Faith After the Holocaust - Toronto Holocaust Lecture

the yeshiva.net ladies and gentlemen Rabbi [Applause] [Music] Jacobson thank you so much Anita for those uh extraordinary stories and the incredible Narrative of your life and your survival and that you're here with us today to share the story unlike six million of your sisters and brothers who have perished and were murdered so brutally we must us the younger generation those who grew up in Freedom and prosperity in countries that have given us the opportunity to live breathe be Jewish with joy and happiness and opportunity or to never take for granted what our parents grandparents great-grandparents have endured and have given up for us to be able to be Jewish today and you and your story are real sources of inspiration and blessing to all of us thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you I want to begin by thanking the buzaglo family for giving me this privilege here to address you tonight when schlomo brought up the gestion the first time to his father a few months ago his father re Sam said I'll take care of the event sadly herab at the end of the holiday of sukot Sam passed on suddenly he was taken from us and this evening is dedicated to his love to his memory to his passion I want to welcome all of his children who are here with us Ruth and Esther and Jimmy and my dear friend schlomo the vice president of P an ambitious passionate Drew I'm sure your father is so proud of all of you and quelling from Joy of how you continue his passion his warmth and his love for his family his love for the Jewish people his love love for the community his love for the sh and may his memory and inspiration continue to serve as a source of light and blessing to the entire family children grandchildren and to the entire community and to all of the Jewish people amen amen I and we are all so sorry for your loss there's really few words to say a young man 67 suddenly enjoying a wonderful horse race and then on the way home preparing for the holidays was just plucked out like a rose plucked of a garden tonight's evening is dedicated in his great memory loving memory and loving inspiration my dear friends the theme that was allotted to me this evening in this Holocaust Education week here in Toronto was faith and the Holocaust it's not a secret that the Holocaust like some many other tragedies but the M magnitude of the tragedy of the Holocaust has raised many a question many a dilemma some emotional some theological and usually a combination of so many different experiences and and emotions but one of the greatest and grandest questions is where was God if there is a God who exists who cares for his world who cares for his people who supervises the world where was this God it's true people sometimes tend to forget that God was not the perpetrator of the Holocaust the Nazis were the perpetrator of the Holocaust Hitler yak and the Nazi regime with the participation of so many ordinary citizens in Germany were the perpetrators of this greatest crime against humanity in the history of civilization the black hole of human history the black hole of Jewish history and yet for the person who Embraces the conviction one of the pillars of Judaism that ultimately God is in charge of this world that there is Providence in this world that God orchestrates events even as he allows free choice is there a limit is there no limit how could have God watched this happen the very well-known Holocaust Survivor Ellie weizel Eli weizel who died some two years ago who was an awick binal I believe he was a close friend to my family and in his first book about the war about the Holocaust night he describes that day when an aitz he saw a young Jewish child hanging from the Gallows and because of the lightness of his body it took him such a long time to die and at that moment he says he felt not only did he lose his people did he lose this child he also lost his God his faith some 50 years later I think it was uh 50 8 around 50 years later I think it was 97 or 98 he wrote a piece in the New York Times an up at peace in the New York Times on Rashana day before Rashana and and the headline was a letter to God in the letter he writes how it's been 50 years that I've been fighting with you it's too long I want to come home it's time for reconciliation it's time for forgiveness says I still don't understand I still have my questions but we manag to rebuild our lives and the reason I despised you so much is because I believed in you so much I trusted you so much I grew up in sigic family a visionet family and I I believed in you I trusted you how could you have let me and millions of your people down and that letter that he published in the New York Times it was such a powerful testimony of how Jews think as he once said Jews can either love God or despise God they don't know how to ignore God they tell the anecdote about uh this father who sends his son to a prep school in Manhattan he doesn't like the public school so he sends him to a private Prep School it happens to be a Christian School very secular assimilated Jewish Family in New York City The Boy comes on the first day from the Christian Prep School dad he says David how was the first day of school says W daddy we learned about all these new Concepts is really like what marriage Trinity starts preaching the doctrines of the Gospel to his father father picks up his son by the colge says listen David I'm going to tell this to you once and only one there is only one God and we don't believe in him and and TR truth be told that uh ultimately nobody could tell anybody else what to believe I've learned for many years of teaching and speaking around the world people will believe what they choose to believe people will believe what they choose to believe I know a lot of friends who bought the lottery ticket for the Mega 1.6 billion ticket what were the chances you two right you won did you win next time don't give up what were the chances for them to win pretty slim but they bought not one ticket two tickets three tickets one in four people who text during driving get into an accident one in four not one 1.6 billion one in four how many people text they say it's not going to happen to me the same people who buy lottery tickets believe they're going to win the lottery ticket believe they're not going to be one or four because people ultimately believe what they want to believe that's the truth about life our belief system is usually not completely rational and objective and detached from any experiences and considerations we are not detached from life when one looks at the universe when one studies the universe one can argue for thousands of years is there a Creator or is it just a random mutation is the B Mitzvah boy who comes to his mother and says mom at Mitzvah I want to speak about our origin where we come from where do we come from Mom says we come from this family that family this dynasty no no no ma the beginning ah mom says the beginning God created heaven and Earth on the sixth day God created Adam and Eve for some reason they decided to have children bad mistake and the rest is history or actually her story that's where we come from comes to his father daddy where do we come from Oh Daddy says well the Prebiotic soup exploded some 15.3 billion years ago things have evolved and over billions and millions of years we've emerged so daddy where do we come this is where have evolved from who from the Apes and where the Apes come from they evolved from other primates and where did they come from they evolved and evolved ultimately what does it begin with begins with