I've decided to write a little bit about the question of "why do bad things happen," also asked in the form of "why does God allow evil" before continuing in the series of describing God's attributes. This is because everyone pretty much sees that the world is in a crisis place where this is on the mind of many, and whenever I think of an aspect of improving human self awareness and faith, I present it. That is why I wrote the little perspective in the post before this one about the problem of thinking one is "righting a wrong."
Just now I had read some commentary and comments on chabad.org about the problem of understanding why God allows evil, which is obviously an ongoing philosophical and theological question for those of the Jewish faith, who have endured much, culminating in the Shoah (Holocaust). Obviously with the terrible loss in Mumbai, this is on everyone's mind anew. So I thought to use those events and some other things from the news to put forth one layer of understanding in this particular blogging. By "one layer" I mean a set of facts that one must always keep in mind while contemplating the question of evil and "bad" things.
When one reads the news, one quickly sees that there are crime victims that are newborn (sometimes even pre-born if their mother was assaulted), ranging in every age to the eldest, those in their nineties of age. So there is no age that is immune from human on human crime. You'll also see that crime victims include men and women, boys and girls. They are of every race, legal citizens or undocumented, of every faith, or even atheist. Crime victims are rich or poor, or the vast middle class. They are "good guys or gals" or "bad guys or gals." So crime, one can observe from the facts, is something that no group has a free pass from.
Let us also look at natural disasters. In the earthquake in China, we saw many school children die due to shoddy school construction. Again, though, people of all ages, faiths, gender, goodness or badness, occupations, all were vulnerable to suffering or dying in the quake.
At the same time the cyclone hit Myanmar and again, the vulnerable were of all types of people, but like the children in China, it was location, location, location. The cyclone hit the fertile rice paddy areas and thus the poor farmers were the most wounded.
In wars, both combatants and civilians die.
And then let us look at terrorism. When the World Trade Center twin towers collapsed, it lived up to its name of being "world trade," since many people of different nationalities or cultural backgrounds perished, mingled together without discrimination in the rubble.
In Mumbai, despite early reports of westerners being targeted, investigations show that creating havoc by killing indiscriminately was the priority. Thus we read about poor and rich, different faiths, different nationalities, children and adults, Jews, Christians, Hindus, probably Muslims too (since passers-by were shot without any "identity checking") and those who were "spiritual" and those who were not.
Even the Holocaust was not just about Nazis and their sympathizers killing Jews. Millions of non-Jews were also killed through activities of extermination.
In World War I the "cream of Europe" was killed in conflict by the millions. The young men of an entire generation were wiped out in many areas, and society to this day is very different than it would have been as a result.
Why am I presenting all of these facts? To help you better understand what exactly it is that you are "asking God."
Humans do not, as a whole, no matter how noble they think that they are, spend a lot of time contemplating "why evil" and "why bad things" until it happens to their special interest group. Suddenly one wakes up and notices crime, when a family member is harmed in a crime. Suddenly one notices drunk driving, when a friend is killed in a wreck caused by one. Suddenly one notices genocide when it is directed against your own group. Humans do not hold weekly meditation sessions and prayer groups about "why is there evil" and "why bad things happen" until it happens to them. Yet obviously "evil" and "bad things" were there all along, throughout human history.
So if you ask God, "why is there evil" or "bad things," do not be surprised if God first asks you (knowing the answer of course), "Why do you ask?"
Not being able to lie to God, you'd have to reply with what example of evil or bad brought it to your attention. God might then ask, "So why did you not care about the bad and the evil in the world before now?"
Ah. Yes. You see? That is part of the problem, and part of the answer. Humans tend to not care about evil or badness until "their own ox is gored," to use an old expression.
One reason why "the bad" and "the evil" exists in the world is that until it strikes close to home, humans just don't tend to notice or care if it happens on the other side of the world, or to "the other guy or gal," or even on the "other side" of your own community.
Bad and evil are like weeds that flourish because people only tend their own personal garden (if even that) and ignore everyone else's lot in life.
Therefore, while I'm not giving as yet an answer about the "why" of badness and evil, I am explaining their obvious popularity among humans. Here is a summary of the facts and associated concepts I've presented here.
