There are many who suggest that the Holocaust was a punishment for the sins of that generation.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe rejects this view. He stated (Sefer HaSichos 5751 Vol.1 p.233, see the whole maamar where he talks about the importance of being melamed zchus on the Jews):
The destruction of six million Jews in such a horrific manner that surpassed the cruelty of all previous generations, could not possibly be because of a punishment for sins. Even the Satan himself could not possibly find a sufficient number of sins that would warrant such genocide!
There is absolutely no rational explanation for the Holocaust except for the fact that it was a Divine decree … why it happened is above human comprehension – but it is definitely not because of punishment for sin.
On the contrary: All those who were murdered in the Holocaust are called “Kedoshim” – holy ones – since they were murdered in sanctification of G–d’s name. Since they were Jews, it is only G–d who will avenge their blood. As we say on Shabbos in the Av Harachamim prayer, “the holy communities who gave their lives for the sanctification of the Divine Name ... and avenge the spilled blood of His servants, as it is written in the Torah of Moshe ... for he will avenge the blood of his servants ... And in the Holy Writings it is said ... Let there be known among the nations, before our eyes, the retribution of the spilled blood of your servants.” G–d describes those who were sanctified as His servants, and promises to avenge their blood.
So great is the spiritual level of the Kedoshim – even disregarding their standing in mitzvah performance – that the Rabbis say about them, “no creation can stand in their place.” How much more so of those who died in the Holocaust, many of whom, as is well known, were among the finest of Europe’s Torah scholars and observant Jews.
It is inconceivable that the Holocaust be regarded as an example of punishment for sin, in particular when addressing this generation, which as mentioned before is “a firebrand plucked from the fire” of the Holocaust.
In short, one can only apply the words of Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts and My ways are not your ways, says the L–rd.” (Isaiah 55:8)
Rabbi Avigdor Miller
Rav Avigdor Miller (Rejoice of Youth Page 350-351) "…because so many European Jews fell into the error of admiring and emulating the Germans, G-d allowed the Germans to do their utmost to show who they really are. Those Jews who had begun to ignore the Soul, and in imitation of the gentiles devoted their efforts solely to the needs of the body, were made to see how their efforts ended in the worst ruination of Jewish bodies in history ... Because so many imitated the gentiles and refused to rest on the Seventh Day, they were forced to work seven days a week at killing labor. Because they sent their children to non-Jewish or secular schools and no longer gave their children to the Torah-study, the Nazis were allowed to destroy Jewish children entirely. Because, for the first time in Jewish history, women ceased to cover their hair, the Germans shaved them bald in the death camps. Because the virtues of chaste dress and behavior were diminished in imitation of the gentiles, they were marched naked to the gas chambers, and Jewish women were subjected to every barbarous indecency before being killed. Because they had so revered the physicians, especially the German specialists, they were subjected to the malicious experiments and torments which the German physicians impose upon them. Because they forsook the laws of the Torah, they were subjected to the Nuremberg Laws which deprived them of all the rights which other men enjoyed….
Rav Yitzchak Hutner
The Lubavitcher Rebbe rejects this view. He stated (Sefer HaSichos 5751 Vol.1 p.233, see the whole maamar where he talks about the importance of being melamed zchus on the Jews):
The destruction of six million Jews in such a horrific manner that surpassed the cruelty of all previous generations, could not possibly be because of a punishment for sins. Even the Satan himself could not possibly find a sufficient number of sins that would warrant such genocide!
There is absolutely no rational explanation for the Holocaust except for the fact that it was a Divine decree … why it happened is above human comprehension – but it is definitely not because of punishment for sin.
On the contrary: All those who were murdered in the Holocaust are called “Kedoshim” – holy ones – since they were murdered in sanctification of G–d’s name. Since they were Jews, it is only G–d who will avenge their blood. As we say on Shabbos in the Av Harachamim prayer, “the holy communities who gave their lives for the sanctification of the Divine Name ... and avenge the spilled blood of His servants, as it is written in the Torah of Moshe ... for he will avenge the blood of his servants ... And in the Holy Writings it is said ... Let there be known among the nations, before our eyes, the retribution of the spilled blood of your servants.” G–d describes those who were sanctified as His servants, and promises to avenge their blood.
