Where was God in the Holocaust? Rabbi Yossef Ben Porat - English Subtitles

The holocaust is a unique thing The likes of which there is no other, in the history of human kind. to any nation to any culture, in any manner. When we take the wording even of the title "where was God in the holocaust?" a topic that is very charged a very wide topic, a very heavy topic I come from a family of holocaust survivors Both the family from my father's side and the family from my mother's side were almost all killed My father z"l didn't even have a first cousin and also not a second cousin They were all killed, a very big family Very large That is why this topic didn't give me rest and I dealt with it a lot and I still deal with it and almost every new reasearch, new book that comes out I look for it I've already discussed this topic we will try to dicuss it this evening from new aspects very new aspects, with a different approach We can split it to two parts One is- when we view from here, from a distance of time towards the holocaust how can we identify in a clear and sharp manner if "God is here in this place"? This is how our Father Jacob expressed it "Indeed, there is God in this place and I didn't know it" But we can also test it on a different level how can it be identified that in the holocaust in the camps in that hell upon earth That one of the great authors of the holocaust- Katsetnik- in his real name Adinur called it " a different planet." How can we identify in the behavior of people that truly God was with them? And we will try, with the small amount of time we have the small amount of time because also this topic with both its branches is wide for a whole seminar But we'll try to give a peak view into the interior part of it. We will try to examine the development of events that happened prior to the holocaust and here, too, we will examine a small part We can see the development and advancemnt in a very clear way by an outline that Hashem already wrote about in the Torah. The Gaon from Vilna said that in the book of Deuteronomy in which ten Parashot because Nitsavim Vayelech are one Parashah each one of the Parsahot represents 100 years in the 6th thousand (to the creation of the world) That is the millenium in which we live. In order to illustrate the point from the year five thousand and one we are today in the year 5776 (to the creation of the world) from 5001 which is the first century in the sixth millenium and until the year 5100 it's against the Parashah of Deuteronomy And I'll change it to the gregorian calendar of which we are more familiarized from 1239 AD until 1339 AD And in that manner, one Parashah after the other until we will arrive to our times, which are the relevent ones for our topic. which are the relevent ones for our topic. The year 5500 until 5600 which stands against the gregorian date of 1739 AD until 1839 AD, which stands against the Parashah of Ki Tetse And indeed, then starts the period of The Haskala which we all know about from our history studies The Haskala movement means getting out of the ghetto means entry into the big world At a more advanced stage, emancipation, equality in rights and, continuing that, assimilation half, third and quarter and also full assimilation In the year 1800, 10% of the Jewish population in Berlin were already christian who were baptised to Christianity and afterwards were created the Reform movement and the Conservative movement. The wear in the Jewish communities of Germany, Austria, Romania, Hungary was terrible Indeed, this is hinted in the Parashah "When you go to war against your enemies and you shall see in her captivity a woman of beauty and you desired her, and you took her to be your wife" This is exactly what happened "if you will go to war"- you went out to war against the western culture, but you failed, you failed in it You saw foreign women, and you took them Even if the price was to convert But we won't deal with those one hundred years. It's very interesting, very important, but we won't deal with it. This one hundred year period ends in 1839 AD From 1839 AD until 1939 AD That period stands against the Parashah of "Ki Tavo" Here too, the Parashah starts "When you will come to the land that Hashem your God gives you to inherit and you planted all fruit tree" That is when the settlement of Israel starts The first settlement of several places of building neighborhoods outside the Old City and later on 1880 AD The building of the first seven settlements Mazkeret Batia, Ekron etc. At the end of the Parasha of "Ki Tavo" there is the curse there is the rebuke and if in the Parasha of "Bechukotai" there were only 49 curses only, here it is double- 98 and we will touch this topic This is the same holocaust that we are talking about It occurs at this section in time From 1939 AD and on So, as I said, if we will want only to look and peak we will see that the things were predicted in the Torah and in the Prophets, in the words of the sages And even at the same time and period At the same time that Hitler, may his name and memory be destroyed wrote his book Mein Kampf one of the big sages of the time wrote a book An interpretation to the Torah called "Meshech Chochma" And he writes there "We are in a bad situation a situation in which people are leaving their religious studies to learn languages that are not theirs to think that Berlin Jerusalem to be like the sour of the gentiles Don't rejoice Israel A strong wind will come and will extract him from his trunk His language, our holy language, and his language foreign he will change it like clothes" Rabbi Meir Simcha HaCohen, stands and predicts- your theory that Jerusalem is Berlin- that is what they said- Frankfurt is Jerusalem, Berlin is Jerusalem and that is why the Reform movement called their Synagogues 'Temple" Temple means "The Holy Temple" The Hebrew- they changed to German And in the United States- to English The Shabbat was changed to Sunday The Chazan was dressed like a priest and so on Those things had been predicted But Here you have only a few points And the moto is this Hashem warns Hashem sent Noach to warn the flood generation that a flood will come. He warned for a hunderd and twenty years. It didn't help him but the flood came And the result was terrible: the whole world was destroyed And the Rambam (Maimonides) writes in his book "Moreh Nevochim" "Why did the Torah tell this? Do we deal with pre- history in the Torah?" But The Torah wanted to teach that there is justice and there is a judge "He curbs his anger" (Ma'arich Apo) Hashem sends another messenger, and another warning but eventually the account will be given even if it will be profound until the abyss The same in reference to our topic