1) No human of any category has ever been immune to the possibility of being the victim of evil or badness by another human, or by a sad tragedy or natural disaster.
2) Humans tend not to care about individual or group instances of evil or badness until "one's own" cohort group is harmed.
3) Despite the above facts, human have an unspoken but real assumption that somehow immunity from badness or evil is possible (e.g. "how can God allow this car crash to happen to such a good person?") This is an especial problem among wealthier countries where prosperity have both physically and mentally insulated people from so many of the risks of life, an assumption has crept in that there are ways to avoid bad things happening by belonging to certain "protected groups." I know for a fact that there are many people who secretly think they can evade badness and evil by belonging to the "right" spiritual "system." Yet the facts constantly demonstrate otherwise. The most wicked people in the world sometimes are themselves victims of badness or evil, just as the most innocent and saintly are victims too.
4) So when people challenge or question God in their minds, or out loud, there is no problem, that is understandable, but to be intellectually honest, you must confess that sometimes you are thinking "Gosh, she belonged to the 'right religion'" or "He has done so many 'good deeds'" so how could bad things happen to them?? Human history has constantly demonstrated by the facts that the only genuine democracy that humans have achieved seems to be that everyone everywhere has the potential to be victims of human-on-human (or human-on-animal) "badness" or evil.
This common basis for understanding what exactly you are asking will help you find the answers in your dialogue with God.
Just to leave another thought in closing, you have to understand that human beings having a very high tolerance for wickedness, bad or tragic events, and outright evil is, in part, a biological and psychological defense mechanism and survival instinct. So God does not condemn people for their own human nature, which is to ignore evil so long as it is going on in someone else's back yard. God understands (for sure more than humans ever could understand themselves) that it is a survival trait to "mind your own business" and "shut out the crying and suffering of other people." But that is exactly what Jesus most strongly warned people to beware of, and that is the meaning of "loving one's neighbor as one's self." You should not think that terrorism or oppression, or crime, or the suffering of poverty and illness is silent and "not on your radar" so long as it doesn't hit your own family or circle, and the suddenly you wake up and demand to know from God "Why is there badness and evil? What were your 'reasons' for this human bad behavior?!" God understands that is human nature, and that is why Jesus taught what one must do to be not only more "human," but more humane, and closer to the divine in truthful honesty, and not in your own hypocritical imagination.
Showing posts with label Holocaust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holocaust. Show all posts
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Jehovah's Witness oldest Holocaust survivor
Read this article about this remarkable, moral man, which will have to do until the English language version of his biography comes out. Here is a snip of the book review.
http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2008/11/30/the-story-of-the-oldest-living-holocaust-survivor/
Leopold Engleitner’s blue eyes still burn bright. Last month, the 103-year-old traveled to Frankfurt, from his home in Austria to tell his story at the world’s largest publishing event. Mr. Engleitner, a former farmer from the Salzburg region, is a Jehovah’s Witness.
And he is the oldest living survivor of the Holocaust.
At first no one seemed interested in the facts of his life, which included an unwavering faith and enduring internments in the Buchenwald, Wewelsburg, and Ravensbrueck camps run by German Nazis. Then a young Austrian filmmaker met Engleitner by chance and ended up listening to his stories for hours on end.
The filmmaker, Berhnard Rammerstorfer, was captivated by what he heard and eventually dropped everything he was doing to write Engleitner’s biography.
“What impressed me was that a simple farmer had the courage to withstand Hitler, to refuse to go to war although millions of people did go to war, that he had the strength to adhere to his own conscience,” says Mr. Rammerstorfer.
He first published “Unbroken Will: The Extraordinary Courage of an Ordinary Man,” in German in 1999. It was republished this year, and an English edition is scheduled to be released in 2009.
Walter Manoschek, a political scientist at the University of Vienna who has worked on a project sponsored by the Austrian government to rehabilitate Austrian victims of the Nazi regime, says that Engleitner’s story brings to life one of the least-known groups of Nazi victims that also included Gypsies, homosexuals, political prisoners, and the mentally and physically disabled.