gazes and bacteria comes back to his mother says Mom I'm really confused about my B Mitzvah speech I want to talk about where we come from but you tell me we come from God and Adam and Eve and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah Rec dad tells me we come from apes and monkeys gas and bacteria what should I say about Mitzvah mother says son there's no contradiction your father was talking about his side of the family you know I'm talking about my side of the family ultimately people have argued about the existence of God for a very very long time and I'm not sure Rabbi y white Jacobson is going to solve this problem and question here tonight with all due respect to myself at a wonderful lecture in man I know for myself when I study and I observe the fact that every one of our bodies is made up of approximately 50 or 60 trillion cells working in perfect coordination with each other hundreds and millions of neurons hundreds and millions of neurons interacting with each other the most incredible manner when one studies the DNA the genim that exists in each cell and if we were just to be able to open up the DNA as a scroll it would fill the height of the Empire State Building three times and it's designed it's programmed it's information to say that this was just a random mistake a random error doesn't seem that rational to me when I observe the fact if somebody were to ask you pluck out a blade of grass and if you get the right one the world will survive if not the world will not be able to survive we is this blade of grass got to figure it out and you manage to get the right blade of grass and you have to do this 200,000 times and get the right one and say it happened by mistake well the factors the chances that from The Big Bang our universe like ours can be formed and the chances that our planet should support life are more slim than the ability of a blind person doing the Rubik's Cube you know that one for 90 years and getting each one right every time baffles the imagination to say it just happened randomly rather there's an intelligence there's a conscious design there which is why I'm allergic to people who are supposed to be sophisticated and mock people who embrace the conviction that there is a Consciousness at the core of the universe that there's love at the core of the universe as blind as a r you could believe what you want but don't tell me that someone who thinks that Shakespeare was written by William Shakespeare and not by an avalanche of bottles of ink and the bottles of Inc just happened to form Romeo and Juliet and a Merchant of Venice and Hamlet and that's just one play and the complexity of one living organism not Millions not billions not one living organism is infinitely greater close to infinitely greater than all of the 32 plays did I get the number right how many players did Shakespeare right okay you'll Google it put together but this does not answer the question the big question this Consciousness this core this Divine core we were conceived in love we were conceived in purpose how can he watch sh how can he watch that happen and the truth is at the end of the day an argument this way an argument that way everybody ultimately has to choose the world you inhabit the world you want to believe in the world you want to Beque to your children can I prove in a laboratory that humor exists is there such a thing as humor well I know people who don't believe there's such a thing as humor can I prove in a laboratory there such a thing as music I once had a cynical friend who's told me there's no music it's just a manipulation of notes can I argue can I prove in a laboratory that there's something called love how can I prove it can you live without humor yes can you live without music yes can you live without love yes but life is smaller it's a smaller life it's a much hour life I can live without humor maybe not me but some people can live without humor I mean I got to make a living so that's what I meant but if I win the lottery I can also live without humor I could try I could try I could try to be serious can one live without love yes can one live without music without literature yes but the life is is a smaller life it's a narrower life it's some more toin life can one live without God can love live without the believe that there's meaning that there's purpose of course you could but I think it's a smaller life it's a narrower life when I look at myself I look at you I look at my children I look at the world and I say sorry you're all just a random error just an insignificant blimp on the surface of a planet that came here by mistake your life life means nothing but to yourself your death means nothing but to yourself your conception of being part of a plan of a picture is nothing but a delusion The God Delusion in the famous book you could believe that I think life becomes smaller it's diminished it's very narrow there's something very powerful meaningful in teaching my children that their lives have meaning that their lives have purpose that they were conceived in love that every soul was sent down for a mission and that even every bee and every mosquito every mammal and every fish every bird and every Gene every shrub and every tree and every plant every Galaxy and every Star every flake of snow grain of sand Beating Heart and blade of grass every Lily and Rose ultimately sings a song manifests on energy and there is a cosmic Oneness a holistic Oneness that connects us all we speak especially today about all men and women being created equal we're responsible to each other that shouldn't be taken for granted I know Jefferson from my country believe these are self-understood truths they're not self-understood Hitler didn't believe them Stalin didn't believe them this murderer in Pittsburgh didn't believe them Turk didn't believe them pirate faraoh didn't believe them hmon didn't believe them these are not self-evident truths these are truths that have been communicated through a certain ideal and value that really believes that we come from One Source maybe we're not created equal maybe as nii said the fact that I could means that I should survival of the fittest the fact is that those who Embrace Evolution with such passion and such V and I must say many of my dear brothers Jews who Embrace Evolution with religious fervor and somebody once told me Jews don't know how to be atheists when they deny God it's always with religious passion it's a religion and that's why they will fight for it till the last drop of blood even if it doesn't make that much sense because religion you fight for those are a lot of Jewish atheists I know they have a unique Jewish flavor that defines their atheism so from the Jewish perspective we look at life every day of life and there's meaning there there's a story there there's purpose there it's not a random error which only makes the question great how does one deal with faith in the presence of the Holocaust and I'll be honest with you it's a question not only about the Holocaust a question about every human tragedy 11 Jews gunned down last shabas morning their only sin that they wanted to come to pray on Saturday morning including a 97y old survivor why why and the why extends to scores of stories and events that so many of you know of your personal lives events that you experienced or heard about from the beginning of time the first human beings Adam and Eve had to observe one child murdering another child Cain murdering Abel this is the great story of history and people like giving explanations you will read books you will hear sermons you will watch observe websites