Hashem warned in the Torah many times The prophets reiterated this again and again but the nation refused to listen We find it with Yeshayahu Yirmiyahu, Amos in all the words of the prophets And then came the destruction of the first temple in stages first the exile of the ten tribes then complete destruction and the destruction of The Holy Temple and the destruction of the nation This repeated itself in the destruction of the second temple here too, whoever will read in the book "Josephun" of Josephus Flavius wiil see the things, how there was a spiritual deterioration in all areas, a social deterioration of terrible baseless hatred of mutual killing with no boundaries of cruelty one person towards the other every day there were found in Jerusalem piles of dead bodies that the Jews killed, one against the other in a cruel manner, that I will not describe right now If someone wants to know, can read in the book The punishment came exile came destruction came The Holy Temple was destroyed all that was prophesied and written in the Torah of Moshe, happened We are, also here, in the destruction of the European Jewry In this, the world is guilty. The destruction of the European Jewry It happened slowly. When does it need to happen? If we take - and I checked it very thoroughly-- That same saying of the Gaon from Vilna It should occur in the same 100 years time span That means that the deadine the last date is at the end of the year 1938 AD (ending in 1939 AD) Before the next 100 years start Hashem gave warnings and not only through the sages from all the countries who rebuked orally who wrote books, who published articles in the newspapers in the language of the people whether be it in Yiddish or in German, etc if in Hungarian or in any other way but the nation declined to listen not only that They " insulted the Angels of Hashem" They laughed and ridiculed the sages All of that Maskilim literature of Mendale and Shalom Aleichem And more and more books, some from which you probably studied in high school weren't but ridicule of the sages that were in every city about the Torah, and about the old Jewish traditions But we won't expand here either I have a lot of material in my possession in this domain in the year 1930 The elder of the generation when he was 90 That you all have heard his name The Chafetz Chaim zt"l said that the war of Gog and Magog will have three parts The first part will be World War 1 He spoke about it already in World War 1 and repeated it again It terrified the whole world The Second World War will be much worse until the First World War will be relatively compared to it like a child's play. In 1931 AD We are counting down On the 21st of the month of Tishrei on Hosha'ana Rabba That is a day of judgment, as you all know, a day of judgment Rabba The Natzis enter for the first time with a big majority to the German Parliament The book of Hitler, may his name and memory be obliterated was famous and known It has now been translated to Hebrew The Mein Kampf. What the Nazis wanted to do they didn't keep as a secret. it was known Therefore, the Jewish people needed to see the traffic light lit in red and use their breaks They didn't interpret to understand that Hashem is signaling When a person is driving on the road and a policeman signals him to stop, he must stop If not, he will later pay a dear price if The police will start a persue to stop him and then he will pay a dear price. Hashem "the sound of Dodi is knocking" "return Israel to Hashem your God, because you've failed in your sin" Still driving forward, driving forward The year of 1932 The Nazis are getting stronger The Chafetz Chaim, who is already very old, is warning I have a written testimony of his student who was present on a Shabbat when he talked about it he said "I am all shaking I am all terrified. I see that soon there will be here rivers of blood The only way to prevent it is by the Teshuva of the nation of Israel I am willing to go from door to door" said the old man But it didn't happen The carriage kept dereriorating From the baseless hatred of everyone against everyone The baseless hatred kept growing In all the factions The 30th of January 1933 AD The third of Shevat, the Parashah of Boh. Hitler, may his name and memory be obliterated is assigned as the German Prime- Minister Something that no one predicted. Something that doesn't have an equivalent in the histoty of humanity There are biographies that come out all the time biographies about Hitler that each one of them shows to what extent the man was a zero squared lacking education lacking knowledge and experience In the history of humanity there was never a thing like this In addition, in the nation that was the most civil and most educated in the history of the world Hitler was unemployed He lived on an unemployment allowance lacking any attribution lacking knowledge in any area In Germany whoever didn't have a Doctor's degree couldn't get far The first salary he received was that of the Prime- Minnister of Germany Where has something like this ever been heard in politics? You start as a member of a municipality, Assistant to the Mayor, the Mayor, a member of parliament, head of a commitee, Assistant to a minister, advance gradually head of a commitee, Assistant to a minister, advance gradually He didn't "From the rubbish, He will lift the pauper" That's not a natural thing It was proof Here, I have it at home "The newspaper of the smart people" . You understand who I mean Writes in an editorial section then, January 1933 The Hitler who became Prime- Minister, is not the Hitler of Mein Kampf That he wrote to make an impression on the people to get the votes of the antisemites. Now he'll be a civil person stable, will forget about everything won't cause the Jewish people trouble. Well, like the rest of the prophesies of these smart people, this one also "came true." The steps that he took were in stages But swift Swift steps On Shabbat of the Parasha of Zachor that is the Shabbat of the Amalekites, may their name be abolished In the year of 1933 a month after he was elected February 1933 There was terror in all of Germany. The House of Representatives was burnt by his people That is the Parasha in which Amalek is referred to A few months later March 1933 Pogroms start against all the German Jews During Shabbat, the Parashah of Parah Shabbat, the Parashah of Parah And what do we read about in the Haftara? And I shall spread them in the foreign lands And they will be planted in the lands "as their deeds I will judge them" In the Haftara of that week it says exactly what was happening then In the Haftara of that week "as their deeds I will judge them" You are in the synagogue and you hear. what the