So great is the spiritual level of the Kedoshim – even disregarding their standing in mitzvah performance – that the Rabbis say about them, “no creation can stand in their place.” How much more so of those who died in the Holocaust, many of whom, as is well known, were among the finest of Europe’s Torah scholars and observant Jews.
It is inconceivable that the Holocaust be regarded as an example of punishment for sin, in particular when addressing this generation, which as mentioned before is “a firebrand plucked from the fire” of the Holocaust.
In short, one can only apply the words of Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts and My ways are not your ways, says the L–rd.” (Isaiah 55:8)
Rabbi Avigdor Miller
Rav Avigdor Miller (Rejoice of Youth Page 350-351) "…because so many European Jews fell into the error of admiring and emulating the Germans, G-d allowed the Germans to do their utmost to show who they really are. Those Jews who had begun to ignore the Soul, and in imitation of the gentiles devoted their efforts solely to the needs of the body, were made to see how their efforts ended in the worst ruination of Jewish bodies in history ... Because so many imitated the gentiles and refused to rest on the Seventh Day, they were forced to work seven days a week at killing labor. Because they sent their children to non-Jewish or secular schools and no longer gave their children to the Torah-study, the Nazis were allowed to destroy Jewish children entirely. Because, for the first time in Jewish history, women ceased to cover their hair, the Germans shaved them bald in the death camps. Because the virtues of chaste dress and behavior were diminished in imitation of the gentiles, they were marched naked to the gas chambers, and Jewish women were subjected to every barbarous indecency before being killed. Because they had so revered the physicians, especially the German specialists, they were subjected to the malicious experiments and torments which the German physicians impose upon them. Because they forsook the laws of the Torah, they were subjected to the Nuremberg Laws which deprived them of all the rights which other men enjoyed….
Rav Yitzchak Hutner
(taken from "Interpreters of Judaism in the Late Twentieth Century" Prof. S. Schwarzchild and R Matis Greenblatt's "Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner" in Jewish Action Summer 2001)
The first of these of these epochal changes involves the shift from generations of gentile mistreatment of Jews, which, if unwelcome, was nevertheless expected and indeed announced by our oppressors - to an era where promises of equality were made and then broken, rights were granted and then revoked, benevolence was anticipated, only to be crushed by cruel malevolence.
The end-result of this period for the Jewish psyche was a significant - .. indeed, crucial - one. From trust in the gentile world, the Jewish nation was cruelly brought to a repudiation of that trust In a relatively short historical period, disappointment in the non-Jewish world was deeply imprinted upon the Jewish soul.
[…]
It should be needless to say at this point that since the churban of European Jewry was a tochacha phenomenon, an enactment of the admonishment and rebuke which Klal Yisroel carries upon its shoulders as an integral part of being the Am Hanivchar - G-d's chosen ones - we have no right to interpret these events as any kind of specific punishment for specific sins. The tochacha is a built-in aspect of the character of Klal Yisroel until Moshiach comes and is visited upon Klal Yisroel at the Creator's will and for reasons known and comprehensible only to Him. One would have to be a נביא or תנא (a prophet or a Talmudic sage), to claim knowledge of the specific reasons for what befell us; anyone on a lesser plane claiming to do so tramples in vain upon the bodies of the kedoshim who died 'על קידוש ה' and misuses the power to interpret and understand Jewish history.
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My comment:
The gemara in Nedarim [81] says that NOBODY could figure out על מה אבדה הארץ - why Eretz Yisrael and the Beis Hamikdash were destroyed. Not the wise men and not the prophets - only HASHEM fully understood and told us why.
I am hesitant to explain such a horrific, unprecedented catastrophe such as the Holocaust without a direct communication from Hashem.
All we know for sure was that Hashem allowed it to happen and He had very good reasons for doing so.
See this article by Rabbi Lamm - The Face Of G-d.
See this article by Rabbi Lamm - The Face Of G-d.