A ‘systematic resistance’Nazis targeted Jehovah’s Witnesses mainly because as religious conscientious objectors they eschew swearing an oath to any earthly authority and refused to serve in the German Army. Refusal to serve under Hitler was regarded as treason, punishable by death. Among the 3,200 Witnesses interned in concentration camps, thousands were killed, according to historians.
Unlike other groups – most notably, of course, millions of Jews – they could have walked out free had they agreed to renounce their faith.
http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2008/11/30/the-story-of-the-oldest-living-holocaust-survivor/
Leopold Engleitner’s blue eyes still burn bright. Last month, the 103-year-old traveled to Frankfurt, from his home in Austria to tell his story at the world’s largest publishing event. Mr. Engleitner, a former farmer from the Salzburg region, is a Jehovah’s Witness.
And he is the oldest living survivor of the Holocaust.
At first no one seemed interested in the facts of his life, which included an unwavering faith and enduring internments in the Buchenwald, Wewelsburg, and Ravensbrueck camps run by German Nazis. Then a young Austrian filmmaker met Engleitner by chance and ended up listening to his stories for hours on end.
The filmmaker, Berhnard Rammerstorfer, was captivated by what he heard and eventually dropped everything he was doing to write Engleitner’s biography.
“What impressed me was that a simple farmer had the courage to withstand Hitler, to refuse to go to war although millions of people did go to war, that he had the strength to adhere to his own conscience,” says Mr. Rammerstorfer.
He first published “Unbroken Will: The Extraordinary Courage of an Ordinary Man,” in German in 1999. It was republished this year, and an English edition is scheduled to be released in 2009.
Walter Manoschek, a political scientist at the University of Vienna who has worked on a project sponsored by the Austrian government to rehabilitate Austrian victims of the Nazi regime, says that Engleitner’s story brings to life one of the least-known groups of Nazi victims that also included Gypsies, homosexuals, political prisoners, and the mentally and physically disabled.
A ‘systematic resistance’Nazis targeted Jehovah’s Witnesses mainly because as religious conscientious objectors they eschew swearing an oath to any earthly authority and refused to serve in the German Army. Refusal to serve under Hitler was regarded as treason, punishable by death. Among the 3,200 Witnesses interned in concentration camps, thousands were killed, according to historians.
Unlike other groups – most notably, of course, millions of Jews – they could have walked out free had they agreed to renounce their faith.
Friday, November 28, 2008
At last righteous defense of Pope Pius XII
Few things pain me as much as the ingratitude and lies spread about Pope Pius XII, who had indeed done more to protect the Jews, while in the greatest danger himself, than anyone can brag. I remember the 1950's when the truth about Pope Pius XII was still known and honored. I actually found it difficult to believe my eyes when I've read the scurrilous attacks on his honor and reputation since the 1960's, and especially the past several decades as Jews themselves got caught up in the witch trial mentality (and fall into every trap that Communist detractors of God and faith set, it seems).
So I am delighted and express my thanks to those righteous Jewish leaders who have spoken up, even when the truth is not popular (though why people prefer to continue to believe the twisted and the bad lies over the inspiring truth is beyond me; that is one of the unsavory mysteries of human weakness).
Do give this article a complete read, and my thanks to Rabbi Silver and those who show great honor and truthfulness.
http://www.jewishledger.com/articles/2008/11/25/news/on_the_cover/news01.txt
So I am delighted and express my thanks to those righteous Jewish leaders who have spoken up, even when the truth is not popular (though why people prefer to continue to believe the twisted and the bad lies over the inspiring truth is beyond me; that is one of the unsavory mysteries of human weakness).
Do give this article a complete read, and my thanks to Rabbi Silver and those who show great honor and truthfulness.
http://www.jewishledger.com/articles/2008/11/25/news/on_the_cover/news01.txt
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Here is a "must reading" editorial regarding Israel
Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli parliament, is a businessman and author, most recently, of "The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From Its Ashes," published this month by Palgrave Macmillan.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-burg16-2008nov16,0,4227786.story
snip
The Shoah is so pervasive that a study conducted a few years ago in a Tel Aviv school for teachers found that more than 90% of those questioned view it as the most important experience of Jewish history. That means it is more important than the creation of the world, the exodus from Egypt, the delivering of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, the ruin of both Holy Temples, the exile, the birth of Zionism, the founding of the state or the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Shoah is woven, to varying degrees, into almost all of Israel's political arguments; over time, we have taken the Shoah from its position of sanctity and turned it into an instrument of common and even trite politics. It represents a past that is present, maintained, monitored, heard and represented. Our dead do not rest in peace. They are busy, active, always a part of our sad lives.