agenda for the day is And you ask me Where was God? He spoke to you He spoke to me He spoke to all of us The letter is a letter from God In a simple language, that is understood to every child Where was God? The next month April April 1st, 1933 Suddenly, spontaniously The wheeler and dealers of the Nazi party decided to ban all the Jewish businesses Next to each Jewish business, were posted two guards that wouldn't let any buyer enter and that's how it was What day was it? Shabbat April 1st, All the businesses on Shabbat couldn’t work. the grocery man sat inside his store, and nobody came in That's not a hint? Actually, the boycott was supposed to continue Suddenly, at the end of Shabbat Heiterich announces that the boycott was so successful, that it doesn't need to be continued anymore It was on Shabbat Ha Gadol And what so we read in the Haftarah of Shabbat Hagadol? "You said you served Hashem with no gain and what did you gain from guarding His post?” And what do we read on Shabbat HaGadol? "And he will return the hearts of fathers unto their sons, and the heart of sons unto their fathers or I shall come and strike the earth with a ban" Do you hear the word "ban"? On the same Shabbat that there was a ban on all the stores, it says in the Parasha "ban". If you won't let the return of the hearts of fathers unto their sons If you won't allow the return of the hearts of the sons unto their fathers, Hashem says, he will come and do a ban. So where was God? He spoke to them. What, the timing is all coincidental? Everything happens exactly as is written in the Parashah and the Haftarah Can a man say that it is coincidental? If there are among you some people who understand statistics, they may check it. April 21st The decrees continue They get stronger. the 26th of April The Parashah is Tazria Mezorah What does it deal with? The leapers, and all the people who were sent out of the city, all the impure people The Gestapo is established which is the one that is supposed to start finding the Jewish people and send them to different places You see that everything is in a very defined manner May 1st, 1933 The Parashah is Achrei Mot Kdoshim What does it say? Nadav and Avihu die when they sacrifice a foreign fire In the various German cities, all the holy Jewish books from synagogues and private houses, are collected in an organized manner, and bonfires bonfires are made in the streets fire and I can continue more and more. I will skip. March 16 1935, the Parashah of Zachor I want you to follow and see that in each Parasha of Zachor, it is as if Hitler read the weekly Parashah The key points in the Natsizm in the strengthening of Germany and the libels and the abuse of the Jewish people the key is always in the Parashah of Zachor "Remember what Amalek did to you" The Parashah of Zachor 1935 Germany announces that it ignores the Agreement of Versai and that from that day it is starting to draft sodiers The Agreement of Versai forbade Germany- it was an agreement that was signed after WW1- to build an army Hitler announces "I don't care about the agreement" "I am starting to build an army" Exactly on the week of the Parashah of Zachor. A month after that The month of Iyar, the year is 1935 AD We see in the Parashah of Bamidbar From the age of 20 and up, all the men who served in the army in Israel, you will count them in Israel A Jewish man serves only in a Jewish army Hitler announces that it is forbidden to draft Jewish people to the German army The Jewish people sign a petition Hundreds of thousands Jewish people sign it "What is this?" In World War One 12000 Jewish people were killed for their country "How is this possible that you don't draft us to the army?" Do you understand? But no, it is written Iin the Parashah, that it's not like this, a Jewish man goes only to the army of the Jewish nation See how it's all written and see to what extent the Jewish people were stuck from the bottom of their souls to be the poodle of the Germans They were more patriotic than the Germans In other times in history the Jewish people didn't have a choice they were drafted with force but that he would want to get drafted, and protest that he wasn't , this had never happened before September 1935 The Parashah of Nitzavim Vayelech The laws of Nuremberg are being published What is written there? Almost all people don't know Not almost, all people don't know. It included three sections A Jewish man is forbidden to marry a gentile A gentile is forbidden to marry a Jewish woman. Whoever will do it will sit in prison for years A Jewish man is forbidden to have in his house a gentile woman under the age of 45 as a servant Well- isn't this written in the Torah of Moses? The first section is assimilation, the second section is the prohibition of men and women to be together by themselves. But whoever doesn't live by what is written in Shulchan Aruch He gets rules done for him in Nuremberg. The third section- a Jewish person is forbidden from hanging a German flag in his house Who needs it? A Jewish man who keeps the Torah and the Mizvot needs a German flag? Had a gentile woman in his house? Understand, all the laws were aimed against the assimilated Jews Hashem is speaking with them. But their ear is plugged Their ear is plugged Shabbat of the Parashah of Zachor 1936 AD Jewish doctores are prohibited from working in health institutions I will skip The Shabbat of Zachor תרצ"ח (in translation- you will murder) ,תרצ"ח The German nation is built of two parts The first part is Germany the second was is Austria Whoever knows German is spoken in Austria And they both belong to the same nation To the same race On Shabbat The Parashah of Zachor, the year of תרצ"ח Hitler invades Austria, with the argument that the nation of Austria had asked him to come This is called in history, "The Anschluss" In short- it's like putting the detonator into the bomb Now it's united A large German nation Amalek has united And the Jewish people continue to block their hearts blind and deaf they don't hear the voice of Hashem speak to them No The voice of Hashem in nobility but there is also the voice of Hshem with strength There is also the voice of Hashem who breaks the Cedar trees "and He will break the Lebanon Cedar trees " The clock is ticking, the time is running out Several months after that, on Shabbat of the Parashah of Chazon which is the Shabbat of the ninth of the month of Av Adolph Eichman is appointed to be in charge of the matter of the Jews And I assume tht some of you this name means something The trial of Eichman- he was the one in charge of all the destruction later on 1938, The Parashah of Vayira Kristallnacht Why was it called with that name? On that night and on the following