or documentaries or films where people give explanations and to be blood some of my colleagues Rabin figures love giving explanations and people have different explanations some blame events on sin some speak about reincarnation some speak about the future life some speak about this world just being a corridor some talk about the physical world being an illusion the death of ego is the purpose of everything Maya Nirvana one in all all in one they say a Buddhist monk came into a hot dog stand in bar Park and the Jew says what would you like we have hot dogs he says make me you know we have hot dogs and mustard and Sauer crown and ketchup the Buddhist monk says make me one with everything please explain that to your neighbor when uh it comes time to pay when it comes time to pay he gives him a $20 bill and a Buddhist monk doesn't say any extra word so he waits after five minutes the Jew says what are you waiting for he says change say change happens inside [Laughter] and yet I will humbly say that I think the best answer to all these question is the answer that's presented in Judaism time and time again when I was younger I didn't appreciate the answer so much when I was older I came to really appreciate it the answer is so good it can be communicated in three three words we don't know we really don't know the Book of Job one of the great biblical books dedicated to the story of human suffering embodies this exact theme job is a good man suffers terribly loses his children loses his wealth loses his health he has three friends who come to console him and what do three Jew friends do when they console him they explain to him why God is punishing him and job refuses to accept it he says I'm not a sinner I'm a good man I never heard a fly I'm not an evil person I do not deserve this and they rebuke him and they scream at him and they chastise him in the beautiful poetry of 42 chapters of the Book of Job and finally after 37 chapters God Appears to job and we're waiting to hear the explanation why and here it's not perpetrated by a Hitler perpetrated by nature I.E by God and what God tells job is I'm really upset at your friends your friends really have spoken inappropriately fascinating he takes job's side job the one who defends himself and says this didn't happen for sin he takes job side he says I'm upset with your friends they were dishonest they did not speak inappropriately as one of the great commentators the Mal says God was telling job your friends were just doing religious lip service to me they think I need a lawyer it's like many Jews who always are busy defending God they think God needs a lawyer and they're always explaining and justifying and rationalizing God said they don't even believe what they said they were just afraid to talk about their real heart what they're really feeling at least you were honest and then when job wants to know the secret of his life all God does is the classic Jewish thing he answers question questions with more questions two chapters he speaks to job and he asks questions he starts off we were you when I laid the foundations of the earth were you there with me when the first clouds were formed when the first thunderstorm developed are you there with me when a mother gazelle has to give birth when an elephant mother has to give birth when a lioness has to birth her cups are you there with me to create the first lightening the oceans and the beaches the entire ecosystem the food sh have you been there with me what's this answer it's basically one of the fundamental ideas of Judaism is don't expect a finite brain to ever be able to truly comprehend its creator which is infinite I can't expect to take a three-year-old boy or girl put them in a class on nuclear physics and when the three-year-old comes out and says that was pretty boring I will chastise them you can't expect a three-year-old to understand a professor teaching University level of physics and that child May grow up one day to be more intelligent and knowledgeable than the professor it's only a relative difference but the gulf between the human mind and the Divine mind is absolute it's infinite some things we simply don't understand we don't know I don't know why so many tragedies happen I don't know I don't understand and not only me some of the greatest Jews in history we're not afraid to ask the question Abraham speaks to God and says will the judge of the world not behave with Justice Abraham such Moses Moses speaks to God and says why are you afflicting this people Jeremiah why do the evil Prosper job David the entire all of the biblical books the greatest Believers asked the question because here we come to a fundamental point and that is this question of why and how can only come about if one actually believes there is a God who is not evil if one feels this entire world is random the question of why is autal question why did the baby die why was this person born with a terminal illness why did this tragedy happen in the family why because cookies crumble in different ways there's no rhyme and there's no reason things happen as they used to say in Yeshiva spaghetti happens it happens randomly the fact that all of us deep down in our hearts when you hear about a tragedy by nature or perpetrated by people you hear about an earthquake that claims lives you hear about a hurricane or tsunami that claims lives you hear about a tragedy in an individual family or Community every heart the heart of an agnostic the heart of an atheist the heart of a Believer cries out and consciously or unconsciously we say to ourselves why that why from a Jewish perspective I is one of the greatest proofs that God lives in every heart that somehow we expect the world to be a beautiful place that when we see acts of violence when we see massacres or bloodbaths when we hear of travesties or tragedies something doesn't sit well in us because deep down we feel this world deserves better if the world was conceived in Love by a loving creator why why would you allow this the very question the very question is a testimony to profound faith in fact the truly secular person can't ask why why why not why not it's only if I really accept that there's a god who's good that the question why makes sense which is why we're not surprised when people ask this question because deep down the soul experiences the reality of God and therefore each person has that question CU each person deep down has a spiritual aspect to them has a spiritual relationship to them even if in talk shows and at debates and on YouTube videos they love to deny it but there's another component here think about the perpetrators there was something unique about the Holocaust unlike other tragedies we're used to when we read about this killer in Pittsburgh what did he do for a living so you'll read the articles how he was a loner he was a ghost nobody knew him some strange fellow it fits the profile of a real loser who has nothing better to do than gun down 11 people in Cold Blood throughout history we learn of barbaric bar barbaric people illiterates uneducated people who celebrated Bloodshed but there was a uniqueness about the Holocaust and the uniqueness was it was perpetrated conceived contrived executed by the nation that was considered the most sophisticated Nation in modern times the nation that produced the greatest amount of phds won I believe the most Nobel prizes excelled in the Arts and the humanities in philosophy and even in ethics never mind in science it was a nation that believed in culture and education it was a nation that during Holocaust in awood played Richard Wagner's music because