***
This opinion piece is absolute "must reading," for all who care about faith, hope, politics, society, peace in the world, and peace of mind. I pray that more and more people will understand and believe what Mr. Burg is saying. I've seen too much reflexive denial toward the few who have dared to speak as clearly and lovingly the truth, as Mr. Burg has done here. Pray this is a time of change of hearts and perceptions.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-burg16-2008nov16,0,4227786.story
snip
The Shoah is so pervasive that a study conducted a few years ago in a Tel Aviv school for teachers found that more than 90% of those questioned view it as the most important experience of Jewish history. That means it is more important than the creation of the world, the exodus from Egypt, the delivering of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, the ruin of both Holy Temples, the exile, the birth of Zionism, the founding of the state or the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Shoah is woven, to varying degrees, into almost all of Israel's political arguments; over time, we have taken the Shoah from its position of sanctity and turned it into an instrument of common and even trite politics. It represents a past that is present, maintained, monitored, heard and represented. Our dead do not rest in peace. They are busy, active, always a part of our sad lives.
***
This opinion piece is absolute "must reading," for all who care about faith, hope, politics, society, peace in the world, and peace of mind. I pray that more and more people will understand and believe what Mr. Burg is saying. I've seen too much reflexive denial toward the few who have dared to speak as clearly and lovingly the truth, as Mr. Burg has done here. Pray this is a time of change of hearts and perceptions.
Monday, October 13, 2008
To answer a question from a cruel "boss"
I was desperate for work and a paycheck, since I was trying to keep my home. And so I interviewed with a man who ran a small software company in the health services industry. He was arrogant and a real putz. He was Jewish and spent all day on the computer looking up Holocaust information so that he could continue to seethe about it, even though he was a young, well off man and one who had a company who depended on him for guidance. He exuded a miasma of hate about what had happened in Germany, and it hung around him like a hateful and angry cloud.
When I first went to his office for my job interview, he asked strange questions. One was "What is your favorite book?" I was totally silent in that matter, somewhat surprised, and I answered honestly that I do not have "a favorite book."
Needless to say he sneered about that and thought all sorts of bad things about me. I got the job but was tortured throughout for several weeks, until being fired, despite my being as humble as possible (I had even dumbed down my resume as much as possible without lying).
He's one of the few people I've encountered that I have spared a few thoughts of wishing that not very nice things would befall him. I saw how the hardworking people in that company were abused, and the customers delayed in receiving their product, all so he could sit in the office and drudge through the Internet, looking for Holocaust information that would maintain his seething and his anger. It apparently was a "family" interest, as a relative of his wrote a book that had much of the same purpose, I guess, from what I read in the book reviews. So he would ignore the business decisions that were needed so that he could sit on this throne and seethe and judge. I could tell he especially enjoyed hurting me, for being a Christian I think, and for other very unwell reasons. God will punish him, no doubt, in his own time.
I wonder what he expected me to answer regarding the "favorite book." Did he expect me to say the Bible? The Bible is not my "favorite book" like some sort of Ellery Queen novel. The Bible is life. It is the Word of God. It is not my "favorite book." Rather, I can attest to the Bible's full authority, as a living witness. And so I could not demean the Bible by calling it my "favorite book."
And if not the Bible then what? Is a favorite book not one that you turn to for constant comfort and enjoyment, one that helps in the search for answers? But again, I do not have a favorite book. At the time I owned thousands of books and enjoyed them all! I consider a book a "good read" if I get even one thing out of it, a beautiful or moving scene, great dialogue, interesting plot, useful information and best of all, ideas for creativity. Having to choose "one book" for me is impossible, as it is for a mom to pick one child over the other. Even more so, being asked what is my favorite book is like if a mom was asked "which of your children mothers you the best?" It is backwards and makes no sense. Isn't a first aid manual your favorite book if you need it during a medical emergency? When you are hungry don't you enjoy your cook book? And sure, Lord of the Rings was reliable escapism reading, and could be turned to frequently when in that mood. But what is a "favorite book?" A crutch? Who needs a crutch, and who needs a "sound byte" interview answer?
