Israel Matzav

1 Comments:

At 2:00 AM,  Captain.H said...

Plus ça change indeed.

I have to make a rather lengthy comment here and I hope Carl and fellow readers find it worth reading and thinking about. I don't claim to be a great theologian or great thinker, but have come to believe what I write below.

Going back to my college days, I remember a final exam in a Political Science course. It was half multiple choice and half essay. The essay question was, "Explain the roots of the Holocaust." The professor, not Jewish BTW, thought, correctly, that the enormity of the Holocaust demands an historic and a moral interpretation from every person, Jew and Gentile, every human soul.

I say this as a believing Christian who acknowledges historic truth: I wrote about the historic institutional anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church and the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches and it's roots; the fact that Jews were not permitted to own land in European countries, therefore forced into urban occupations that from the latter part of the Renaissance through the Industrial Revolution grew and prospered, while the agrarian Gentiles tended toward economic decline as feudalism declined. This played to the darker part of the human heart, resentment and jealousy from the Gentiles, egged on by the anti-Semitic wickedness of the Christian Churches' leadership and priests.

I got a passing grade with this, as all of this is true, but as a mature adult I have found this is ultimately an incomplete, superficial answer.

In my opinion, the ultimate answer explaining the unfathomable hatred and wickedness of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism in general is theological. It's been said that Satan's greatest victory in the world is to convince so many people of all faiths that he doesn't really exist. He does.

Just as the Holy Spirit of God is real and is present in the world and in the affairs of humanity, so too is the evil spirit of Satan, who also walks the earth. Satan's malignant hatred of humanity is discussed in the Torah, as well as in the Christian Scripture.
Satan hates humanity and is the father of hatred and lies. In my opinion, the people he hates far and away the most are the Jewish People. This is because the Jewish People were chosen by God to be His special people and to be His servants in revealing Himself to all humanity. Sacred Scripture also prophesies that the Messiah will come from David's line.

All this suggests to me why in my opinion the ultimate source of all anti-Semitism is Satan himself. Plus ça change and forever unrelenting. What we can do, and must do, as decent God-fearing people, Jew and Christian alike, is to always confront and combat anti-Semitism, large or small. We must not be silent when confronted by evil. We have this promise and comfort, the Lord our God will ultimately prevail.

 

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Name: Carl in Jerusalem

Location: Jerusalem, Israel

I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com

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