they had a sensitivity to the richness of culture and to the diversity of the art you remember that scene in Schindler's List when the crack out ghetto is liquidated and one little Jewish girl hides in a piano and she thinks the coast is clear and she comes out of the piano by mistake her little cute Angelic foot hits those those keys and the SS guards on the bottom hear the sound of music and with oomph and zealousness they run up they see a little girl in a red coat who just came out of the piano and there's three guards three SS men standing and one sees a beautiful piano and he's a Pianist he sits down to play the piano as his colleague shoots the girl dead and as the girl falls down into a river of her own blood his friend the third one turns to him to the shooter to the killer pointing to the one by the piano and says to him Mozart he looks at him in this day nine how can you be such an illiterate person when it comes to music and not distinguish between a Mozart and a Bak but that didn't stop them from murdering that child which teaches us something very profoundly about history and about life and that is for more than a century the philosophers of the Enlightenment taught that you can eliminate God from the face of the Earth and people will be good based on their own reasoning based on their own culture based on their own nature if you just allow people to govern their lives and societies based on their mind and you give them the opportunity for research and scholarship their higher angels will prevail came Nazi Germany and a nation that produced the most educated masses where were capable of sending 1 and A2 million children to the gas Chambers because as the Ten Commandments understood if you want to ingrain the low thou shal not murder you can divorce it from the first commandment there are laws of justice and ethics that are rooted not in my mood and my intelligence but in an absolute Divine source of morality and when God was dismissed from the face of the planet as R nii said God is dead or as I saw somebody wrote graffiti on the subway God is dead sign nii and then under that nii is dead signed God when they decided you can eliminate God let people be enlightened and our own Enlightenment will allow us to become great people look at the lessons of Nazi Germany morality has to be educated don't take it for granted it doesn't happen on on its own children need to be educated that there's something called right there's something called wrong there's something called good there's something called evil and it doesn't depend only on my philosophy and my mood and my rationality and my justifications it's rooted in an absolute source of morality or as DFI writes if there's no God everything is permitted everything becomes a matter of taste some people equate killing cockroaches with killing people as I once heard somebody say on the radio why are you making a differentiation it's all about what I like what my mood is what my feelings are but if we could take this to the next step and speak about what Jews some of the lessons that Jews can learn can discover from this great tragedy that happened just one generation ago and as I once had a student who used to tell me Rabbi Jacobs in the Holocaust happened two mortgages ago that was his way of making it palpable two mortgages ago of what we as Jews can learn today from this with a profound relevance for today's day and age very often we look at our brothers and sisters and we misunderstand the uniqueness of the Jewish people and sometimes we have to learn from our enemies King David says my enemies make me smart sometimes my enemies make me wise they teach me truths that I often can cannot see Within Myself what am I referring to I'm referring to the fact of who was targeted 75 years ago during the Holocaust Jews were divided then as they're still divided today they were Communists there were capitalists there were zionists there were anti-zionists there were bundists who Des despised Judaism despised it and they were Ultra religious Jews cidic Jews observant Jews in Russia in Poland in Lithuania in Ukraine in Hungary in Gala and in all of Eastern Europe there were Jews who maintained Our Heritage our Torah with umph and passion and diligence and commitment and there were Jews who saw themselves as assimilated and integrated in mainstream society intermarried and completely integrated some even converted to another religion and yet for Hitler and the Germans none of them could be speared each of them was targeted with equal Venom and equal hatred each one of them was seen as the Vermin of the earth and one wonders how can you hate a little baby a one-year-old Jewish child a 2-year-old threey old Jewish song they're not Communists there's no territorial dispute they're little babies there's a universal feeling that we have to babies whether it's our family our race our people or not how can you have such a hate to a child how how does that happen hmon had the same thing Hitler had a good teacher H in the mill in the Book of Esther purm he says he wants to destroy every single Jewish child every last child why this hatred to a child why the hatred to a Jews assimilated the Jew says I'm not Jewish I'm don't believe in it I'm not interested in it I'm not that person I'm not a rabbi I'm not a sadic I'm not a rebba I'm not a rashash Shiva I'm not in this whole I'm not in the system I don't even believe in the system but there is a very profound truth here and that is that Hitler and the Nazis despised every Jew with equal hatred because ultimately the Holiness of the Jewish soul is identical in every single Jew a Jew is a Jew is a Jew no matter if he or she calls himself involved involved or not involved religious or secular Ultra religious or Ultra secular rightwing or leftwing Centrist facing right Centrist facing left Ultra Ultra Ultra left Ultra Ultra Ultra right however you define yourself however you see yourself deep down we are all one we are all brothers and sisters every Jew carries the genes the history and the Holiness of the Jewish people from Sinai till this day and our enemies those who hate us therefore don't distinguish because they see in every Jew the full Majesty the full grander of the Jewish people and here is the rule of History we are the miners canaries of history when miners got to go mining they don't go down into the mines before they send the canary Birds the canary birds are sensitive to noxious fumes if they don't come back you don't go down if the canaries come back you're safe the canaries will always be affected first by the poison in the mines Jews are the miners canaries of History look at any society if there are noxious fumes Jews will be targeted first but never last Stalin Des spies Jews but it didn't end with Jews he killed 50 million of his own people Hitler hated Jews more than everybody else but he only started with Jew the suicide bombers of the islamists started with Israel and everyone said it's Israel the bus is blowing up the suicide bombings at Sabara pizzas in Yas and basketball fields in synagogues on egit buses an Israeli problem and then came September 11 and then came Madrid and then came Mumbai and then came so many other countries and cities it starts with Jews it never ends with Jews it starts with Jews because somehow we always attract ACT first the Venom and the poison of hatred of anti-Semitism which is not only about anti-Semitism it always results in the abuse of Human Rights look at any country this is a litus test look at any country in the world if you want to know if it's a good country to live in ask yourself one question and