Don't believe all you read on Hitler's Jews
ABRAHAM FOX SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
A modern Jewish agenda
RABBI inCHAK MARMORSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
When a news story is sensationaHzed, it begins to take on a Ufe of its own. One publication carries, it, and quickly others follow. It becomes the topic of private and public discussion before the question is ever raised: was it really that way?
Such is the case with a recent story that Jews served in Hitler's armed forces, and thus found themselves on the side of the killers and torturers of their own people. The story, a graduate-student thesis on the history of the Nazi regime, received wide play precisely because it contained such horrid implications.
The case most frequently cited is that of the deputy to air-forcc-chief Herman Goer-ing. Air Marshal Milch, who had Jewish blood. Wlien brought to his attention, Go-ering reportedly said he determines who is Jewish and who is not. True or not, Goer-ing clearly appreciated Milch's competence and wanted him in the job. As for Milch, he never gave any indication he felt JeviTsh. He was, like many Germans who had a Jewish parent, grandparent or uncle and "made no use of their Jewishnesg," a typical member of the German military caste.
The same holds true with others' of "Jewish blood" who considered themselves Germans, may have gone to whatever chilrch their non-Jewish parent took them (or to no church at all), and never for a moment paid attention to their blood lines. Until Hitler took power.
It was Hitler's ideology that made blood the issue and race the decisive factor in an individual's personality and destiny. Only then did those Germans who "served in Hitler's army," as the story goes, and who had Jewish blood, face a problem. However, once Nazi authorities
Abraham Foxman is national director of the Aiiti-Defamation League ofB'tiai
blessed their presence in the military ranks, the problem was solved. For, in terms of their own feeling of identity and community, they were not Jewish.
Consequently, to accept the premise and implications of the story is to also accept Hitler's race theory. It is this issue that editors and readers may not have considered when they published or read the story, a story bound to fill many Jewish readers with anger, frustration or shame.
'The play that this insignificant piece of history has received demonstrates that people wth perfectly good intentions, concerned with preserving the memory of the Nazi crimes, can unwittingly do damage to that which tJiey seek to protect. Against the background of the Holocaust, it seemed incredible, and therefore newsworthy, that some people with "Jewish blood" served in Hitler's forces.
Unfortunately, those who write the news are not historians. In getting the story out as it comes to them, they risk negative consequences; they may distort and damage the memory of the six million; they may play into the hands of Holocaust revisionists and other right-wing extremists who can now "document" that things could riot have been sp bad if Jews vvere part of the Nazi war machine.
So was it really that way? Of course not. Jews did not serve in Hitler's armed forces - not when we speak of Jews as those who clearly, gladly and positively identify themselves as such. Those Jews would never have been accepted by the Nazis, would never have served of their own free will, but would - as all sudi Jews -have been persecuted, fled Germany and Europe, or died in the death camps.
This is why this story needs to be taken not with a grain, but a whole shaker of salt □
What an amazing time we are living in. Tlie Jewish people are just completing a century in which we have experienced awesome horrors and great miracles. In our return to Israel and to the community of nations as first-class citizens, we continue to be faced with huge challenges and opportunities.
These carry many names: Arab-Israel conflict, Palestinian freedom, assimilation, women's rights, anti-Semitism, Jewish education, continuity etc. As a student of our Torah and its teachings, I look at all these particulars and I wonder about tlie gerieral. Wliat is tlie real meaning of this historic time?
Our kabbalah, which offers a mystical and broad understanding of the Torah, teaches that all human beings are the children of Adam and Eve. The ultimate aim of history is to have all humankind, Jew and non-Jew, living in harmony and complete well being in the Garden of Eden. As a planet of brothers and sisters our collective goal is liaclizarat ga rah letov: the return of all negativity to its original good.
Abraham and Sara were huge souls in this historical challenge. In the service of all humankind (there were no "Jews" then), Uiey began to Icch-lecha, walk towards the purity of the (harden. In the very first meeting with Abraham, the Divine said, "You shall become a blessing.... All of the families of the earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:2-3)
To be a true blessing is not easy. Yet, our covenant with God, the deep longing of our souls, and the tcacliings of our ancestors, bid us to work for the creation of Eden on earth. Not to accept this challenge is to reduce the significance of our past, the meaning of our lives and the potency of our future.
What is our generation to do? How can we be a true blessing? These questions are larger tihan
Rabbi Itzchak Marmorstein is
spiritual leader of Mercaz HaRaya: The Cciitrc For Vision.
any one person and it's much easier to ask than to answer. However, having asked, I offer two suggestions.
Externally, we perhaps first need to know we actually have tlie potential to transform our troubled earth into the Garden of Eden. How can our tradition call us to participate in tikun olajn (fixing the world) if this lofty goal is unreachable? The Jewish way is based on the conviction that it is possible and ultimately inevitable for humanity to grow in understanding and action to the point tliat we will make huge strides in bettering tlie world.
Our primary tool is the power of toy (good). :
By honoring and expressing our inner goodness, we harmonize with "God's love ener^ and tlie miraculous becomes possible. The miracle of computerization and its awesome potential; to coimect us despite borders and physical limitations is a small taste of what can be created when we unleash our power for good. -
I believe history is asking the children of Abraham and Sara to expand our understanding of the oneness of existence and commit to actions intended to foster uni-" versal tikun olam.
Tlie important mystic sage Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-
1935) wrote, "Each time that the heart feels a truly spiritual stirring, each time that a new and noble thought is born, we are as though listening to the voice of an angel of God who is knocking, pressing on the doors of our soul, asking that we open our doors to the Divine Presence."
Related to our capacity for doing tov in the outside world is our capacity to experience or (divine light). Our spiritual focus needs to be directed at knowing God more deeply, not as an abstract or theoretical construct, but as the reality in which we live. "And the Divine breathed into the human the sol of life." (Genesis 2:7) Deep within us, the voice of God calls ceaselessly.
Abraliam and Sara, and indeed all our prophets, hearii this voice. Through prayer, meditation and study, they developed their spiritual sensitivity and opened their beings to the creator.
Each of us has the same capacity and capability as our ancestors did to come close to God.
The growing current interest in meditation and mysticism is indicative of our call to experience our spirit. We are being asked to open our irmer doors. As we do, we may discover that these are also the gates to the Garden of Eden. □
It's My Turn...
Have you had a imique Jewish experience you'd like to share? Are you angry about an issue but it would take more than a letter to the editor to express your thoughts? Do you simply fancy yourself another Elie Wiesel?
The Jewish Bulletin sets aside a portion of its papers at the b^inning of eadi month, My Turn, for members of the community to have their say. Pieces should be between 700 - 800 words, e-mailed, on disk or typed double spaced,
on the topic of your dioice. Deadline is 9 am., Wednesday, two weeks prior to publication. Any questions, call 689-1520 and ask for Martin Stein.