day 1200 Synagogues were ruined broken and burnt Germany Austria, and in all places This is a book That is all about the Kiritsllnacht bythe Proffessor Martin Gilbert And why did it happen? Why did it happen? On October 18 Hitler decides to exile from Germany 12000 Polish Jewish people Who had lived legally in Germany for many years, and he told them "that's it, go" from now to now The ghestapo came Each one could take one suitcase, like for a flight and that's it, they were kicked out Some of them- The Polish government agreed to accept and some were refused One cople that was exiled stayed by the border completely bare They wrote to their son, a 17 year young man, who lived in Paris Herschel Grynszpan They sent him a letter about their miserable situation, asking for him to send him some money, so that they would have something to eat He heard this He got furious He went and bought a pistol with five bullets got into the metro train in Paris to the German embassy And he told the guard outside thet he has a special mission to tell the consul about He was taken not exactly to the Ambassador, but to the third secretary He took out the pistol "you are a dirty German and here is your document "in the name of 12000 Jewish people who are being persecuted, and he shot five bullets at him He was badly injured Hitler heard about it, and said to send his private doctor immediately He was in critical condition for a few more days Already on the following day there started very severe decrees towards German Jewish people After two days he died On Wednesday, November the 9th he died the wounded man In a seemingly spontanious manner there started pogroms, riots fires of all the Jewish peoples' businesses Of all the synagogues And there are descriptions here from hundreds of cities from hundreds of villages There wasn't a place that was missed Many Jewish people commited suicide I'll read only one source to you In the village of Hengel which is on ghe border with Holland a person who was there describes how the rioters are throwing from hand to hand until they were outside gentile women tore the velvet coverings and everyone tried to grab some of the silver decoration of the Torah scroll bare and open the books were scattered in the muddy alley children stepped on them others tore pieces from the high quality parchment on which the law was written The same law that the people who cut it to pieces tied in vain to understand over that a1000 years In this city Jewish people had lived for over a thousand years Jewish people had lived in Germany for over two thousand years from the period of the Second Temple Writes Rabbi Yehuda The Hassid in The Book Of Hassidim One of our greatest elder Rabbis Eight hundred years ago "You should know that the gentiles will never desecrate a Synagogue unless the Jewish people desecrated it first" You've all heard about The Kristallnacht But you just don't know that these were Reform Synagogues Because the number of the non- Reform Jews had reached only 2% And even hardly that hardly Reforms and Conservatives Those were people who had desecrated the Synagogue I'm not only talking about the fact that men and women sit together and that there is no observance of the Shabbat, but of the Sunday and that they used the organ like in church and dressed the cantor as a priest all the abominations Says Rabbi Yehuda Chassid eight hundred and fifty years ago That the synagogue which the Jewish people desecrated, the gentiles will destroy and that is what the Prophet Jeremaya yelled "Why am I destroying the Holy Temple" says The Holy One, blessed be He "Has it become a cave of promiscuity?" You, the Jewish people have made my temple a place of promiscuity and idol worship I don't need such houses. I will burn them I will send Nebuchadnezzar to burn it This is what the prophet Jeramaya said And that is what happened, and that is also what happened here A whole book with an accurate historical research of the Professor Gilbert Elul 8. 1939 AD. The Parashah of Ki Tetseh There is also the Parashah of Amalek "Remember what Amalek did to you" The agreement of Riventrop Molotov that was the key for the opening of World War One The Parashah of Ki Tavoh less than two weeks before the deadline 17 of Elul. The year- 1939 AD There are 13 days remaining The nation did not do Teshuvah There is no other option The Parashah of Ki Tavoh has to be implemented Friday afternoon Germany attacks Poland At 2:00 p.m. Suddenly arrive hundreds of black planes Messerschmidt airplanes and bomb. Who do they bomb? The Polish army? No In a war you first attack the enemy's strongholds No, not here The towns where the Jewish people lived in were attacked first The Jewish people usually congregate There were towns where the Jewish people were 40% 50%, 60% and also 70% of the population In Bialistok 70% were Jewish So, in the afternoon, when the Jewish people are getting ready for Shabbat the planes already killed in the first wave tens of thousands of Jewish people Everyone understands what it is The bombs fell coincidentally on Jewish neighborhoods? Where was God? Indeed, you see it in every step of the way You see it in an organized manner How can a person even ask such questions? April 1940 AD Himler gives the command to build Auschwitz And what did they read on Shabbat then? "And I ruined your high places and I destroyed your idol places, and I put your dead bodies on the dead bodies of your idols and my divine Spirit will leave you" The Parashah of BeChukotai "And I gave your dead bodies on the bodies of your idols The largest house of bodies in the history of humanity is Auschwitz Three million Jewish people were murdered in all the strangest forms of murder In a cruel way the likes to which there is no other I have given only several several examples a very little amount of them As I have mentioned, the greatest author of the Holocaust who wasn't famous who he was, until the trial of Eichman because of how he wrote his name , Katzetnik He was called to testify in court He didn't want to, but he didn't have a choice He came And he fainted in the court He couldn't talk He's a whole story in itself but I won't get into its details When he was young, he was a Yeshiva Bachurr In a Yeshiva of the Sages of Lublin Already before the Holocust he was a very talented man, very literary He befriended people who were rebellious who didn't keep the Mitzvot. He also left the religion and went their heretic ways This is the last book he wrote It's called "The Code" He never left the Holocaust He couldn't sleep. Every night he would return to Auschwitz He used to shout and scream All the treatments he got with different means, nothing helped him. So, in this book, "The Code" he