this worked for the last 4,000 years how they treat Jews Iran despises Jews but how do they abuse their own minorities Syria despises Jews but what do they do to their own citizens countries that are cruel to Jews end up being cruel to All Good People Jews are just targeted first we're the miners canaries that's why God told Abraham those who bless you will be blessed those who curse you will be cursed this is not just a blessing it's a prediction of History if you want to know if a country is blessed or cursed look at one issue do they bless the Jew Jew or do they curse the Jews Hitler felt in his bones the Holiness of the Jew and evil despises goodness evil wants to destroy goodness and where did he feel that goodness in every single Jew every man woman child if there's Jewish blood flowing through your veins there is a Holiness and goodness that drives the Hitlers of the universe mad and they can't sleep if this baby still exists they can't sleep if this baby exists this teaches us a very profound lesson we sometimes look at certain Jews and we say you're not Jewish enough you're not holy enough very nice very nice who's that guy send it to my mother-in-law please we sometimes look at other Jews and we say you're not holy enough for me you're not religious enough for me you're not as Jewish as me the Holocaust should teach us that that approach is simply wrong for Hitler no Jew was too small too insignificant not enough Jewish he was ready to hunt them down in hate every last one in fact he ruined his chances of Victory because so many resources he utilized to exterminate the Jews which was not rational you're fighting a war on many fronts use those resources to win your War but he knew what his prior priority was what his agendas now I ask you and me and all of us should we be any different and not hunt down every Jew in love and not look at every single Jew as our brother as our sister as our flesh as our blood not have the ability to embrace and hug and celebrate every one of our people even if we disagree and as Jews I promise you we will disagree for a very long time I once heard for my re he said why is it that in Hebrew I greet you Shalom and you say shalom Peace On To You onto you peace why not respond reciprocally Shalom Alim Shalom imagine in English I say good evening and you say evening good how are you you are how what's up up whats guys M guys nuts but in Hebrew we do it all the time Shalom no Shalom tosy Turvy and the answer he said was because when two Jews meet even before they start talking when they're just greeting each other they already have to disagree I say shalom Alim and you say n come on Nish nonsense stupidity now once we establish that we're disagreeing we you know that we're both Jewish none of us have to convert and we could continue having a conversation hopefully peaceful there's a fellow a great cabalist his name is Jackie Mason he's the guy who repeats most of my jokes and uh I heard from him once that uh if two Jews meet and within four minutes they don't establish a family connection I know your first cousin I'm your third cousin twice removed I knew your mother-in-law from her third marriage if if if we don't establish a family connection within four or 5 minutes one of them is not Jewish and it happens all the time yeah oh of course Toranto yeah my brother yeah I know I know them of course I meet some I go to Australia people say you're from New York yeah you must know my cousin in New York of course who doesn't know your cousin only 3 million Jews there you must know my cousin of course I know your cousin not only that I'm waiting for them to pay back back my loan maybe you could do it instead of that but I would add that if you meet another drw within a few minutes you don't get into an argument one of you is probably not Jewish which is why today I chose to leave the United States of America come to Canada because we have a very heated day over there a lot of a lot of Shalom Alim and Alim Shalom but not as funny and as peaceful always as we're making it but it's a hot passionate day of uh the elections so I decided to come to Canada and uh I I thank you for welcoming [Applause] now but you know there's something very comforting about this thought and I have to share this with you often we look at ourselves in the mirror and we say am I really the same Jew am I a continuation of those same Jews who stood at Mount Si 3,300 years ago I mean do I have any connection to Abraham Isaac Jacob S Rebecca Rachel Leia Moses Joshua King David King Solomon Samson how about RAB AA Zak May shim Rabbi Judah the prince Rashi my manes the AR of the B I mean we live in a different climate in a different milu in a different world the connection seems to be maybe just about Nostalgia and know somebody once told me Nostalgia is not what it used to be like so yes we can repeat our statements we could celebrate a Seder we can come to schul we could do the traditions we can even eat but is there a real connection but friends let's look at the facts and that is sad but also very very comforting we are hated by those who hate Jews the same way like our ancestors were hated a 100 years ago 500 years ago a th000 years ago 2,000 years ago 3,000 years ago just who walked into the Tree of Life last chabas in the morning and gunned down 11 Jews in the tree of life in Pittsburgh where I've spent many a summer and where many of my cousins were Bar Mitzvah and B Mitzvah in the tree of life have been there and while he was gunning them down all he could say is all Jews deserve to die why do all Drews deserve to die why do all Drews deserve to die why do so many people people believe that why is the blood liable that we use Muslim blood for our matsan Passover still a common common idea and Truth in Muslim countries what is this but one thing remains and that's what we have to realize we are the same Jews who stood at sin we are the same Jews who lived in Babylonia and who lived in the holy land and who lived in Europe throughout all of the years of the diaspora we are not only a continuation we don't only carry their dreams and chromosomes this is the same people we still attract the same Venom you know why because we still embody the same Holiness of God's people the ambassadors of the Divine ambassadors of Love Light hope and sacredness and it's the ambassadors of the Divine that are being targeted because nobody likes their alarm clock do you know anybody who falls in love with their alarm clock we don't like alarm clocks and Jews historically have been the alarm clocks of civilization people don't like alarm clocks consciously or unconsciously but finally my friends there is one more component when we speak about faith and the Holocaust and its lessons and this brings us to a vision there was a prophet Ezekiel and Ezekiel I think in chapter 36 or 37 has that prophecy that we read after Passover on Passover it's called The Prophecy of the dry bones God takes Ezekiel the prophet and he observed the destruction of the first temple he was in Babylonia present day Iraq he takes him to a valley the valley is filled with dyy bones and he says what do you see son of man what do you see and he says I see dry bones and he says can these bones come to life and Ezekiel says you know God and then suddenly these bones are infused with a spirit and they grow flesh and the dry bones come to life and God tells Ezekiel this is going to be the story of your people and one wonders what is the meaning of this prophecy and yet we have the privilege of saying the truth in our own way not withstanding the tremendous pain and Horrors our people existed we