Is anyone who died at the hands of the Nazis called a "קדוש" - a holy martyr?
Our instinct says "OF COURSE"!!! Religious, secular, Bundist, Yiddishist, Zionist, Assimilationist, Apikorusist, Koferist, Socialist, Communist - even Christian converts רח"ל, it doesn't matter. They are ALLLLLL קדושים!!
I am not saying that they are not [we have a recorded shiur on this after the shooting in Pittsburgh - please listen]. But there is no clear source that they are [putting aside our emotions and what we *want* to be the truth]. So we are not here to judge. For that we have a Judge who job that is. We just want to understand the Torah perspective. Many point to the Gemara in Sanhedrin 47:
א"ל אביי מי סברת מת מתוך רשעו הויא ליה כפרה מת מתוך רשעו לא הויא ליה כפרה דתני רב שמעיה יכול אפילו פירשו אבותיו מדרכי ציבור יטמא ת"ל בעמיו בעושה מעשה עמיו
Abaye said to Rav Yosef: Do you maintain that one who dies in his state of wickedness without repenting achieves atonement? This is not the case, as one who dies in his state of wickedness without repenting does not achieve atonement, as Rav Shemaya taught in a baraita: The verse states with regard to the priests: “There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people, but for his kin that is near to him, for his mother, and for his father” (Leviticus 21:1–2). One might have thought that even if his father had become an apostate and separated himself from the ways of the community, his son the priest shall become ritually impure in order to bury him. Therefore, the verse states: “Among his people,” which teaches that a priest may become ritually impure only for one who performs the actions of his people, that is, one who conducts himself as a Jew. This indicates that one who dies in his wickedness without repenting does not achieve atonement.
א"ל רבא מי קא מדמית נהרג מתוך רשעו למת מתוך רשעו מת מתוך רשעו כיון דכי אורחיה קמיית לא הויא ליה כפרה נהרג מתוך רשעו כיון דלאו כי אורחיה מיית הויא ליה כפרה
Rava said to Abaye: Are you comparing one who was killed in his state of wickedness to one who died in his state of wickedness? An unrepentant sinner who died in his state of wickedness does not achieve atonement, since he died a natural death and there was nothing to bring about his atonement. But a transgressor who was killed in his state of wickedness achieves atonement, even without repentance, since he did not die a natural death, but rather he was executed.
תדע דכתיב (תהלים עט, א) מזמור לאסף אלהים באו גוים בנחלתך טמאו את היכל קדשך [וגו'] נתנו את נבלת עבדיך מאכל לעוף השמים בשר חסידיך לחיתו ארץ מאי עבדיך ומאי חסידיך לאו חסידיך חסידיך ממש עבדיך הנך דמחייבי דינא דמעיקרא וכיון דאיקטול קרי להו עבדיך
Know that this is so, as it is written: “A song to Asaf. O God, nations are come into Your inheritance; they have defiled your Holy Temple; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. The dead bodies of Your servants they have given to be food to the birds of the sky, the flesh of Your pious ones to the beasts of the earth” (Psalms 79:1–2). What is the meaning of “Your servants” and what is the meaning of “Your pious ones”? Is it not so that the term “Your pious ones” is referring to literally, Your pious ones, those who had always feared God; whereas “Your servants” is referring to those who had initially been liable to receive punishment for their sins, but once they were killed, they are called “Your servants”? This indicates that a transgressor who was executed achieves atonement even without repentance.
אמר ליה אביי מי קא מדמית
Abaye said to Rava: Are you comparing
הרוגי מלכות להרוגי בית דין הרוגי מלכות כיון דשלא בדין קא מיקטלי הויא להו כפרה הרוגי בית דין כיון דבדין קא מיקטלי לא הוי להו כפרה
those referred to in the verse in Psalms who were killed by a heathen government to those inhabitants of an idolatrous city who were killed by a Jewish court? Those who were killed by a heathen government, since they were killed unjustly, achieve atonement through their deaths, even without repentance. But those who were killed by a Jewish court, since they were killed justly for their sins, do not achieve atonement unless they repent.