tells about that after his wife and others pressured him a lot to get treatment from the biggest expert in the world Professor Bastians who succeeded in healing people many people with LSD drugs He's a professor of Psychiatry he injects the material to his clients and then he succeeds in returning them to the traumatic events, and that's how he cleans them So, he tried to treat him too He was covinced and he travelled to that Professor And here suddenly It was all recorded, because at the time he isn't conscious He got into a trans, and shouted and yelled And he saw Auschwitz And afterwards he gave the stanograma in the book the full quote of the things that were recorded, the Professor recorded him And here too, it's a very interesting thing very painful It's painful to read, you must know that these are not easy things I usually read thungs like this on the 9th of Av It's hard for me to read it throughout the year The old stories from 2000 years ago don't succeed in making me feel the feelings of the 9th of Av These books do. I sit and cry sit and cry These are very horrifying things And I'll read you only a few sentences from that man, who had no faith He suddenly sees the chimneys of Auschwitz and on them he sees the name of Hashem "I saw the Shiviti et Hashem (I always see Hashem in front of me), I saw in a cloud The spirit of Hashem roaming in its letters. His Eminence filling the horizon from the land of Auschwitz up until the skies of Auschwitz The letters of Hahem A cluster of snakes was making noise in the middle of the sign of Shiviti (I always see Hashem) That is how section after section, he went through a long series of treatments And it repeats itself each time anew He wasn't conscious when he said that he heard it later only in the recordings "I turn my face not to see the terrible sight, but then I see the Shiviti( Hashem is always with me) in the horizon There ahead of me, with the letters of Hashem Oh God I see the light of Your Spirit in your letters I see Your Face In Auschweitz God God" He describes that he shouted horribly, he wasn't aware of that, he was in a transe Now he returns to the faith. To that same wonder What it really was This is truly terrifying book but I would say it's important. The book "The Torch of Light" is a book I would recommend everyone to read It's the biography of a Tzadik, who lived here with us The Rabbi from Kloizenburg zt"l Who founded Kiryat Tsanz in Netanya He was in Auschwitz He lost his wife and nine children and he remained alone remained in his faith remained with his Simcha (happiness) remained serving Hashem in a manner that there is no likes to and I will read only one thing to you I said that I want to draw the attention now to where God was during the Holocaust on the subjective level of the people who were there When the Tzadik arrived to Auschwitz In Auschwitz when a person entered he was shaved no beard, no payot he had to wear the Auschwitz uniform A long gown with stripes, that's all When he entered the gates of Auschwitz he suddenly saw three young men They made the impression upon him that they were probably from a religious background As I said, there is no beard or payos, nothing, everyone is the same He started talking with them and asked them this, I will quote him from the book, page 167 "Tell me That the creator of the world, blessed be he, is here with us, in Auschweitz, in the camp?" They answered him "Yes, we believe Yes, we believe" The Tsadik answered them, with great excitement "Remember, therefore very well, and don't forget that the creator of all the worlds is also here with us, and he will save us I promise you that in the merit of your faith you will also be saved and you will merit to be released and to get out of here alive" And that promise was fulfilled All three of them survived Auschwitz And that's a very rare thing One time A Jewish man told the Rabbi Poor man, he shouldn't be judged "We will all stay here" The Rabbi answered him firmly "Don't say we. You don't have the right to talk for me, if you want, talk for yourself whatever you want to say I believe with all honesty that both you and I will get out of here If you don't agree, say what you want about you I am sure that we will get out of here" This man asked him "how do you know Rabbi? that you will get out of here? The Rabbi answered him with might "God is with us here and He will surely save us" "You, who stick to Hashem your God are all alive today" And this too, I have testimonies of people who were brought eight times up to the doors of the crematorium the gas chambers and for various reasons they were suddenly sent back and these same people say that they were, and they told it to eveeryone, they were sure they would survive that they have faith in Hashem. And it happened "Even when I walk in the valley of death"- says king David- "I will not fear because you are with me" Those people who saw God there in reality who lived with him there really were saved It wasn't easy It's like climbing a wall but I have many testimonies of people who didn't ask where God is, becuase he was with them Also when they didn't understand why He brought them there because you can't ask God questions "My thoughts are not your thoughts" says the prophet "and not my ways are your ways because the sky is higher than the earth that is how my ways are different than your ways, my thoughts from your thoughts" But the man who in his heart felt that God is with him he was really saved Where was God? he heard Him, he saw Him The Rabbi succeeded with tricks and cunningness to avoid from desecration of the Shabbat But he didn't agree to let anyone do the job for him He did it and he said, whoever knows the Halachot of Shabbat well can get along without transgressing a Torah prohibition How to do, how to work without transgressing a Torah prohibition And he's one of the only ones who succeeded in different ways to hide Tefillin and to put on Tefillin everyday One of the researchers of the Jewish nation in the days of Nazi Germany counted the number of anti- Jewish laws that the Nazis instituted ever since they rose to power How many laws in each year? in the last year before the war started- 1938 The numbers of laws against Jews was the largest Listen carefully Forty nine laws among them In that year came out a law that every Jewish man and woman's name that is a foreign name will have a name connected to it that is Jewish- Sarah or Israel not Phillip or Richard etc In Egypt, they were saved because they didn't change their names In Germany? There wasn't one Jewish person with a Jewish name All of them had gentile names Came the Nazis, may their name be oblitereated, and made a law Everyone bring your IDs quickly, go