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Holocaust

by Dr. Pesach Schindler - Rosh Yeshiva, United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva, Jerusalem

As we are bidden to tell annually the redemptive moments of our past, so are we called upon never to forget the Holocaust, when a third of our defenseless people were slaughtered. Paraphrasing Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov, forgetting prolongs and deepens exile, while remembering sows the seeds for redemption and restoration (tikkun).

To limit recommendations to a handful is a daunting task. My preferred list attempts to provide five varied learning experiences.

  1. Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, third edition (Yale University Press, 2003). This superb history has evolved via three editions and 1388 pages. It is the conclusion of 55 years of meticulous research. This is the story of Nazi Germany, its lethal bureaucracy, the people who gave life to its ceaseless mechanism of suffering and genocide, and the collaborators who helped achieve these objectives.
  2. Lucjan Dobroszycki (ed.), The Chronicle of the City of Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944 (Yale University Press, 1984). A skillfully researched chronicle of the creation and destruction of the Lodzer Ghetto. An intimate close-up of a great Jewish community in its final struggle with life and death.>
  3. Yissakhar Shlomo Teichthal. Em Habanim Semeha: Restoration of Zion as a Response During the Holocaust, edited, translation & notes by Pesach Schindler (Ktav, 1999). A remarkable confession from an ultra-Orthodox Rabbinic leader who admits to fatal errors in having been linked to a mistaken theology. Rabbi Teichthal, employing Biblical and Rabbinic sources, urges the wounded saving remnant to re-embrace Eretz Yisrael, the metaphoric mother of Israel, who awaits the return of her children from the costly exile. He was murdered towards the end of the Shoah and never lived to realize his prophetic vision.
  4. John K. Roth and Michael Berenbaum, Holocaust: Religious and Philosophical Implications (Paragon House, 1989). A collection of 25 essays and reflections from survivors as well as scholars. The expected questions relating to “The Uniqueness of the Shoah,” “Where was the world?” “Where was God?” are laid bare. The writing and editing is sensitive and thought provoking. The memorable dialogue between Elie Wiesel and Richard Rubenstein is worth the volume.
  5. Robert Rozett and Shmuel Spector, editors, Encylopedia of the Holocaust (Yad Vashem 2000). Israel Gutman, editor, Encylopedia of the Holocaust (MacMillan, 1990). Indispensable works for rapid reference are available in the one- or four-volume format. Photos and maps, overview essays and detailed entries have been contributed by experts in their field of research.
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