The Gemara adds: Know that this is true, as we have learned in the mishna: They would not bury the executed transgressor in his ancestral burial plot. And if it enters your mind to say that once the transgressors are executed by the court, they achieve atonement, let them be buried in their ancestral burial plots. The Gemara rejects this argument: An executed transgressor cannot be buried in his ancestral burial plot, because in order to achieve atonement, both death and burial are needed. But once he is buried in the graveyard set aside for the wicked, he achieves full atonement.
The Gemara talks about "כפרה" for הרוגי מלכות but doesn't call them קדושים.
Others point to the Gemara in Bava Basra 10b:
וְשָׁמַעְתִּי שֶׁהָיוּ אוֹמְרִים אַשְׁרֵי מִי שֶׁבָּא לְכָאן וְתַלְמוּדוֹ בְּיָדוֹ וְשָׁמַעְתִּי שֶׁהָיוּ אוֹמְרִים הֲרוּגֵי מַלְכוּת אֵין כׇּל בְּרִיָּה יְכוֹלָה לַעֲמוֹד בִּמְחִיצָתָן מַאן נִינְהוּ אִילֵימָא רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא וַחֲבֵרָיו מִשּׁוּם הֲרוּגֵי מַלְכוּת וְתוּ לָא פְּשִׁיטָא בְּלָאו הָכִי נָמֵי אֶלָּא הֲרוּגֵי לוֹד
And I heard that they were saying in that world: Happy is the one who arrives with his studies in hand. And I also heard that they were saying: Those executed by the government enjoy such exalted status that no one can stand in their section. The Gemara asks: Who are these martyrs to whom Yosef was referring? If we say that he was referring to Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues, who were killed by the Romans, this cannot be: Is their elevated status due only to the fact that they were martyred by the Roman government and nothing more? These men were exceptional in their piety and sanctity during their lives as well. Therefore it is obvious that even without their martyrdom they would be greater than other people. Rather, it is referring to those like the martyrs of Lod, who died for the sanctification of God’s name but were not Torah scholars.
So those people who were executed by the government get a portion in the world to come incomparable to anyone else. Deluxe King David accommodations FOREVER!!!
But Rashi says:
הרוגי לוד - לוליינוס ופפוס אחים שהרגם (טורנוסרופוס) הרשע בלודקיא כדאמרינן במסכת תענית (דף יח:) על ידי גזירה שנגזרה על ישראל להשמיד על שנמצאת בת מלך הרוגה וחשדו את ישראל עליה ועמדו האחי' הללו ואמרו מה לכם על ישראל אנו הרגנוה:
So it is talking about a case where they WILLINGLY gave their lives to save other Jews. But that wouldn't necessarily apply to people who were forcibly killed.
There is no doubt that people who went to the gas chambers with אני מאמין and שמע ישראל are קדושים beyond קדושים. They sanctified Hashem's Name in their deaths. So they were מקדש השם and are thus קדושים. But if someone lived as a denier of Hashem and died as one - it is not clear. [There are loads of sources such as the "Miami Beacher Gaon ztz"l" Rav Shmuel Tuvia Stern's שו"ת השבי"ט ח"ח חו"מ סי' י"ב and the 18th volume of the Yeshurun journal from page 748. A quick אוצר החכמה search will yield many more].
The reason I wrote this post [which took much longer than planned as often happens to me. BARUCH HASHEM for all the ideas that come to me as I write as a GIFT from Above] is to say the following: If we LEARN from the Holocaust then we can elevate all those killed to the status of קדושים if they aren't there already. There is SO MUCH to learn!!!
We have to view the world through the eyes of Hashem. For Him - there IS NO past, present, future. Those constructs owe to our limited humanness. Hashem is ABOVE time, so EVERYTHING that ever happened [like the Holocaust] is happening RIGHT NOW!!! [Interesting because just today I had a dream about Hitler שר"י ימ"ש לנצח נצחים that was fascinating].
So let's read and learn about the Holocaust for the edification of our souls and those of the six million ה' יקום דמם!
