedek, leading services and prayers, reading the Torah, performing weddings, officiating at funerals, and working with teens.

In particular, he didn’t feel he was religious enough, despite growing up in an observant Jewish home, attended Jewish elementary and high schools, and speaking Hebrew.

“Never once did I feel myself to be a religious person,” he says. As he grew older, he “wasn’t observant, I didn’t keep kosher. I was a secular Jew, culturally Jewish, just like all my Jewish friends.”

“I always thought to be a rabbi you had to be very religious,” he adds. “That wasn’t me.”

But people kept saying he’d be good at it, that he’d make a great rabbi due to his natural gifts for interacting with people, along with his great voice—something that is important for leading prayers and reading the scriptures.

And so it was in spring, last year, that he began to think about a change of career.

“I had a great run in radio, but it wasn’t enough anymore,” he says. “I wasn’t unhappy, but I didn’t know how long I could do it,” he says.

Through his volunteering at the synagogue, “I was working with people, being part of the milestones in their lives, walking with them through joy and grief, being involved at a much deeper level,” he says.

At the radio station, he felt he wasn’t “talking about the same kind of stuff. I decided I wanted something more out of life, to be more involved in meaningful topics, to interact with a broader range of people beyond the guys who call in to a sports radio show.”

Last August Leibl made the big change, resigning from TSN to start rabbinical studies and serve as a rabbinic intern at Shaarey Zedek.

“It’s definitely not a typical path to become a rabbi,” he says of his journey.

Although he has changed careers, one thing hasn’t changed—Leibl still doesn’t see himself as religious. But he thinks this will be to his advantage during his ministry.

Noting that many younger Jews today feel disconnected from their religion’s traditions, rules, rituals and prayers, Leibl thinks he might be exactly the kind of rabbi that is needed these days.

“I ask myself, ‘how I can reach people today?’” he says of those who don’t see Judaism as relevant to their daily lives.

“That’s when I thought a non-religious rabbi made sense,” he says. “Maybe I could connect with them.”

At the same time, he is quick to note that he doesn’t want to abandon traditions—just update them.

“There is lots in the tradition that is valuable,” he says. “But what’s more important is the spirit behind those laws.”

He thinks the things he learned from being in radio will help.

“My journalism background is an advantage,” he says of his work as a rabbi. “I can read the audience, adapt to it, be a good communicator.”

For Alan Green, Senior rabbi at Shaarey Zedek, Leibl is “a shining personality with a bright future in the rabbinate.”

On several occasions. Green urged him to pursue the rabbinate. “But Matthew's world was the world of sports, and Judaism was purely for enjoyment on the side,” he says.

Things began to fall into place, though, after Leibl came up with “some bold suggestions to completely revamp our Sabbath and High Holy Day services,” he says.

After implementing the changes, “the quality of our services jumped dramatically, says Green,  adding that when Leibl saw how well the changes were received, he “was inspired to do more. The rest is history.”

With Green retiring next year, Leibl will have more opportunity to suggest changes; the plan is for him and Shaarey Zedek’s cantor, Anibal Mass, to take over as co-rabbis.

Reflecting on his career change, Leibl, who is married to Heather Wadsworth, says he has no regrets.

“Each day is so different and inspiring,” he says. “I love everything about it.”

From the May 6, 2017 Winnipeg Free Press

Thinking the Unthinkable: The End of the State of Israel?

Can you imagine a world without the state of Israel?

I can’t, but Ron Rosenbaum can—even if the American Jewish journalist and author hates to even think about the possibility.

In his December 14 essay in Tablet magazine titled “Thinking The Unthinkable: A Lamentation For The State Of Israel,” Rosenbaum writes that “I believe the state of Israel may not survive. That its days are numbered.”

This is an idea, he says, that “nobody wants to say it aloud. Not even whisper it.”

Yet, he fears it is a real possibility. “The entire world has essentially turned on the Jewish state,” he says.

For proof, he cites “the sewer of anti-Semitism that runs beneath the surface of social media,” the rise of ISIS, increasing anti-Semitism in Europe, calls from North America for a boycott of Israeli-produced products, and those who accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza “while ignoring the explicit call for genocide in the Hamas charter.”

For many, this is “no big deal,” he says—it’s been this way for 2,000 years. But things feel different for him now, for two main reasons.

The first one is the declaration of Iran’s Ayatollah Khameini last September that Israel will not exist in 25 years.

"I'd say (to Israel) that they will not see (the end) of these 25 years," Khameini stated in a report carried by CNN and other media in September, last year, referencing the length of some of the restrictions on his country in its new nuclear deal with western nations. 

