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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Keeping the Jewish faith in the heart of the Nazi death machine,
By Gary Selikow (Great Kush) - See all my reviews
This review is from: With God in Hell: Judaism in the Ghettos and Deathcamps (Hardcover)
For many Jews caught in the Nazi death machine , the battle was not simply for survival at any cost. In the face of unspeakable degradations and torture and the ever present threat of death , in the Nazi death camps , they struggled to maintain their human dignity through continuing the practise of their Jewish faith against indescribable odds. They marked another dimension on the filth and horror surrounding them , by continuing to observe the Jewish rituals , sabbath and holidays , and turning hell into a place of prayer.
In this fascinating book, Eliezer Berkovits (1908-1992) tells us the stories of Jews , who stuck by their faith in the camps ,a nd analyses the strength of Jewish observance in such an enviroment. Only thus , he suggests , can we gain an understanding of the power of the Jewish religion , and an insight into the great historic destiny of the Jewish Nation. Their behaviour demmanded a courage no less great than that of armed resistance. He gives real case histories of courageous Jews , who gave up all to observe Judaism , and also discusses the dynamics of life and death and the holocaust according to halacha. He outlines the story of Reb Mendele , the brother of the Gerer Rebbe , who pleaded with one of the Kapos for some water. To everyone's surprise the man , who was one of the most sadistic among the Nazi lackeys , brought the water. Reb Mendele did not drink it but used it to wash his hands for the preparing himself for the last prayer on earth, the saying of the Viddui (the customary confession of sin before death.) Along the way , a badly wounded child was thrown across Reb Mendele's path. Hepicked up the bleeding baby whose little body was quivering in his hands. Reb Mendele , holding the child , turned to the others and said: "...this holiness , purer than all purity ,a Jewish child. This little Jewish child is sick , weak like a fly...how come that the Satan...has to wage war and vent cruelty on little children? These defiled ones , when they see a Jewish child in the arms of his mother , are filled with the urge to murder...the forces of tumah, demonic defilement , cannot endure the sight of holiness , the spirit of purity that hovers over the face of a Jewish child." This is a testament to all jewish children who have died at the hands of the enemies of Israel, everywhere, throughout history. For the last six years Israel has been fighting for her very existence - against an enemy whose sole aim is to eliminate physically the entire Jewish population of the Land of Israel. Thousands of Israeli Jewish men, women and children have died from bombs, bullets or knife attacks, and thousands of others have been maimed, blinded, orphaned, widowed and terrorized. In 2003 on Erev Rosh Hashanah, seven month old Shaked Abraham was shot dead in her crib by an Arab murderer who forced his way into her parent's house as the family was celebrating the New Year. A ten-month-old Jewish baby, Shalhevet Pass, was shot in her father's arms by an Arab sniper in 2001. The following year, a five-year-old girl, Danielle Shefi, was shot to death at point blank range by an Arab killer, while cowering under her parents' bed. That same year, two boys, four- and five-years old, where shot dead together with their mother as she read them a bedtime story, in a kibbutz, by Arab terrorists. Children , like five year old Gal Eisenman , have been incinerated in buses by Arab homicide bombers. In 2004 heavily pregnant Jewish mother Tali Hatuel , was shot to death at point blank range by terrorists of the Popular Resistance Committees , after which her four terrified small daughters-Hila, Hadar, Roni, and Merav-where executed one by one. Many anti-Israel academics mirror the Nazis in their contempt for the life of Jewish children by their advocacy of the killing of Israeli children. Charlotte Kates of the violently anti-Israel International Solidarity Movement has reffered to Israeli children as 'fair game ' for murder by Arab terrorists. Berkvits discusses such halachic questions as Jews forging papers during the holcaust as 'Aryans' to escape death , and the handing of Jewish children to Christian families , to be hidden from the Nazis and raised as Christians. Berkovits finally refers to the hope of redemtion for the Jewish people , by victims of the holocaust , such as the young Jewish boy hiding in Belgium who wrote in his Hebrew diary: "My brothers!Do not misunderstand me. As I speak to you about vengeance I want you to pay attention to it's positive side. Our revenge for present suffering and for all our sufferings during these two millenia of Galut , will be the resoration of our land ; it's settlement by its people ; the return of our beloved people to it's inheritance. This will be the greatest revenge that is in our hand to achieve. For this we ask first of all for the help of our G-D , of the G-D of Israel, who has protected us from extinction during our entire exile. He is sure to help us and and to guide us anew to the land of our inheritance , to our holy land , the land of Israel." That is the reality of Zionism and of the State of Israel. The dawn of the dreams of all the victims of the Holocaust. This dream can never be extinguished.
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