WhatsappWhere was G-d in the Holocaust? This is one of the most difficult things to answer. Only Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of England is brilliant enough to provide a satisfying answer. G-d was there. He was 100% there, but many people did not let him in and turned their back on G-d. Rabbi Sacks explains that when man turns his back on G-d, even G-d is unable to do very much about it.
The Holocaust was the worst systematic man-made catastrophe in the history of the world. 6 million Jews from Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Rumania, Hungary, France, Czekoslovakia, Lithuania, and other countries were killed in a stunningly horrible variety of ways. For any reasonable mortal, this should be too much to handle and would lead to a loss of faith. But for so many people who endured hell on earth, they persevered in their faith. Some even deepened their faith.
But despite all answers, the mystery of the tragedy still remains. It is still an unfathomable tragedy. The Jewish people may not understand the depths of anti-semitism, and what would lead to such an unprecedented systematic form of anti-semitism for more than half a decade. But, for many, they understand the absolute necessity of a strong homeland for the Jewish people, with a strong Army. We may not understand G-d in the Holocaust, but we do understand that G-d is with the Israeli Army in the Land of Israel, and this is where He wants us to be.
