PARAPHRASING A QUOTE FROM THE SPANISH WRITER SANTAYANA, “THOSE WHO FORGET HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO LIVE IT AGAIN”.

TONIGHT, WE COMMEMORATE YOM HASHOAH—HOLOCAUST REMEMBERANCE DAY, AND SO FOR THE LAST 76 YEARS, ALL AROUND THE WORLD JEWS HAVE CRIED “NEVER AGAIN”, YET ARE WE BEGINNING TO FORGET?

AS MANY OF YOU KNOW ALREADY, ALTHOUGH I WAS NEVER IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP,  I AM A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, BORN IN STUTTGART, GERMANY, ON NOVEMBER 7, 1932; AND ALTHOUGH I MAY NOT REMEMBER MUCH FROM MY EARLY YEARS, THERE IS SEARED IN MY MEMORY, THE MORNING OF NOVEMBER 9, 1938, KRISTALLNACHT, THE START OF THE HOLOCAUST, WHEN AT 5:00 AM MY BROTHER AND I PEEKING DOWN FROM THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, WATCH AS MY MOTHER OPENS THE FRONT DOOR TO A LOUD KNOCK TO SEE TWO GESTAPO COMING TO ARREST MY FATHER. LIKE MY GRANDFATHER WHO HAD BEEN ARRESTED EARLIER, HE WAS SENT TO THE DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP.  ALTHOUGH HE WAS LATER RELEASED SINCE THE NAZIS HAD NOT YET BEGUN THE SYSTEMATIC KILLING OF JEWS, THEY JUST WANTED THEM GONE SO THEY COULD MAKE GERMANY “JUDENREIN”—A COUNTRY WITHOUT JEWS, WHICH ALLOWED US TO ESCAPE TO THIS COUNTRY. SO TONIGHT I SPEAK, AS I DO OFTEN, FOR THE 6 MILLION JEWS, WHO WERE BEATEN, TORTURED AND MURDERED, WHO CAN NO LONGER SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

IT WAS EDMUND BURKE, THE IRISH PHILOSOPHER, WHO WROTE, “THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR EVIL TO TRIUMPH; IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING.”  AND IT WAS ELIE WIESEL WHO WROTE, “THOSE WHO REMAIN SILENT ARE AS GUILTY AS THE PERPETRATORS BECAUSE THEIR SILENCE ALLOWS THE PERPETRATORS TO COMMIT THEIR ACTS OF VIOLENCE”

WHAT WAS FRIGHTENING WERE THE COUNTLESS GERMANS LIVING IN ONE OF THE MOST EDUCATED COUNTRIES IN EUROPE, BUYING INTO HITLER’S “BIG LIE” THAT ALL ILLS IN THE PAST IN GERMANY BECAUSE OF THE JEWS,  AND WHEN THEY SAW THE DISCRIMINATION, THE VIOLENCE AND FINALLY THE MURDERS, STOOD BY DOING NOTHING HELPING TO FUEL THE HOLOCAUST.

AT PASSOVER, WHICH WE JUST FINISHED CELEBRATING, WE READ ABOUT A PHARA0H WHO KNEW NOT JOSEPH. NOW 76 YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, ARE WE SEEING A GENERATION WHO KNEW NOT THE HOLOCAUST?

IT WAS REPORTED IN THE WASHINGTON POST ON APRIL 12, 2018 FROM A HOLOCAUST STUDY, THAT 2/3 OF THE MILLENNIALS DIDN’T KNOW WHAT AUSCHWITZ  WAS, AND IN FACT JUST IN THE PAST MONTH, AS REPORTED BY THE BOSTON GLOBE, A MASSACHUSETTS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM WAS SUSPENDED FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR WHEN THE QUARTERBACK WAS USING THE WORD AUSCHWITZ AS PART OF HIS SIGNALS; WHILE ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2020, USA TODAY REPORTED THAT ALMOST 2/3 OF MILLENNIALS AND GEN XERS DIDN’T KNOW THAT 6 MILLION JEWS WERE KILLED IN THE HOLOCAUST AND ALMOST HALF COULDN’T NAME ONE CONCENTRATION CAMP.

