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Why is the covenant with Abraham important in Jewish history?

Was the holocaust caused by the breaking of the covenant with Abraham? What about Israel?

  • It is believed in Judaism, that Gentiles (non-Jews) are used by God to persecute the Jews for not following the covenant made with Abraham. It is also believed that Gentiles are used by God to reward the Jews for following the covenant. With that logic, do Jews consider the holocaust an act of God, using Gentiles (Nazi Party) to punish the Jews for breaking the covenant? And do Jews consider the creation of modern Israel as an act of God, using the Gentiles (Britain, etc) to give the land of Israel to the Jews, in reward for following the covenant?

  • Answer:

    It is not that simple. In Judaism, the general belief is that everything happens for a reason, whether to the Jewish people or others and that G-d is in ultimate control. But you cannot say with certainty that the reason why G-d allowed the Holocaust to happen was specifically because of "breaking of the covenant with Abraham" nor can you say that the reason for the creation of Israel was "the Jews followed the covenant". It is also an interesting question of whether such questions are even appropriate considering that we cannot read G-d's mind thus discern His true intentions. (I personally get annoyed when some people argue that X happened because G-d is punishing them for Y. e.g. G-d punished the USA with Hurricane Katrina because [fill in the blank]. You cannot make such a claim.)

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You do live in a strang world. Glad it's not mine.

Five Times

Do you mean that the Jewish God does not believe in self-service? Using Christians to punish and reward the Jews? What logic is that?

DAN DAN

Religion is fake, all it has to do with it is that a sociopath got into power.

Relax, it's Only a Cartoon.

Six million Jews and millions of other innocent people (gays, Roma, political prisoners, people with disabilites, people with mental illness etc.) were murdered in the Holocaust. Anyone who denies the Holocaust is sick in the head.

No, it was not caused by the breaking of the covenant, the Holocaust was the act of evil creatures masquerading as human beings. I copied this answer for you, read it well !!! "There are many responses (rabbinic discussions of questions regarding halacha or traditional Jewish law) on the topic of "where was God during the Holocaust". Rabbis of all varieties who actually went through the Holocaust themselves generally have avoided laying blame on anyone and have insisted that God was with the Jews through the camps, in the gas chambers, and on the death marches. God enabled people to maintain their sense of self amidst horrors unimaginable, to maintain their sense of purpose when all else failed, and their sense of identity when all else was stripped from them. People performed incredible acts of faith in the most insane situations. Seders in Auschwitz. Fasting on Yom Kippur in Treblinka. Wearing tfillin under their camp uniforms (I have seen a pair that were used in just that way) and sewing tzizit onto a uniform belt (I have seen that as well). Countless Jews marched beaten, shorn and naked to the gas chambers singing the Shma, the Jewish prayer acknowledging God's supremacy over us all, even as they knew that they were about to be killed. Even for those who rejected God, cursed God or denied God's existence, the rabbis teach that he was there with them until the end. It was not for God to decide who shall live and who shall die; that was an act of man taking God's place in an act of ultimate evil. God's existence is not challenged by acts of man. Man's humanity is. We are called by God to be God-like in Judaism. We are created b'Tzelem Elohim, in the image of God. How we behave and what we do with that creation is our choice, even if that choice is ultimate evil."

Shay p

"It is believed in Judaism, that Gentiles (non-Jews) are used by God to persecute the Jews for not following the covenant made with Abraham." Uh.... what? G-d doesn't persecute the Jews, for starters. It might be semantic, but he punishes, not persecutes. If he does anything negative. Besides, that isn't the function of a Gentile. "It is also believed that Gentiles are used by God to reward the Jews for following the covenant. " - Once again, not their function. Besides, there are some rewards that they can't give. Your logic is flawed - humans have free will, so even if used as instruments by G-d to give punishment it does not explain everything. Besides, the Holocaust wasn't so guided - the righteous were actually more likely to be caught and suffer. And many Jews lost religion because of it. Besides, the percentage of Jews breaking the covenant is a little higher now than it was in the 40's. You have to account for that. The Holocaust is the fault of man. Calling it G-d's is just deflecting the responsibility off of humanity for the lost lives of Jews, Poles, Roma, Political Prisoners, Homosexuals, and the Handicapped, amongst others, who also died. Is G-d behind that too? I've studied Judaism too. A lot of it. While I can't deny that the possibility remains, it's not a tenet in Judaism that G-d is responsible for everything - maybe all creation - but not all suffering that some of said creation causes. If anything, Judaism rejects your theory.

Dean

While Gentiles ARE used by God to punish Israel, the Gentiles OFTEN get all gung-ho and become homicidal. The Gentiles (National Socialist Party) itself is to blame for the Holocaust, and the people for allowing it to go on.

It was the Nazis that caused the Holocaust not the Jews.Your question is very insulting to the Jewish community

Kevin7

Some religious groups within Judaism have suggested this. However, it is not a mainstream position by anyone.

Joshua N

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