tomorrow to the Ministry of Interior to update them Every Jew had the name Israel connected to his name Every Jewish woman- Sarah. Period. The party was over. So you ask where was God? On that year, everyone was told to bring their passport and every Jewish person had written in his or her passport the letter "J". Jewish Enough From now on you will live as a Jewish person, and if you don't want to out of your own volition then you'll do it against your will On that year there were new laws that were intended to take Jewish people out of all the German economy And if we'll move on to the issue of how the Jewish people feel God in this situation The Jewish bravery The Jewish bravery with every blow and in every situation I'll give you only a few examples from hundreds and hundreds things that I have. A few examples One person is telling this that he was in a children's shack young boys and suddenly he sees at night when everyone is already sleeping on the boards made of wood They all slept several "floors" one on top of the other you've probably seen, cells in the concentration camps suddenly he sees the head of the shack walking with a thick rubber hose So one can see that he is about to hit someone He came to one of the benches and he tells one of the children "get down, quickly" The child comes down and automatically he bends to get hit He knows why he's being called And that goi is starting to hit with all his force with the thick hose Children who were standing on the side started counting one two the child isn't screaming the child isn't crying the teenager isn't even sighing and everyone is surprised And this murderer continues hitting, he already passed 25 times passed 30 When he passed 40, he flipped him to the other side and started hitting him on the head, on the stomach on the face, everywhere The boy doesn't respond He doesn't cry or sigh After 50 times, he left him "go back to bed" They went to him and saw him all swollen They asked him why? Why did he hit you? The boy answered quietly "it was worth it" I brought my friends some Sidurs And he got quiet, and climbed to the board Well, if the boy would have yelled most likely that the gentile would have stopped hitting him If the boy would have cried, there is a good chance that he would have stopped Look at the bravery. He didn't want to let the non-Jew the satisfaction that he's breaking him Only a fourteen year old boy So can someone ask where was God? In the soul of this boy Show me in another nation The Germans caught 20000 Russian soldiers slaughtered them There are testimonies The Russian officers cried, begged "I have a woman, I have children" "Have mercy on me, pitty me" Not one Jewish person said that No Jewish person ever begged in front of the Germans Ever There's a very famous picture Of a Jewish man wearing Tefillin That the Nazis, may their name be obliterated, around him are laughing Beside him, one can see on the floor a long row of children, who were killed and in one minute they will also shoot a bullet in his neck, and lay him down in the same series This picture is hung on Katsetnik's room and he writes here Katsetnik You can see this person with a smile, with serenity with peacefulness I see light from his Tefillin I see a huge light coming from his face a light that cannot be described This is what Katsetnik writes and that's not that he's influenced by drugs, he's sitting in his room at home I see a reality that isn't human, that is angelic This was the great bravery This was huge bravery Of Jewish people who lived with God there there, in the valley of death One woman's story. She was in a camp in the same camp they were in a shack, 500 women all of them with shaved heads All of them wore the same dress with stripes night time They are sleeping on the stones, on the floor Suddenly they hear a sound One of the women says something There started a noise, as if by an order the heads were lifted and turned towards the voice In the darkness of the night it was hard to see the face of the woman who was talking But her voice was heard very well and clearly and this is what she said Listen to me According to my estimated calculation Tonight is the night of Kol Nidrei and tomorrow is Yom Hakipurim Quitness from astonishment fell No one responded No one tried to reject, because no one knew anything else The days of hunger cold fear and fatigue, caused the heart to forget the computation of time Auschwitz, said Katsetnik, is a planet that has no time in it After seconds of silence, another voice was heard again from another corner Doubtfully a question, doubtfully a message Tomorrow we won't take the soup And again there is no response An agreement of silence The heads went down and the silence continued Only when the sun rose, and the rays of light came in they all stood on their feets and it seemed like it was a routine day like everyday But something was different The looks a whisper A quiet and excited sound Everyone was whispering with everyone in words without words. What are we going to do? What will happen? They will probably punish us A gerneral avoidance from taking the soup is like an organized mutiny And the expected punishment is to be hit Lengthened hours of the assembly, and other demonic inventions And still, we won't take We'll show them That Yom Kipur is more important Meanwhile the time passed It was the time of the soup distribution No one stood in line Women who were hit shadow of a person and starving discovered courage and a mental strength And took upon themselves willingly not to take the portion of soup their main nutrition for the day It's hard to describe the size of the concession and the power that was needed for that and there is no way to describe what this portion of soup was for them They restrained themselves coped with the hunger distress overcame the fear of punishment and that is how they showed that indeed Yom Kipur is more important So, can someone ask where God was? In the hearts of those women? And these weren't necessarily religious women They were Jewish women That there In the valley of the dead felt God with them They raised to very very high levels that don't exist in any nation And in this manner stories in a large quantity In different situations In the book "I believe" there is a concentration of hundreds and hundreds of facts with people's names In Treblinka one of the reugees told From one of the shipments arrived The Rabbi from Pvinitz Rabbi Mendele Alter Brother of the Rabbi of Gur and the President of the Association of the Rabbis in Poland This Rabbi was the President of the Association of the Rabbis in Poland When the Rabbi of Pavinitz heard the order to undress he understood what was going to take