have seen some of this prophecy come true in our own times a little while ago I spoke with the chief Rabbi of Berlin Berlin Berlin German he's a friend of mine we were classmates in Yeshiva his name is Rabbi Yuda Tel and uh shared with me that he went to meet the president of Germany Frank Walter Steiner who is the present president of Germany to discuss the commemoration of 80 years since Christal Christal broke out on November 9th 1938 that's exactly 80 years ago exactly and He was discussing with the president of Germany what is the appropriate way to commemorate it that night when hundreds some say thousands of Jews were beaten and murdered thousands of sin inoges and Jewish shops and homes were torched and destroyed thousands upon thousands of Jews send to concentration camps that day when in many ways the Holocaust began even if the war itself only started on the 17th of el September 1st 1939 and Rabbi Tel who aabad Rabbi of Berlin is discussing with president Steiner of Germany had to commemorate it and what the president tells him is the 80th anniversary of Christ is going to be shortly before this is what I want to do I want that we Germany should erect a huge minora where by the what is it called the gate uh huh renberg gate will erect a big manur and I want to have the privilege as the president of this country to light it and Rabel is sharing this with me I said so what are you going to do he said of course I'm going to do it the president is going to light the shamish he's going to light the shamish of the manur and we're going to light the manur and I thought to myself imagine there are those pictures and those videos of Hitler speeches that he gave at that Brandenburg gate of all the motorcades all the parades the Hitler Youth the thousands and thousands of Germans saluting Hail to the furer where the SS of hatred and genocide were planted and inculcated in the hearts of millions and 80 75 80 years later the president of Germany wants this manora to stand there and he wants to go up on that uh cherry picker and light that manora and then I remember that story that happened in a city called k k Germany Kel Germany in 1931 the last night of Kaneka was Friday night shabbat the rabbi of kill which numbered only 500 Jews from the half million Jews in Germany was a man name Rabbi Posner RAB AKA B Posner and before Shabbat comes in he liks the monora all eight candles he has it on his window sill and there's eight candles ready to greet the Shabbat this is the last evening night of his wife about to go light shabas scandles her name is R poer takes a picture in 1931 of the manora burning moments before Shabbat why did she take the picture she takes a picture which I have seen because right across the street is the headquarters of the Nazi party and kill and there's a huge swasti on the building so as the manur is on the window s in the background you see a hug swasti in the picture and Ru poser in writes on the other side of the picture these words she writes Judea will die says the swas and she continues judaa will outlive them and live for eternity says to the nor that's the picture Rabbi and rabbitson Posner urged their Community to leave kill in the 30s which is why I think almost the entire community of kill was saved including they themselves they came to Israel every KH right before KH there's a Jew who lives in his name is Yuda he is a grandson of the posers and Yad Museum delivers to him that manora that made it to Israel and he liks it with his children and grandchildren for those eight days holding the picture that original picture that his grandmother took in 1931 a few minutes before Shabbat Judaism will outlive them and live forever thus says the manora at that point it was hard to believe but today as you look at that picture you look at that manur and you say who triumphs the president of Germany ask Rabbi wants to have the Merit to light the brenberg gate on the first night of and you have to ask the question where is Pharaoh where is where Ison where is where is where iset where is thalin where is goel Rosenberg and himler and manga where are they and the answer is they are in Wikipedia and we are the Jewish people and the answer is we created we competed and if you want you can take out any of their names Google their names and edit them you can edit Pharaoh you can edit hmon but it's not only we edit them in Wikipedia we also wanted to transform them so we took Haven and we turned them into a h and we took an and we turned them into a lka we took pharaoh and we turned them into to a mat ball we don't only want to outli them we want them to contribute to our cholesterol to our growth to our health to our obesity and to our love for food last I was near Brooklyn College they wanted to know this Irish president why do Jew eat so many I said it's simple hanak is the victory of Jews against the Greeks the Greeks were into a few things fashion books Sports exercise athleticism so we need donuts a lot to make sure we never ever will look like them you know friends my dearest friends a little while ago a rabbi in Israel by the name of Rabbi y David grman he's the rabbi of mdal is visited by an Israeli fellow a man named danom he's the head of the Regional Council of the upper Galilee he comes into Rabbi grman and he says I was in Germany a few weeks ago and in Germany I met a member of the German Parliament his name is dlib Herzog and he approaches me and he says my father died a few weeks ago he gave me something here it is a wallet why my father was on his death bed and I was there this is what the German Parliament member is telling Dan from Israel in Germany and he says my father looks at me he says before I die I have to make a confession I was a member of the Luv I was a member of Hitler's Air Force and I was a member of the varak of the army the German Army and the day I got a certificate that I was accepted in the Air Force was very exciting for me and I was looking for a nice sophisticated wallet to be able to place my certificate in that day we burnt down a synagogue and as we were burning the synagogue I saw on the floor of the synagogue this very expensive and cool nice parchment and I said that's good for my wallet and I went and I tore off a piece of parchment and I fashioned it into a wallet and I placed my certificate of the Army in side of it and I always carried it with me but I learned then that this was a sacred item for the Jewish people in the synagogue and I'm about to die I feel bad take it and deliver it to the holiest Jew in Israel and he gives it to his son dlib Herzog Parliament member who gives it to danat who comes to Rabbi grman back in Israel and says as far as I'm concerned you're the holiest Jew in Israel here is the wallet Rabbi grman holding on to the wallet opens it up and he could feel right away this is the club this is a parchment of a sa Torah of a Torah scroll and then he calls over Dan and he says there are words and let me tell you which words and Rabbi grman shows him that this Nazi this s this man tore off the Torah in the book of Deuteronomy the end of the beginning of the end of is the portion where there are many sharp rebukes against the Jewish people about the possible dispersion and persecution of the people and then it continues you stand here today before your God and rabi grman tells Dan Rashi writes there that what Moses was telling the Jewish people is that the Jewish people heard all these warnings and they started to be petrified that they will perish they will not survive so Moses says you are standing here like the day just like the sun doesn't disappear it sets