Yisroel Saperstein writes as follows (“Jewish Observer” June ‘76):
The fires of Mesiras Nefesh continued to burn bright in the hearts of our people even in the most terrifying circumstances. Jews who smuggled into the concentration camps Tefillin, Chumashim, Shofaros, and even Sifrei Torah, instead of an extra morsel of food or their jewels, or money ... Jews who kindled Chanukah lights in the depths of Auschwitz and Buchenwald — where they made a Minyan ... Shiurim were arranged and well-attended to learn Torah at the gates of the German hell ... Jews who, after a whole day of body-breaking labour, went with their last ounce of strength to the back of their barracks to put on a pair of Tefillin ... The queues for putting on Tefillin were so long in Buna-Auschwitz that a Gabbai was appointed to make sure that nobody kept on the Tefillin longer than a few moments to say the She’ma ... In Tirnau, Jews lined up in the dead of night, from 3.00 a.m. to 5.00 a.m. for a turn to put on the Tefillin ... Jews who baked matzos in the Klooga Death Camp in Estonia, where there was a regular Minyan complete with Tallis and Tefillin ... Jews whose consideration for each other, whose fulfilment of the Mitzvah of "ו ֹא ֹה ֹב ֹת ֹֹל ֹר ֹע ֹך ֹֹכ ֹמו ֹך ֹ" — “You shall love your friend like yourself” — was so strong that slave labourers who were allocated less than survival rations left over some of their own precious portions of food for others in a nearby concentration camp who would sneak in at night for a little sustenance. It was the Jews who, even after having been forced to surrender their bodies as indeed other nations had surrendered theirs, still remained Jews, noble-spirited and holy.
Read the book “The Holocaust and Halacha” and you will see what it means to be a real Jew. The terrible questions that were put to Rabbi Ephrayim Oshry and how he answered them, not theoretical, but practical Halochoh in circumstances barely imagined, is a testimony to the holy and great spirit of our People. And so in all times and circumstances the Jew seeks to fulfil his obligations to HaShem and His Torah, and sacrifices his life and liberty to learn Torah, to put on Tefillin, to keep Shabbos. Russia, the great world super-power, could not stop a Jew building a Mikvah, eating matzos, praying; Russia cannot crush the Jewish spirit. The ruthless bear is left looking idiotic in the face of the great little Jew.
Yes, who is like you, Yisroel, the most unique people on earth?
This Jewish spirit is also the embarrassment of the secular Jews who have turned their backs on the Torah, who utilize that peculiar stubbornness of the Jews against HaShem, who more readily study the sick culture of the גּו ֹי ֹם, and out-Goy the Goy in their slavish following of Goyisher ways, rather than know the Torah of HaShem which is their true heritage and precious possession, or actively participate in the Torah life of the Jewish People. (Some of these people think they can bribe HaShem with צ ֹד ֹק ֹה — “cheque-book Judaism” we call it; it is this kind of people who create the impression that the Jewish Nation is no more than the largest fund-raising organization in the world.) Maybe the Auschwitz Exhibition will help these Jews, too, that they should come to their senses and realize how thin is the veneer that they call “culture” and “civilization” and how precarious is life where there is no י ֹר ֹא ֹתֹש ֹמ ֹי ֹם. Our job is to live and teach י ֹר ֹא ֹתֹש ֹמ ֹי ֹם. Like our father Avrohom in the pagan land of the Philistines, we have the special duty to bring the knowledge and fear of HaShem to the nations of the world. That is our ת ֹכ ֹל ֹית, our purpose, as HaShem’s Chosen People. (See .תניא,ֹפרקֹֹל"ג)
One further point. Unfortunately, there are some of our people who inwardly squirm with embarrassment when we say that we are the Chosen People of G-d. In their minds, any talk of “chosenness” or “superiority” raises for them the spectre of the German Master Race. How, they wonder uneasily, can we say about ourselves what the Germans said about themselves?
They forget: firstly, we never have to apologize for HaShem and His Torah. HaShem calls us His Chosen People and therefore there is no need to apologize for that. Secondly, let them look at the difference and see: The Germans claimed to be the Master Race. What did they mean? That they can therefore treat all other peoples as “untermenschen,” sub-humans, to be used as their slaves, to be degraded and exterminated as a pest in the horrific death camps to make way for the Master Race.
The Jewish People, on the other hand, are special, but to be the teachers of G-d’s message to the nations of the world, to raise them up to the recognition of HaShem as the Heavenly Father of all humankind, for their ultimate good. The Germans sought to oppress all nations, the Jewish People seek to elevate all nations. That’s the difference. Our job is to be as the כ ֹה ֹנ ֹים, the priests; the representatives of all the nations before HaShem, as it says, "ו ֹה ֹי ֹית ֹםֹל ֹיֹס ֹגוּל ֹהֹמ ֹכ ֹלֹה ֹע ֹמ ֹיםֹכ ֹיֹל ֹיֹכ ֹלֹה ֹא ֹר ֹץ" — “You are to be to Me,” says HaShem, “as a treasure more than all peoples” — for what purpose? "ו ֹא ֹת ֹםֹת ֹה ֹיוֹּל ֹיֹמ ֹמ ֹל ֹכ ֹתֹכ ֹה ֹנ ֹיםֹו ֹגו ֹיֹק ֹדו ֹש" — “that you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” That is why HaShem took us from Egypt. Let us not forget our holy duty.
Yes, we saw the Auschwitz Exhibition. And in a curious way, the very fact that this Exhibition has been organized by non-Jews is an encouragement that in these matters at least the moral conscience of the nations of the world is beginning to stir. Many books about Anti-Semitism have been published in recent years, too. Some of them, written by non-Jews, are the earnest enquiry of bewildered people. This is a good sign for the future. True self-inspection and genuine soul-searching are the starting-points for correction and improvement. (Though this must not blind us to the sad fact that the hate-mongers’ presses, too, are far from idle.)
The lessons of Auschwitz are many and far-reaching. Let people learn about race-hatred and the destruction and human misery it brings. The Jewish People went through it all, and survived, and the spirit of the Jew is not broken. But the lesson must not end there. By deed and by word, we must continue to teach and explain to the world that there is only one way that mankind can avoid sinking into terrible and horrific calamity, and that is to learn to fear G-d.
We, the People of Avrohom, that “Prince of G-d” who taught י ֹר ֹא ֹתֹא ֹ-ל ֹה ֹים ֹin a pagan world, will remain special to HaShem, until we can usher in that golden age of Moshi’ach’s coming, when all good people will recognize HaShem as the King and Ruler of all the world.
