This is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, 2015, what should Jews remember? What should Christians in the West remember? Palestinians?
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, Gaza remains unreconstructed. Settlements continue to expand. The Israeli populace moves farther and farther to the right. The churches continue to write documents against the occupation that mean little. Jews who enabled the occupation for decades and now come out against it are honored. Are they honored for finding their voice when it’s already too late?
The interfaith ecumenical deal continues unabated. Here Jews are empowered and Christians are supposed to repent – and remain silent about what Jews are doing to Palestinians. Thus the many posts from Christian remembering the Holocaust. Are these posts strategic? Most of this Holocaust grief has become rote, a credential played so that support for Palestinians can’t be seen as a form of anti-Semitism.
The Holocaust has assumed a religious significance. Like Easter and Passover it comes around every year without doing much of anything except encouraging outrageous conduct among those with access to power.
When will this Holocaust remembrance – with injustice continuing – charade end?
Many years ago I encouraged Christians to halt their religious services because the words they uttered and the doctrines they signed onto meant little if anything in the real world. Is it now time to halt remembrance of the Holocaust for the every same reason?
What Jews – and Christians – would do without the Holocaust as a signifier of absolute grief is difficult to know. Yet, since absolute grief has other destinations, including Gaza, it is time to turn our attention elsewhere.
Perhaps, then, the remembrance of the Holocaust will return as an authentic attempt to grapple with unmitigated evil. One thing is for sure: As Jews continue to oppress Palestinians, making a holy day for Holocaust remembrance only delays the more authentic second coming of Holocaust remembrance.
Note: Marc chose to change the title of this piece from The Second Coming of the Holocaust out of concern that some misunderstood. –Ed.
“As Jews continue to oppress Palestinians, making a holy day for Holocaust remembrance only delays the more authentic second coming of the Holocaust.”
“more authentic second coming of the” remembrance of the Holocaust. Okay, now I see, the remembrance referred to in the first sentence in the paragraph.
Threw me for quite a while. Who doesn’t want to delay a Holocaust, if they can? But I see the author meant, (if I can take the liberty of paraphrasing) ‘only delays the more authentic second coming of remembrance of the Holocaust’. And that more authentic remembrance should not be delayed.
Remembrances of Washington and Lincoln have been combined into “Presidents Day”. Perhaps remembrances of the Holocaust and the Nakba could be combined into “Inhumanity Remembrance Day”.
Trivializing the Holocaust by comparing it to events that, even if painful, are in another league altogether will only act to remove an important warning sign for Humanity. The Holocaust has many aspects that are unique to it – there is no need to repeat them as all are aware of that – which, in turn, had profound consequences on many.
The continent of Europe, which for a millennium dominated the world, has lost its center-podium status. Germany, which was a center of cultural and an academic power, has lost both. Europe now has to struggle with a vast population of immigrants that don`t accept its own core values (as different from the Jews that use to be there), it has had to accept the general lead of the US (to where the Jews from Europe fled and contributed meaningfully to its rise) and recognize that without it, it has little in the way of defense against an once again ambitious Russia. The Holocaust was a key factor in the establishment of Israel and that had a big impact on the region that it is in and indeed beyond – likely, a big part of that is still to come.
And let`s not forget: it was the Holocaust that motivated a group of Jewish scientists, pacifists in personal inclination, to get into the development of The Bomb so as to try to stop Nazi Germany in Europe . The Bomb may still get us all.
“Many years ago I encouraged Christians to halt their religious services because the words they uttered and the doctrines they signed onto meant little if anything in the real world.”
:-) !!!
I guess we didn’t listen to you.
All I can think of for some reason is, what would a cigar store jew look like? I think a missing Seinfeld episode?
What does “Never Again!” mean these days?