A fitting excerpt from Turning Judaism Outward: In December 1990, the Israeli media was outraged after Rabbi Shach had declared the Holocaust as “definitely a punishment. The Holy One Blessed Be He kept score for hundreds of years until it added up to six million Jews.” Convinced that G-d had enacted retribution on sinful Jews for violating the Sabbath and eating pork, Shach suggested, “Because of the sins, the Almighty may bring another Holocaust upon us, and it may already be tomorrow.” Over the years of his leadership, the Rebbe had responded privately to various individuals who had asked his views on theodicy and the Holocaust, but he had rarely spoken about it in public. For the Rebbe, Judaism ought to be motived by positive sentiments: a belief in the sanctity of the people and G-d’s love for them, the joy of worship and the achievement of sacred goals. But in a sermon following Rabbi Shach’s comments, the Rebbe delivered what was probably his most thorough and passionate treatment of Holocaust theology. After noting that rebuke and threat of punishment was, in our days, an ineffective method of bringing Jews closer to Judaism, the Rebbe rejected Rabbi Shach’s notion of a punitive Holocaust as “untrue, disrespectful to G-d, and disrespectful to the Jewish people.” “Those who are not observant in this generation,” the Rebbe argued, “have the legal status of children taken into captivity,” victims of circumstance who are not culpable for their transgressions. On the other hand, when such a person fulfills even one commandment it is valued and cherished by G-d, to the utmost.” Then he added: What kind of a person would consider himself qualified to calculate in his own mind (of flesh and blood) the account of sins? Then, he allows it to pass his lips that, because in our times there are many Jews who are not currently observant, terrible consequences are impending (may G-d protect us that it should never happen). Such an approach is in complete contradiction to what is documented in the Torah, that such Jews are like children taken into captivity and are not culpable. Rabbi Shach’s graphic depiction of a vengeful G-d were “disrespectful towards G-d,” since: A conception of G-d as One who sits counting sins, waiting to exact punishment and who refuses to move until He has settled all His debts, and then, straightaway begins again counting and punishing—is extremely disrespectful to the Almighty. To compare G-d to a merciless dictator who waits expectantly to punish is a complete misrepresentation, since, in truth, He is “the merciful Father,” as clearly documented in Scripture and the Oral Law. #askrabbiteddy
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 01:33:03 +0000
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