but then it rises again you will never disappear after Sunset will always come sunrise this was the portion that this Nazi turned into a wallet for his certificate of the VAR the that came back to Rabbi grman in Israel and I thought to myself if you were standing in that sh if you were a fly on the wall in that synagogue in 1941 or 42 observing Jews being burnt alive as a Jew from aitz told me he says the life of a Jew was less significant than the life of a rat it meant nothing it meant absolutely nothing the torture the sism the barbarity the hatred I'm finishing reading now a book by an awood Survivor Dr Edith AER the choice anybody saw the book The Choice Edith AER some scenes that she describes and your blood boils and if you would be a fly on that wall and you would see Jews burned the Torah strewn on Earth we come we bring out the sa for toras and the and everybody MW MW mwah mwah mwah we dance but for the Germans it was on the floor stepped on with their boots and their mud and then he tears it off and turns it into a wallet every Jewish heart would shudder if this was done even if you don't you're not a regular attendee in a synagogue and if you were standing and observing this you and every normal person would come to the conclusion judaa is dead Juda is is dead we fought long we survived long but we have breathed our last breath seven and a half decades later that wallet comes to one of the great rabbis in Israel today of grossan and he opens it up and it says you may experience Sunset but the sun will always rise again and even if it's cloudy there's always is the sun above the clouds and even when the sun sets Over the Horizon it doesn't disappear there is rebirth 75 years later 6.6 million Jews live in Israel today let that number not go unnoticed 6.6 million Jews live in Israel today in our Eternal Homeland and that Torah scroll came back to the rabbi and he looked at it and Moses says you will stand here for eternity if that is not a miracle what is a miracle some time ago Israel released the name of the man who executed Adolf Ean for many years his name was concealed because they were afraid that neonazis will take revenge his name is Shalom nagar a yemenite Jew who was in charge to provide security Forman when he was captured by the mostad from the streets of bonus Iris in 1961 brought to Israel tried hung cremated Mr nagar a yemenite Jew with long pay sidewalks dark yemenite complexion was the man who did it he hung him he cremated him and then took his Ashes to be scattered in the waters of the the Mediterranean three miles away from Israel they didn't want to have his ashes in the territory of Israel they wanted to place it in international waters and 50 or 60 years later Israel revealed his name and I was reading that one of the German TVs one one of the German TV networks came to interview Shalom to tell them about the last days of and they asked him can we interview you and he said yes they said we have a beautiful studio in Tel Aviv beautiful German kept camped clean neat Studio he says no no you want to interview me Shalom nag is in his 80s and he learns Tor fulltime in a K in a Yeshiva in Israel that's where he sits and learns Torah you'll come interview me there so the crew came into this Yesa this with all due respect but these houses of worship and isra are not always yakish style the yakas are good at being neat and organized and clean but if you go into a Jewish K it's usually a mess first of all the books are torn second of all the books are all over the place third of all there's people arguing they're always arguing in these Yas it's like no you don't know what you're talking about but this is what he means not what he means second the RO of this coffee there's no milk there's milk there's no cups there's cup there's no spoons there spoons there's no sugar there's sugar there's no hot water you never get everything then there's always a guy who decided this is his house so he sleeps there he sleeps in the shore he has a little house under the table with a refrigerator and a freezer and a mattress and then there's another guy who's competing with him over that house then there's somebody who's making a kiddish for his mother-in-law's yard site somebody else who's preparing for a Mitzvah Mitzvah alah two people arue one guy is giving a class there's a minion finishing DAV you know all these places are not German style and they look at him and they say could we just do the interview in this quiet studio and no here or nowhere they don't have a choice they do the interview there and nagar answers their questions very fascinating story about akman the security that Israel provided for akman out a fear that somebody will kill Amman before before the trial is completed and before the verdict is is given and before Justice is Meed out to the architect of the final solution and AAR says that akman was under such tight security he was placed behind Five Chambers 1 2 3 4 five in each one there was security guards access to him was almost impossible all the food that was given to akman Mr nagar had to eat first because they were afraid somebody would poison him and nagar asked ahead of the mosan he said I don't understand if there's poison there then I'm going to die and the head of the mosa told him well for you I have a replacement Forman the monster there's no replacement so paradoxically protecting his life was became the role his role and he did his job well and then came the faithful night and he hung him he remained an unrepentant murderer his last words Long Live Germany in haale I'm not going to conclude the sentence but he remained completely loyal to his boss to the furer completely wholesome with his life's work of eliminating gazing six million innocent human beings just because they were Jewish he died he was cremated his ashes scattered and nagar tells the whole story in detail finally the interviewer asks him on this German TV show why did you choose to do the interview in this place where there's so much commotion and noise why can't we go to our beautiful studio in Tel Aviv and nagar a classic yemenite Jew not politically correct not very diplomatic pretty blunt type of guy responds and I have to say I was reading his response and I quelled I I I appreciated it I enjoyed it and he said I'll tell you why I know that this interview is going to be watched by millions and millions of Germans we could have done it in your neat studio and then you would have seen a studio with a Jew I wanted to show all your people it's not only the Jewish people survived in their body I wanted to show you that Jewish culture Jewish faith Jewish Heritage Jewish scholarship Jewish learning survived I wanted you people should see the commotion they should see all the books are torn you know why they're torn cuz they're used because they're studied I wanted them to see the arguments our culture is alive our faith is alive our Torah is alive our Mitzvah are alive our Traditions are alive I wanted them to see that our synagogues our centers our study halls are vibrant I wanted them to see we didn't only survive with our bodies we survived with our souls because the Germans wanted to destroy not only the Jewish body but also the Jewish Soul Jewish Pride Jewish dignity Jewish culture Jewish faith when they came into Lublin one of the great cities in Poland that housed one of the largest Yas in eastern europein the building still stands if you go to linin and it had one of its great the greatest Jewish libraries 25 or 30,000 books from before the war and the SS forced the Jews to build a fire and to take the books with their own