THINKING ON HOW THE HOLOCAUST COULD HAVE HAPPENED I NEED TO LOOK NO FURTHER BACK THAN THE LAST 4 YEARS. THERE CAME ONTO THE SCENE A MAN WHO PLAYED ON THE FEARS OF THE PEOPLE; CREATING A CULT OF HIMSELF FOR FOLLOWERS WHO WERE READY TO JOIN HIM IN HIS THIRST FOR POWER. USING LIE AFTER LIE, HE INFLUENCED ENOUGH PEOPLE TO BE ELECTED PRESIDENT, QUICKLY SURROUNDING HIMSELF WITH FOLLOWERS WHO WERE READY TO BUY INTO HIS AGENDA. HE MANAGED TO SPLIT THE COUNTRY.  AT ONE POINT HE EVEN CLAIMED TO BE GOD’S GIFT TO AMERICA. HE STROVE TO KEEP IMMIGRANTS OUT OF THIS COUNTRY WHILE SEEKING TO THROW OUT THE DREAMERS. HE SLOUGHED OFF ANYONE WHO DARED TO CRITICIZE HIM USING LANGUAGE UNFIT BY ANYONE, ESPECIALLY THE HEAD OF A NATION. HE REFUSED TO REBUKE AND IN FACT LENT SUPPORT TO THE HATE GROUPS LIKE THE WHITE SUPREMACIST, THE PROUD BOYS AND SIMILAR GROUPS, SUCH AS WHEN AFTER THE ANTI-SEMITIC MARCH IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, HE SAID THERE WERE GOOD PEOPLE ON BOTH SIDES.

THROUGH HIS TWITTER ACCOUNT HE SPEWED OUT LIE AFTER LIE, THE TWO BIGGEST BEING ABOUT HIS DOWNPLAYING THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, WHICH SO FAR HAS SEEN OVER 550,000 AMERICANS DIE, AND THE BIGGEST LIE OF ALL, THAT HE WON THE 2020 ELECTIONS BUT THAT HIS VICTORY WAS TAKEN FROM HIM BECAUSE OF MASSIVE FRAUD.

HE SOLD MILLIONS OF AMERICANS THAT THE ELECTION WAS STOLEN FROM HIM. HIS CONTINUED DRUMBEAT RESULTED IN MILLIONS BELIEVING THE BIG LIE, INCLUDING DOZENS OF MEMBERS FROM HIS OWN PARTY IN CONGRESS, WHO THEM-SELVES PERPETUATED THE BIG LIE.  WHEN EVERY COURT IN THIS COUNTRY FAILED TO GIVE CREDENCE TO THE LIE AND WHEN ALL ELSE FAILED, HE HELD A WELL-ORGANIZED RALLY
FOR HIS MOST ARDENT SUPPORTERS IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE ON THE DAY CONGRESS WAS MEETING TO CERTIFY HIS OPPONENT’S VICTORY, WHERE HE URGED THEM TO MARCH TO THE CAPITOL TO SHOW THEIR SUPPORT FOR THE BIG LIE AND TO ACT ACCORDINGLY.

WITH CRIES OF “HANG PENCE” AND “KILL PELOSI”, WITH THE BUILDING OF A SCAFFOLDING, THEY ASSAULTED THE SEAT OF DEMOCRACY, SEEKING TO DESTROY OUR FORM OF GOVERNMENT, AS HITLER SOUGHT TO DO IN 1923 WHEN HE ATTACKED THE MUNICH POLICE STATION SEEKING TO OVERTHROW THAT GOVERNMENT.

HIS TERM HAS ENDED, BUT ITS EFFECTS HAVE LINGERED ON TO THIS DAY. PLAYING ON THE ELECTION FRAUD LIE, THE STATE OF GEORGIA JUST PASSED LEGISLATION AIMED AT MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR ELDERLY AND MINORITIES, THE ONES WHO DO NOT USUALLY SUPPORT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, TO CAST THEIR BALLOTS; WHILE TEXAS AND NORTH CAROLINA ARE WORKING ON SIMILAR LEGISLATION, AND WITH OTHER REPUBLICAN LEANING STATES IN THE SAME DIRECTION.

WE HAVE ALSO SEEN HOW HATE SPEECH COMING FROM THE WHITE HOUSE HAS PLAYED A ROLE IN THE KILLING OF JEWS IN PITTSBURGH, NEW JERSEY AND CALIFORNIA, AS WELL AS THE RISE OF ANTI-SEMITIC INCIDENTS IN RECENT YEARS. LOOK ALSO AT WHAT THE PRESIDENT, CALLING COVID-19 THE CHINESE FLU, CREATED THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE UNPROVOKED ATTACKS ON ASIAN-AMERICANS AND OTHER LANGUAGE CAUSING UNPROVOKED INCIDENTS AGAINST PEOPLE OF COLOR.

AS TODAY WE REMEMBER THE HORRORS OF THE HOLOCAUST, AS JEWS, LET US PLEDGE THAT WE WILL NOT STAND IDLY BY, BUT THAT WE WILL BE IN THE FOREFRONT, WORKING TO WIPE OUT HATRED, INTOLERANCE AND BIGOTRY, AND WE WILL NEVER FORGET.

SHABBAT SHALOM