WORDS OF THE RABBIS
Rabbi Yitchok Hutner Z"L
Rosh Hayeshiva of Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin
- Kolel Gur Aryah
Rabbi Yitchok Hutner Z"L
Quotes from an article by Rabbi Hutner published in "The Jewish Observer",
October, 1977 explaining the Holocaust:
Public Opinion vs. Truth
Before we explore the second of the new directions in detail,
it is important to establish a clear distinction between any common
approach to world events and daas Torah -- a Torah view
of the world, "Public opinion" and any but the Torah approach is
by definition colored by outside forces, subjective considerations
and the falsehood of secular perspective.
An example of how public opinion can be molded -- indeed, warped
-- at the whim of powerful individuals can be taken from a study
of Russian history textbooks published during the respective reigns
of Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev. During each period, the textbooks
hail the then-current leader to the exclusion of all his predecessors
as the savior of Russia and hero of his people. Undoubtedly, "public
opinion" during each period, once children's minds had been suitably
molded, reflected the thinking and wishes of the state. While more
subtle in form, this ability to direct public opinion exists in
democratic countries as well. Thus, we already pointed out at the
beginning that we must make every effort to free ourselves from
the powerful grip of public opinion, and must be ever on our guard
that our opinions of the true nature of world events will be shaped
only by Torah views as seen through Torah eyes.
Sadly, even in our own circles, the mold for shaping public opinion
lies in the hands of the State of Israel. An appropriate example
of this dangerous process of selectively "rewriting" history may
be found in the extraordinary purging from the public record of
all evidence of the culpability of the forerunners of the State
in the tragedy of European Jewry, and the sub-situation in is place
of factors inconsequential to the calamity which ultimately occurred.
To cover its own contribution to the final catastrophic events,
those of the State in a position to influence public opinion circulated
the notorious canard that Gedolet Yisroel were responsible
for the destruction of many communities because they did not urge
immigration. This charge is, of course, a gross distortion of the
truth, and need not be granted more dignity than it deserves by
issuing a formal refutation. However, at the same time as the State
made certain to include this charge as historical fact in every
account of the war years, it successfully sought to omit any mention
of its own contribution to the impending tragedy. While the State
omitted in its own version of history is the second of the above-mentioned
new directions in recent Jewish history. It is that phenomenon
which we must now examine.
"The Jewish Observer", October, 1977, page 7.
Tochocha vs. Specific Guilt
For other reasons, too, one must be careful of sudden and popular "awakenings" to
different aspects of Jewish history, such as "Holocaust studies."Nachum
Goldmann, head of the only international secular Jewish organization
not directly subservient to the Jewish State, has stated that the
weakening of sympathy for the State was the result of a lengthy
period of time after the Holocaust having passed and the resultant
forgetting by the world at large. Undoubtedly, this State, taking
advantage of the arbitrary figure of thirty years, sought to reawaken
interest in what it now termed the Shoah to regain some
of that lost sympathy of the late 40's and 50's.
"The Jewish Observer", October, 1977, page 9.
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