In Bnei Brak, Haredim host EU diplomats at an unusual Holocaust memorial
At the ultra-Orthodox Ganzach archive, ultra-Orthodox Jews learn about the Holocaust from a Haredi perspective, both historical and theological
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Following the wave of antisemitism that “swept Europe and other parts of the world” in the wake of October 7, Brussels has accelerated efforts to protect Jewish communities across the continent, Dimiter Tzantchev boasted on Tuesday.
As more than 20 European diplomats looked on, the European Union envoy to Israel detailed a series of actions taken to combat threats to local Jews, insisting that Europeans were “working more intensely than ever to prevent antisemitism and to educate the young generations about Jewish traditions and the Jewish contributions to Europe.”
“The Holocaust is an indelible stain on the history of our continent and we as representatives of the European Union and its member states view it as our sacred duty to make sure the systematic mass murder of the Jewish people is never forgotten,” he asserted.
Though it sounded like a standard speech for a Holocaust Remembrance Day event, the location was not: Tzantchev’s remarks were made in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak a full day after the official observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day, known in Hebrew as Yom Hashoah.
Mingling with the European diplomats listening to Tzantchev were a crowd of Haredi Jews, the women in long skirts and wigs, the men wearing black suits and side-curls. These included Bnei Brak Mayor Chanoch Zeibert and United Torah Judaism MK Uri Maklev — the chairman of Israel’s Holocaust Survivors Commission.
While many of those present had previously gone to Israel’s national memorial at Yad Vashem for the official state ceremonies, they had gathered again to attend the unique Holocaust commemoration at Ganzach.
Also known as the Kiddush Hashem Archive, Ganzach is an ultra-Orthodox museum focused on both preserving the memory of pre-Holocaust Jewry and highlighting the spiritual bravery of those facing extinction.
The Hebrew term Kiddush Hashem refers to actions that “sanctify” the name of God.
Following Tzantchev’s remarks, the diplomats were ushered into a smoke-filled circular chamber for a presentation on the “righteous among the nations” who saved their Jewish neighbors.
There has not been enough of a focus on Orthodox victims or the spiritual aspect of the Holocaust, the diplomats were told.
Addressing the gathered diplomats, Colette Avital, a former Israeli lawmaker and diplomat who currently heads the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, explained that for generations, the European genocide was not a topic of discussion among the ultra-Orthodox.
Cantor Yisrael Adler sings El Malei Rachamim at the Ganzach Holocaust museum in Bnei Brak pic.twitter.com/VLB9Ab82Ai
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) May 7, 2024
“Elie Weisel asked how God, who controls everything, could allow this to happen. This is the reason why, I think for many reasons, Haredi Jews evaded the issue,” she said.
“The rabbis did not know how to present this, a crisis of faith, to their believers. This is why I think this institution is so important.”
Israel’s Haredi community approaches Holocaust remembrance in a very different manner from most Israeli Jews. Rather than observing Yom Hashoah, most Haredim opt to mark the genocide of the Jews on the 10th of Tevet, a minor fast day.
Many Haredi youth are barred by their strictly religious schools and communities from visiting Poland as part of March of the Living, a program that brings Jewish high schoolers to Auschwitz-Birkenau on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Tuesday’s commemoration was not held on Holocaust Remembrance Day in order to allow the diplomats to attend, a spokesman told The Times of Israel.
Founded 60 years ago by Rabbi Moshe Prager, the Kiddush Hashem Archive was established to fill a void left by Yad Vashem and other mainstream Holocaust memorials, explained Chief Operating Officer Rachel Yud.
According to Yud, the archive — which produces educational material, runs activities for students and preserves documentation — is focused on telling the pre-war story of the “beautiful congregations” destroyed in the Holocaust as well as the “Jewish spirit” exhibited by the victims and the lengths to which they went to preserve their religion and culture even when persecuted.
“We are less interested in what the Christians did and more in how the Jew behaved,” she said. “That’s what’s important to us. Their hopes and dreams and wishes. Their faith. We are talking about faith and God.”
For years, Haredi parents did not mention the Holocaust to their children because “the survivors didn’t want to talk and the second generation didn’t know anything. They didn’t want to face the questions of faith but not only that, they wanted to focus on rebuilding,” she explained.
“The past was horrible. But there is a change because of us.”
Asked how the Kiddush Hashem Archive handles questions about where God was during the Holocaust, Yud replies that “it is clear to us that God was there, just as He was on October 7.”
“It is not clear to us why. We don’t know the considerations of Heaven. But it is clear he was there,” she said. “When we speak about the Holocaust, we discuss the job of man, not God. Where was man during the Holocaust?”
In other words, what lessons can be learned from the Holocaust “to help us be better people?”
Charlie Summers contributed to this report.