And so, mister Holocaust obsessed man, my favorite book is the book of humans being humans, living in God's created world. And who can do better than that? Let me remind you that the holiest humans lived before the printing press was even invented, when no one even owned a scroll of their own, say nothing of a "selection." People were better before they had "shortcuts" to being told how to behave and what to think. People really need nothing more than to live "within" the Word of God, whether Torah/Talmud, Bible or Qur'an.
When I first went to his office for my job interview, he asked strange questions. One was "What is your favorite book?" I was totally silent in that matter, somewhat surprised, and I answered honestly that I do not have "a favorite book."
Needless to say he sneered about that and thought all sorts of bad things about me. I got the job but was tortured throughout for several weeks, until being fired, despite my being as humble as possible (I had even dumbed down my resume as much as possible without lying).
He's one of the few people I've encountered that I have spared a few thoughts of wishing that not very nice things would befall him. I saw how the hardworking people in that company were abused, and the customers delayed in receiving their product, all so he could sit in the office and drudge through the Internet, looking for Holocaust information that would maintain his seething and his anger. It apparently was a "family" interest, as a relative of his wrote a book that had much of the same purpose, I guess, from what I read in the book reviews. So he would ignore the business decisions that were needed so that he could sit on this throne and seethe and judge. I could tell he especially enjoyed hurting me, for being a Christian I think, and for other very unwell reasons. God will punish him, no doubt, in his own time.
I wonder what he expected me to answer regarding the "favorite book." Did he expect me to say the Bible? The Bible is not my "favorite book" like some sort of Ellery Queen novel. The Bible is life. It is the Word of God. It is not my "favorite book." Rather, I can attest to the Bible's full authority, as a living witness. And so I could not demean the Bible by calling it my "favorite book."
And if not the Bible then what? Is a favorite book not one that you turn to for constant comfort and enjoyment, one that helps in the search for answers? But again, I do not have a favorite book. At the time I owned thousands of books and enjoyed them all! I consider a book a "good read" if I get even one thing out of it, a beautiful or moving scene, great dialogue, interesting plot, useful information and best of all, ideas for creativity. Having to choose "one book" for me is impossible, as it is for a mom to pick one child over the other. Even more so, being asked what is my favorite book is like if a mom was asked "which of your children mothers you the best?" It is backwards and makes no sense. Isn't a first aid manual your favorite book if you need it during a medical emergency? When you are hungry don't you enjoy your cook book? And sure, Lord of the Rings was reliable escapism reading, and could be turned to frequently when in that mood. But what is a "favorite book?" A crutch? Who needs a crutch, and who needs a "sound byte" interview answer?
And so, mister Holocaust obsessed man, my favorite book is the book of humans being humans, living in God's created world. And who can do better than that? Let me remind you that the holiest humans lived before the printing press was even invented, when no one even owned a scroll of their own, say nothing of a "selection." People were better before they had "shortcuts" to being told how to behave and what to think. People really need nothing more than to live "within" the Word of God, whether Torah/Talmud, Bible or Qur'an.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Jewish WWII rescue group finally recognized
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330982174&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
***
Read this very inspiring and important story about the Bergson Group and its pressure to create the War Refugee Board... and ponder with me why sometimes it seems so difficult to get recognition from mainstream groups of the very ones you would most expect to applaud.
***
Read this very inspiring and important story about the Bergson Group and its pressure to create the War Refugee Board... and ponder with me why sometimes it seems so difficult to get recognition from mainstream groups of the very ones you would most expect to applaud.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
1997 Holocaust "memoire" admitted to be all false
Misha Defonseca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misha:_A_M%C3%A9moire_of_the_Holocaust_Years
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334171,00.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2185493/pagenum/all/#page_start
snip
Published in 1997, Misha is about a Jewish girl from Brussels who walked across Europe by herself during World War II and spent months living in the forest. Like Fragments, it's the story of a vulnerable child, alone in the world, who travels great distances and faces perils as chilling as they are difficult to verify. Even if you forget for a moment that Defonseca has two prolonged encounters with wolves in war-torn Europe, her story strains credulity: She walks from Belgium to Ukraine, sneaks into and out of the Warsaw Ghetto, and stabs to death a Nazi rapist who attacks her—all between ages 7 and 11.
