How The Japanese Saved The Jews - Parshat Yitro

[Music] the year 1941 tokyo rubbing maisha shatsukas in the amsterdam of arabis sat facing four japanese admirals in dress uniforms heads shaven arms folded stiffly across their chests they sat motionless the opening formalities were brief in fact considering the usual length of time that japanese formal encounters took this was just short of insulting said one of the admirals we appreciate your coming today we appreciate your cooperating with us and then suddenly the opening shot what is the inherent evil of your people for which our friends the germans hate you so much the amsha nova rebbe said to the translator in yiddish tell him the germans hate us because we are an oriental people what does this mean you are asians we are asians yes the rebbe agreed and you also on his list in berlin three or four years ago a young german girl fell in love with a japanese young man a fine young man working at the japanese embassy and naturally enough they wanted to get married but such a marriage was forbidden by the laws of german racial purity you're lying said the admiral noah said the rebbe consider for yourself what is the image of hitler's master race in films documentaries newspapers who is shown bringing victory home to the german fatherland the so-called aryans tall broad-shouldered blond-haired blue-eyed the reason they hate me the reason they hate all of us is because we don't fit the image of the aryan master ace he said no more there was no need to point out the scarcity of tall broad-shouldered blonde blue-eyed japanese silence then one of the admirals said tell our jewish guests there will now be a brief recess tell them we've been inexcusably inconsiderate and not allowing them time to rest from their long trip and they're not offering them proper refreshments tell them we will meet them in two hours time in a more comfortable place several hours later ravmosha shatsukis and the amsterdam verba were shown into a large conference room lined with windows and the atmosphere was completely different again the four admirals were lined up proudly on one side of the table but now seated beside them with two high-ranking shinto priests in long white robes and tall stiff black hats tied decorously under their chins their discussion centered almost exclusively on religion comparisons and contrasts between shinto and judaism extended explanations of the theory of the common origin that the japanese were descended in part from one of the ten lost tribes and that they come to japan that the theory went that moshe had actually come to japan himself to learn the wisdom of ancient shinto during the 40 days when he was on mount sinai receiving the torah from god for over an hour rabashatskas described the basic principles ideas and ceremonies of the jews and it was late afternoon before the meeting drew to a close as a final note the amshala river repeated the gratitude of the refugees to the japanese for taking them in and treating them so well go back to your people said one of the admirals and tell them they have nothing to fear we japanese will do our utmost to provide for your safety and peace you have nothing to fear while in japanese territory it's interesting to reflect that apart from receiving the torah on sinai moshe was incidentally providing a scenario that thousands of years later would rescue his great great great grandchildren from the nazi inferno