"God willing, there will be no such thing as a Zionist regime in 25 years," he added. "Until then, struggling, heroic and jihadi morale will leave no moment of serenity for Zionists."

That was bad enough, but the other reason Rosebaum is alarmed is the so-called “stabbing intifada,” where Israelis are being wounded and killed by knife-wielding Palestinian attackers.

What makes the stabbing Intifada so particularly horrific, he says, is that it not warfare or insurgency, but the “ritual murder of Jews, which is an entirely new form of anti-Semitic horror-show. “

He went on to cite a news story that reported that 80 percent of Israeli children are afraid for the lives, and 64 percent are afraid to leave their homes.

“Talk about feeling precarious. . . . the possibility will haunt every walk in the street, every trip to the market, every stroll in a public place,” he wrote.

“All of Israel’s nuclear weapons cannot “deter these attacks, cannot wipe out the memories, restore the losses. There is no Iron Dome for internal defense of the soul.”

Does this all portend the end of the state of Israel? “I don’t know,” he says. “I do think it portends the end of optimism.”

After reading Rosenbaum’s essay, I asked Alan Green, Rabbi at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue here in Winnipeg, for his opinion. What did he think of what Rosenbaum had written?

“This is an article I could have written myself,” said Green, a passionate supporter of Israel. “The dark picture he paints is completely accurate.  And I would agree that the demise of Israel is a distinct possibility, but not necessarily a probability.”

Where he differs with the author is that Green is a person of faith, while Rosenbaum self-described as non-religious.

Green believes that the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 “is the fulfillment of Divine promises dating back to the prophecies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, and intimately tied up with the redemption of all humanity.”

He hopes the worst doesn’t come true, “but the fact that Israel is facing off against the Mullahs of Iran, Hezbollah, ISIS, Hamas, the Al Aksa Martyr's Brigade, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and a whole host of other evil-doers makes for an apocalyptic situation.”

While Green fears for the future of Israel, he isn’t worried about being a Jew in Winnipeg. “I think it's highly unlikely that anyone is going to attack a Jew simply for being Jewish in Winnipeg, or anywhere else in Canada,” he says.

While he thinks that Jews in Canada will continue to be safe into foreseeable future,  “Israel and Europe are an entirely different story.”

From the Feb. 6, 2016 Winnipeg Free Press.

Paying Back Old Debts, and Christian Persecution Today

George Weidenfeld died on January 20. 

I’m embarrassed to say that, until my friend Belle Jarniewski of the Freeman Family Foundation Holocaust Education Centre drew my attention to his passing at age 96, I had no idea who he was—or what this Jewish Holocaust survivor had done to help Christians in danger from the Islamic State.

Born in Austria in 1919, Weidenfeld escaped to Britain in 1938 before the Nazis invaded Europe and launched their “final solution” against Jews.

In those early years in a new country, he credited British Christians—especially the Plymouth Brethren—for helping him escape and for providing food and clothing.

Weidenfeld went on to become a successful publisher, building Weidenfeld & Nicolson into one Britain's most influential publishing houses. He was also a passionate supporter of Israel and Jewish causes.

What caught my attention was the Weidenfeld Safe Havens Fund, an initiative he created last year to rescue Syrian Christians from the war in that country. In launching the fund, he said he had “a debt to repay” to Christians who had helped him.

That debt, he added, also “applies to so many of the young people who were on the Kindertransports. Quakers and other Christian denominations brought those children to England. 

"It was a very high-minded operation and we Jews should also be thankful and do something for the endangered Christians.”

Last summer, the Fund helped the first group of 150 Syrian Christians escape to Poland, where they will receive up to 18 months of support.

They are the lucky ones. The same week that Weidenfeld died, Open Doors USA, which tracks Christian persecution around the world, released its annual report of the top 50 countries where it is dangerous to be a Christian.

The organization, which defines persecution as imprisonment, torture, death, the loss of home and assets, loss of a job or rejection from a community, said that 2015 was the most violent for Christians in modern history, rising to "a level akin to ethnic cleansing."

In total, more than 7,000 Christians were killed in 2015 for "faith-related reasons," up from 4,000 in 2014. 

At the same time, about 2,400 churches were attacked or damaged, a figure double the number of churches attacked in 2014.

"The levels of exclusion, discrimination and violence against Christians is unprecedented, spreading and intensifying," said David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA.

For the 14th consecutive year, North Korea ranked as the most dangerous place to be a Christian. Open Doors USA estimates that between 50,000 to 70,000 Christians are imprisoned in labour camps in that country.