Now, 11 years after publishing her memoir and almost two decades since she went public with her story, Defonseca has admitted that she is actually Monique De Wael, the orphaned daughter of two Catholic members of the Belgian resistance. Yesterday, through her lawyer, she released a statement to the Brussels newspaper Le Soir. The story of Misha, she said, "is not actual reality, but was my reality, my way of surviving."
snip
Defonseca also claims she was the victim of her publisher. "At first, I didn't want to publish, and then I let myself be talked into it by Jane Daniel. She made me believe, and I believed it." Daniel may have persuaded Defonseca to publish Misha, but Rabbi Heiligman says that the core of Defonseca's story did not change since the first time she told her story, years before Defonseca met Daniel. And Daniel had no hand in the U.K. edition or Véra Belmont's film.
Defonseca is no innocent, but she could not have made Misha into an international phenomenon on her own. When the historian Debórah Dwork told Daniel that Misha was not authentic testimony, that didn't stop Daniel from publishing the book. Nor did these questions keep Véra Belmont from making her film and comparing those who dared question its authenticity to Holocaust deniers.
Since Defonseca came clean, Rabbi Heiligman told me, "I wish she had published it as fiction—it's a compelling story." And a spokesman for Belmont told the Boston Globe, "No matter if it's true or not—she believes it is, anyway—she just thinks it's a beautiful story." In her statement, Defonseca says,
I always felt different. It's true that, since forever, I felt Jewish and later in life could come to terms with myself by being welcomed by part of this community.
Defonseca has suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis. But her empathy with Jewish suffering went too far, and "feeling Jewish" does not give her license for such narcissistic disregard for the suffering of actual Jews. For others to continue telling the story of Misha, especially now that she acknowledges it's a fable, is an affront to those authentic Holocaust survivors with sad but not otherworldly stories, to the memory of those who did not live to document their own fate, and to those who take the study of history seriously.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misha:_A_M%C3%A9moire_of_the_Holocaust_Years
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334171,00.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2185493/pagenum/all/#page_start
snip
Published in 1997, Misha is about a Jewish girl from Brussels who walked across Europe by herself during World War II and spent months living in the forest. Like Fragments, it's the story of a vulnerable child, alone in the world, who travels great distances and faces perils as chilling as they are difficult to verify. Even if you forget for a moment that Defonseca has two prolonged encounters with wolves in war-torn Europe, her story strains credulity: She walks from Belgium to Ukraine, sneaks into and out of the Warsaw Ghetto, and stabs to death a Nazi rapist who attacks her—all between ages 7 and 11.
Now, 11 years after publishing her memoir and almost two decades since she went public with her story, Defonseca has admitted that she is actually Monique De Wael, the orphaned daughter of two Catholic members of the Belgian resistance. Yesterday, through her lawyer, she released a statement to the Brussels newspaper Le Soir. The story of Misha, she said, "is not actual reality, but was my reality, my way of surviving."
snip
Defonseca also claims she was the victim of her publisher. "At first, I didn't want to publish, and then I let myself be talked into it by Jane Daniel. She made me believe, and I believed it." Daniel may have persuaded Defonseca to publish Misha, but Rabbi Heiligman says that the core of Defonseca's story did not change since the first time she told her story, years before Defonseca met Daniel. And Daniel had no hand in the U.K. edition or Véra Belmont's film.
Defonseca is no innocent, but she could not have made Misha into an international phenomenon on her own. When the historian Debórah Dwork told Daniel that Misha was not authentic testimony, that didn't stop Daniel from publishing the book. Nor did these questions keep Véra Belmont from making her film and comparing those who dared question its authenticity to Holocaust deniers.
Since Defonseca came clean, Rabbi Heiligman told me, "I wish she had published it as fiction—it's a compelling story." And a spokesman for Belmont told the Boston Globe, "No matter if it's true or not—she believes it is, anyway—she just thinks it's a beautiful story." In her statement, Defonseca says,
I always felt different. It's true that, since forever, I felt Jewish and later in life could come to terms with myself by being welcomed by part of this community.