hands and throw it into the fire to add insult to injury and The Story Goes it wasn't enough they told the Jews Now sing don't only burn your books but sing when you burn your books Let's see you really downrod and one of the Jews took a song an old Yiddish romantic song about a husband and a wife who get into a fight doesn't only happen in Canada it happened in Poland too and he looks and she's ignoring him you know when a Jewish wife ignores a husband it kills the guy I we make believe we're Macho but we're not and she's just ignoring him she gives him that you know cold treatment and there's nothing as hot as the cold treatment of your wife there's nothing that stings and bites like when your wife is angry at you especially when it's passive aggressive meaning you're not even worth the passion you're not even worth being screamed at any men know what I'm talking about okay they're all nodding wow that's wonderful you could call me if you need help and so there's a y song a romantic song the husband turns to the wife and say let's stop this nonsense let's make up with each other let's let's stop holding grudges that's the song it's a very cute Yiddish Love Song essentially the Jew in lein converted the lyrics and he put new lyrics spontaneously Master of the world we will outlive them and as books are being burned the Jews are singing we will outlive them first s can't understand why they're excited but when they listen closely they discover that in their singing They promise themselves and their children we will outlive them so Shalom kagar tells the German crew I wanted to show you that we are wholesome not only in our physical survival but also with our spiritual survival with our spiritual survival in 1990 friends communism fell and one of the countries that doors opened up to Judaism was hungry under the Communist Regime since the revolution in the mid-50s and a few Jewish activists went down to Budapest and they opened up a Jewish St school and they put a little ad in the paper and they hoped maybe 5 10 20 Jewish parents will come on the first day 400 Jewish parents came to look at the school to think about enrolling their children and they didn't know what to do were they going to get classrooms teachers curriculums books this was shocking so they split up the activist they started to interview every set of parents to see you know what they want how they could service them one of the fathers was there he came with his little girl they asked the father what brings you here what brings you here and this is what the father said this is what he said that I was a little boy we were living in Buddha pest in 1944 my family was very assimilated we were Hungarian and our neighbors didn't know we were Jewish it was bedtime and I was sent to bed I was 6 years old I was 6 years old old but I heard my father and mother having a heated conversation you remember when you're six and you're hear tati and mommy having a heated conversation you crawl out of bed and you go to the door and you listen and I hear my mother telling my father the Germans took Hungary it's 1944 the deportations began what if they would discover we're Jewish and my father told my mom you don't have to worry we have a Hungarian name there's no sign of Judaism in this home nobody knows us as Jewish we've been assimilated for a very long time we're good to go mother says to father but what if they search our home and they find Jewish articles here father says there's nothing here there's no Judaism in this house the books are not Jewish the books are Hungarian and mother climbs up to the top of a book as she takes the ladder she goes to the top of the bookcase and the boy is looking through the the the peephole of the door and she takes down a book it was the book of tahim The Book of Psalms later I would find out that that's the book that her mother gave her on the day of her wedding she gave her a book of tum a book of Psalms one of the books of the Bible written by King David and she showed it to my father and she said what about this and my father said let me see it and she gave it to my father and without skipping a hearts beat he took the book and he threw it into the fireplace and within 10 seconds it was reduced to ashes and my mother broke down sobbing I didn't understand why she was crying he burnt a book I was six I was a little boy six or seven later I would learn that probably she was sobbing because this was the last link that my parents had with their Jewish past and for my mother it represented the end the last chain in the link was severed the last cord the last connection was eliminated it demonstrated to her the sadness of it all I went to bed I couldn't fall asleep because I hear my mother crying most of the night he looks at the rabbis in 1990 and he said since that night whenever I go to sleep I still hear my mother sobbing the war ended we were not deported I was alive my mother was alive my father was alive we integrated into Hungarian culture but every night I hear my mother sobbing and I find no rest when I saw the ad in your newspaper that you are opening a Jewish school I thought maybe I could bring my child here and have them read the book of to Hillen The Book of Psalms so that my mother's tears at last can be dried up the dry bones my friends have come to life 75 years ago all we saw were piles of Ashes if you go today to trebling care you will see piles of ashes and yet one day the story will be told about this generation the generation of Anita and her colleagues who From the Ashes constructed families communities most Jews left aitz trebling Bel L house and bgen bells and and those few survivors went and most of them decided they're going to get married they rebuilt Israel and they rebuilt Judaism the world over they built families and businesses they built communities were they perfect absolutely not was there trauma in many of the homes absolutely yes can you expect anything less but look at this miracle instead of becoming suicide bombers and instead of dedicating their life to hate to despondency to depression they decided to build a Jewish future to create a Jewish Renaissance and every one of us sitting in this room and the world over is a product of that Miracle they blew in spirit to the dry bones they were Dry Bones literally some of you know the pictures and the films of what the Jewish musl looked like on the day of Liberation in January or April or May 194 5 when the Soviets and the Americans and the British liberated them they were Dry Bones literally and yet they blew life into those bones they refused to surrender they refused to despar they became committed to rebuilding the flame the torch of the Jewish people of the Jewish homeland of the Jewish Heritage and the Jewish faith and as we stand today 7 and a half decades later this is a Clarion call that this batan this torch that they gave over to us to you and I we should never abandon we should never neglect we're blessed to live in times of freedom and opportunity and prosperity it's easy to forget who you are what you represent and how much blood sweat tears joy and laughter was invested in this story tonight we not only express thank thanks to that generation perhaps the greatest generation of the Jewish people but not only a thanks also a commitment a dedication to ensure that that spirit and that soul that that Heritage and that faith that that tradition and that yish kite lives on through us for eternity thank you very much [Music] [Applause] this class is brought to you by the yeshiva.net please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at ww.the usa.net donate