place He begged to one of the Jewish Kappos "Bring me some water" I promise you the next world for some water that you will bring me That is how the Rabbi begged him That Kappo who excelled in his cruelty towards the other Jewish people as if lost his senses and completely shocked he ran to get water for the Rabbi thinking that he is thirsty and that he wants to drink before he will be executed But the Rabbi didn't need the water to drink but for a totally different purpose He washed his hands with the water before his last prayer And called in a strong voice to the crowd of the desperate Jewish people who gathered around him "Let's say the confession (Vidui) before the death" The Rabbi immediately started saying Vidui, confession and all the many Jewish people who were half dressed suddenly woke up and said (it) with him from their mouths came out a horriffic wail So horriffic until the German murderers ran from every direction and screamed at the Jewish people "What is this, a house of prayer?" That's how the SS officer yelled at them He was the head leader of the department to destroy the Jewish people and he opened with shooting barrage towards the Jewish people who cried in the prayer of Vidui Berl Katsanelson writes that to him the big spiritual man of the Labour party in the 40s He was the only man to whom Ben Gurion gave respect He writes- in my opinion the bravery of the Rabbi from Pavinitz is greater than the Partizan fighters, the rebells in The Warsaw Ghetto, or Vilna who ran with a gun to kill a German, this is much greater bravery of a man who stands for his principles stands for his religion in any situation Warsaw Ghetto was surrounded Warsaw Ghetto was lost There were 3 Rabbis there Great Rabbis Rabbi Menachem Zembar, Rabbi Shimshon Shtockhammer and Rabbi David Shapira By means of a Jewish engineer, the clergy offered to hide the three Rabbis They would hide them in a church and they had to say right away if they accept the offer or decline it After a thorough consideration Rabbi Shapira answered and said Among the three of us, I am the youngest That is why my words of couse don't obligate you you are older and more educated I'll tell you my personal opinion We know very well we don't have the ability to save the Jewish people in Warsaw The Ghetto is surrounded It's just a matter of time until all of us will be killed But just by us staying with them and not deserting them will strengthen and encourage their spirit and hope This is the only encouragement we can give them to our brothers That is why I have decided not to leave the Ghetto I simply don't have the courage to desert these miserable people After Rabbi Shapira spoke everyone felt relief, they agreed with Rabbi Shapira, and they all stayed This is bravery Where was God? Here There is no such behavior a parenthetical clause, without getting into that topic Because It's worth a coversation in itself When here there was danger that Romel would occupy Israel and in the Newspaper Davar there was a headline "we will fight for our lives" There were prepared here plans in Israel by the Hagana that all the Jews in Israel will go to do a new Masada on the Carmel mountain and there they would fight until the last bullet against the Nazis, just like in Masada Except for the political eaders There's a special plane for them that will take them to England And they will build there a government in exile like the Polish people did They didn't say "we'll stay here with the Jewish people in Israel " No No There are VIP The VIP will go to England The Rabbis were offered to leave Warsaw, and they refused "We won't leave here" The captain leaves the ship last So where was God? There There, in the valley of the dead Heroic actions, that can't be understood The poet of the Holocaust Maybe you heard of him Katsanelson The greatest poet from the period before the war No, not a religious man, completely not A man from the left wing, a man of the Poalei Zion He devoted his songs to there he had a re- evaluation not to the rebells of the Ghetto not to the Partizans He did appreciate them He belonged to them But they didn't ignite the poet in him He wrote two wonderful poems magnificent The one is called "I will sing about Shlomo Zelichovski" He's a Chassid who went to die with a sound mind and gave a lecture in front of all the people before he died That he is about to die Al Kidush Hashem and that is a tremendous level And he wrote the second song about the Rabbi of Ratzin I will read only a few lines because of lack of time A song about Shlomo Zelichovski Sing sky and earth, sing Hashem will sing The Name of Hashem Meforash From His place Sing all of you, the living of below sing above the living of the heavens Sing all 310 worlds, praise Hashem Zelichovski Shlomo Because he enlarged the name of man on earth He heightened the dignity of man stand up you the great poet Oh stand up the man without one eye, Homer And David David son of Yishai if you'll stand, your song is pleasant and your light if you'll take them Sing and consol my land Talk to her heart, call her humiliated overjoyed earth overjoyed You repeated, because you were made with Chessed, you are a noble blessing Who are you Hercules? Who are you Achiles? Who is Hector and what is he compared to this hero from the fields of Kavola That there in the market was hung A long song from which I read to you a part All the idols and poets of the Greeks are nothing compared to that Jewish man in that brave act That he's going to die with the Name of Hashem on his lips He is a descendent of our father Abraham Who went to get burnt to sanctify the name of God Out of Simcha, happiness and to join Rabbi Akiva and to all the generations and all the exiles in Spain and in Yemen In Germany and in Poland In Morocco and in Algiers who died throughout history in , sanctification of God, may he blessed be. So where was God? He was with them there and they felt Him and they were happy they were happy that He gave them the opportunity to die in the sanctification of His name I used to live in Bat Yam, I grew up there and we used to go many times to Holon to our friends there And one of the Shabbats I heard the Rabbi of Holon Rabbi Rabinovitch z"l In one of his lectures. He was a special lecturer and this is what he said "I didn't have the virtue to die with my fathers sanctifying Hashem" "I didn't have the privilege to die with my fathers sanctifying Hashem" This is the real feeling of a person who understands what the level is of someone who dies in the sanctification of Hashem Who do we have bigger than Rabbi Yoseph Karo That all of Israel leans on him and his Torah and thinks at his "Table" In the book Meigid Meisharim he prayed all the time To