Defonseca has suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis. But her empathy with Jewish suffering went too far, and "feeling Jewish" does not give her license for such narcissistic disregard for the suffering of actual Jews. For others to continue telling the story of Misha, especially now that she acknowledges it's a fable, is an affront to those authentic Holocaust survivors with sad but not otherworldly stories, to the memory of those who did not live to document their own fate, and to those who take the study of history seriously.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Impoverished Holocaust Survivors in Israel
In Israel, Holocaust survivors demand more help
Thousands marched in Jerusalem Sunday to demand more aid for Israel's estimated 240,000 Holocaust survivors.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-survivors6aug06,0,928265.story?coll=la-home-center
With placards and T-shirts reading "the Holocaust is still here" and "Forgive us for surviving," men and women in their 60s, 70s and 80s, many of them frail, labored through a five-block route from the parliament building to Olmert's office. Children, grandchildren and other supporters joined the survivors in their "March of the Living," which drew at least 2,500 people.
"How can the government spend all these billions to pay off its external debt?" asked Moshe Solomon, who was captured by the Nazis in Greece. "What about the moral debt that this government and its predecessors owe the people standing here and those who could not make it?"
Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II. Hundreds of thousands who survived concentration camps, many of them suffering physical and psychological damage, came to Israel after its founding in 1948. Many survivors receive between $240 and $1,390 per month, which includes aid from the Israeli government and reparations from Germany and other sources. That aid, however, is not enough to pay for medicine, psychological treatment and in some cases food. Government officials say about 80,000 of Israel's Holocaust survivors live below the poverty line.
***
Incredible. What was that country formed for, if not to tenderly care for the Holocaust survivors? Surely not for the joy of bringing "Hooters" to Israel, endlessly fighting the Palestinians, sniping at the Catholic Church, and becoming more secular than any surrounding country. How do US and other donors to Israel feel about this, where their money is going? Talk about Holocaust denying... these poor people. My Jewish ex used to see in Brooklyn at the bakery people with the numbers tattooed, and our hearts were wrenched then thinking of what they suffered through. How much more that they are not cared for sufficiently in Israel itself? I worked for a rich jerk who spent office time researching how culpable German civilians were sixty years ago, yet I wonder if he cared how the survivors were treated in Israel?
Thousands marched in Jerusalem Sunday to demand more aid for Israel's estimated 240,000 Holocaust survivors.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-survivors6aug06,0,928265.story?coll=la-home-center
With placards and T-shirts reading "the Holocaust is still here" and "Forgive us for surviving," men and women in their 60s, 70s and 80s, many of them frail, labored through a five-block route from the parliament building to Olmert's office. Children, grandchildren and other supporters joined the survivors in their "March of the Living," which drew at least 2,500 people.
"How can the government spend all these billions to pay off its external debt?" asked Moshe Solomon, who was captured by the Nazis in Greece. "What about the moral debt that this government and its predecessors owe the people standing here and those who could not make it?"
Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II. Hundreds of thousands who survived concentration camps, many of them suffering physical and psychological damage, came to Israel after its founding in 1948. Many survivors receive between $240 and $1,390 per month, which includes aid from the Israeli government and reparations from Germany and other sources. That aid, however, is not enough to pay for medicine, psychological treatment and in some cases food. Government officials say about 80,000 of Israel's Holocaust survivors live below the poverty line.
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Incredible. What was that country formed for, if not to tenderly care for the Holocaust survivors? Surely not for the joy of bringing "Hooters" to Israel, endlessly fighting the Palestinians, sniping at the Catholic Church, and becoming more secular than any surrounding country. How do US and other donors to Israel feel about this, where their money is going? Talk about Holocaust denying... these poor people. My Jewish ex used to see in Brooklyn at the bakery people with the numbers tattooed, and our hearts were wrenched then thinking of what they suffered through. How much more that they are not cared for sufficiently in Israel itself? I worked for a rich jerk who spent office time researching how culpable German civilians were sixty years ago, yet I wonder if he cared how the survivors were treated in Israel?
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