But most of the persecution faced by Christians today occurs in predominantly Muslim nations, the organization said.  Rounding out the top ten are Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Iran, and Libya.

But it’s not only radical Islamic groups like ISIS, Boko Haram and al-Shabaab that are victimizing Christians.

"Less well known are the tens of thousands of Christians leaving the 12 sharia states of northern Nigeria, where 27 million Christians remain second-class citizens," the organization stated.

"In Kenya, many Christians are fleeing from the Muslim-majority areas. Tens of thousands continue to brave desert and trafficking gangs to leave Eritrea.”

By releasing the report, Open Doors USA hopes Christians in the West will be reminded to not only pray for fellow believers worldwide, but also call on Western governments to put pressure on countries like Saudi Arabia and India—both in the top 50 of the organization’s list of countries where Christians are persecuted.

"We believe in religious freedom for all," Curry said, "and that does not happen in countries that we do business with every day."

A report like this reminds those of us who are Christians in Canada that, compared to the experience of Christians in many other nations, things are very good in this country.

And while we might not be able to emulate George Weidenfeld’s example by peronally rescuing people who are endangered because of their beliefs, we can be like him by praying for everyone who is being persecuted and suffering because of their religion.

From the Jan. 30, 2015 Winnipeg Free Press.

God, Faith and Identity from the Ashes: Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors Share Their Stories

In July Oskar Groening, the “accountant of Auschwitz ,” was found guilty of 300,000 charges of accessory to murder. His trial is considered to be one of the last trials of the Nazis who perpetrated the Holocaust.  

Already, most who experienced the Holocaust are dead. Soon, all will be gone. But one group of people who were impacted by it remains: The children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. 

Their experiences are captured in God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes: Reflections of Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors, a new book edited by Menachem Z. Rosensaft.

In the book, 88 children and grandchildren of survivors share how the Holocaust shaped them theologically, politically, culturally and in terms of identity, education and careers.

Although none of them experienced the Holocaust first-hand, all were deeply affected by it.

“We did not see our families murdered, we were never cold, we were never starved, we were never beaten,” says Rosensaft, a child of two survivors.

“We grew up in comfort. And yet what we do have, what sets us apart, is that we grew up with our parents and grandparents. We absorbed their stories firsthand.”

The book is divided into four sections: God and Faith, Identity, A Legacy of Memory, and Changing the World for the Better.

In the first section, the writers reflect on how the Holocaust affected their faith. Some choose to believe in God and kept their faith, while some dismiss the idea of loving or caring God completely. Others have landed somewhere in between.

Eric Neilson’s grandfather lost his parents and two brothers in the concentration camps, yet he kept his faith in God.

“It strikes me that, for all my doubts and questions, if my grandfather can go on thanking the God of Israel . . . then surely I ought to consider doing so as well,” the Harvard professor writes.

“God was not present in the survivor’s home in which I grew up,” writes Israeli artist Aliza Olmert. “The missing niche of faith was filled by a socialist worldview and uplifting patriotism.”

“Both the God of consolation and the accusation against God live within me,” says Rabbi Moshe Waldoks. Adds former New York Times reporter Joseph Berger: “What God’s culpability or at least responsibility was remains a mystery that I’ll never resolve.”  

While reading the book, one thing I found unexpectedly moving was how so many children of survivors grew up without any relatives—in Rosensaft’s case, both his parent’s entire immediate families were murdered.

“Like many children of survivors, I have been haunted by faceless phantoms of dozens and dozens of aunts, uncles, and cousins,” writes Waldoks.

Growing up, Karen Friedman realized her family was different from her friends.

“Their family dynamics and experiences were just different from the rest of ours,” writes the grandchild of survivors. “I was always aware that my mother never knew what it was like to have grandparents.”

In 1984, Elie Wiesel, who survived both Auschwitz and Buchenwald , delivered the keynote address at the first conference of children of Holocaust survivors. 

“It was you that the enemy sought to destroy,” he said. "We were only the instruments. You were the enemy’s obsession. In murdering Jews, he wished to prevent you from being born.”

It would have been natural and logical for their parents to turn their back on the world, “to have opted for nihilism,” he went on to say. “And yet we have chosen you.”

And now, as the last trials of Nazis are held and the few remaining survivors pass away, these new chosen ones have the task of preserving the memory of their parents and grandparents for future generations.

“A generation will soon come of age having never heard firsthand testimony from a living Holocaust survivor," says Rosensaft. "The preservation and transfer of memory is the most critical mission that children and grandchildren of survivors must undertake.”

The stories in God, Faith & Identity from the Ashes show that many of them are taking that mission seriously.

From the July 25 Winnipeg Free Press.