win the privilege to die in the sanctification of Hashem Like Rabbi Shlomo Molcho died It's a mistake to think It's a mistake of person who doesn't know that those people who died in the sanctification of Hashem were sorry about it They really didn't People there In that world, without coffee shops without restaurants and without the materialistic world became spiritual some willingly and some unwillingly Whoever more and whoever less Because the spirit of Hashem was roaming Indeed in the manner of judgment- The spirit of Hashem And a harsh and profound judgment I didn't give but a very small amount of the examples very little of the stories Important stories, important facts that relay things we didn't receive at school We didn't receive them in the school curriculum Just as we weren't taught also in higher education I have given lectures to history teachers Really- why was Hitler so much against the Jewish people? What did he want of us? What did the Jewish people disturb him? But the things are written here in Mein Kampf This book was published only recently in Hebrew It was forbidden during all previous years But I have an earlier translation which Yad VaShem translated sections of Hitler claims in his book that the Jewish people are communists That they did the Russian revolution They killed there thirty million Russians All the educated people in Russia in a cruel and terrible manner And that is what they want to do to the whole world The next country in line is Germany They founded the Communist party And the German Social party, and that's true If we won't overcome them now, they will destroy us and will also kill here twenty million people and all the educated people And that's how they will go from country to country And at the end the only intelligent people, the only smart people will be only the Jewish people He repeats it many times Don't be mistaken to think otherwise And he's right The Jewish people did the Russian Revolution Trotsky built the Russian army Who was a tremenedous genious A hater of Israel the likes there was no second to He instituted the Jewish department of the Communist party That its members informed about thier father their mother, the brother and son Whoever had a Sidur, or even a book to study Hebrew, I'm not even talking about Tefillin and Mikveh, he ruined everything for the Jewish people too but surely for the Russians In the picture of the first Politburo It's like the government in Russia, out of thirteen members there were six Jewish people Who instituted the KGB? Prior to that it was called NKGB Jewish people Indeed, the things are written explicitly He didn't hate the Jewish people because they have payos He didn't hate them because they keep the Mitzvot but because they are communists And he writes here clearly The Jewish people ruined the religion and faith They spread the heresy against God, in Germany That's what he writes "I feel like the messenger of God to destroy the Jewish people" Because they are heretics He writes this here. Do you understand now why this isn't studied at school? Becayse who writes the school curriculum? Leftists Obviously they won't write that Hitler wanted to kill the Jewish people because they were the founders of the worlds's leftist movements and the founders of Marxism, Comunism and Leninism But he writes it here All the values were ruined All the literature and theatre were poisoned Who are these who poisoned, Jewish peolple who keep the Mitvas poisoned the German theatre? Out of nine large Newspapers, in Germany seven belonged to Jewish people One of the great music composers in the world Wagner That until now it is forbidden to play his compositions He is banned until now Because he was antisemetic long before the Nazi period And I was very much interested to know what he really had said The Hebrew University published his book with Hebrew translation So, I'll tell you what he writes there I don't like the Jewish people The religious ones I don't like But what do I care? The Jewish people who left the Torah and the Mitzvot and who look like gentiles- I hate Because they eneter our society and they ruin our culture and the song and the German essence Those he converted- I see them as subversives subversives that will ruin the whole German nation in the future if we won't defend ourselves fast, as of now or else they will destroy us. Because they are disguised as Germans But they are not Germans They are Jewish people and will stay German So now, do you understand why it was forbidden here to play his music and to teach what he says? Just as here everyone hates the Nirenberg laws without knowing what they are Nirenberg, Nirenberg Nirenberg said That a Jew can't marry a gentile, so of course those who teach in all the schools that it's racism To say that a Jew is different than a gentile, is racism in this country, sadly Nirenberg only copied was is said in the Torah Wagner only said what is written in the Torah Because a Jewish person is Jewish, even if he disguises himself Even if he converts. "Israel who sins is still Israel" "You" he writes, are merciful people We are cruel people You are ruining our culture" Yes, this is how Wagner writes And that is why all his book is aimed against the compose Mendelssohn Whose father had converted When he was five years old, he was baptised He writes to him, - Listen You think that if you speak German and you converted, you've become German? No Your music is wailing Your music isn't authentic, and you poison our culture because people think that it is German music. The German music is full of pride, and you can't do it And that is why you are called "The enemy of the German culture" So he isn't right? Of course he's right Of course he's right "You have chosen us out of all the nations". That's right We are humble, merciful shy, that's true. That is what we are proud about. So understand, that the events didn't happen for no reason They were not a coincidence There was no lack of warnings "Because of our sins we were exiled from our country" And thank God, we've returned And we have to be careful not to repeat the same mistakes and to repeat and assimilate here Or to legitimize that same feeling of inferiority to the gentiles And the desire copy them We came to the world in order to be different We were created in the world in order to be Jewish And our sole purpose is to be with God And whoever really wants to be with God God is with him, everywhere In the good and in the bad Here, and also not here And may it be the will of God that we will all be granted That God will say enough to all our troubles In every form, and every manner and in every place And we will be granted redemption forever And happiness forever Amen