The People Of Israel

The Jews claim that they are only a religion, but the fact is that they are a race. Whether Orthodox religious, atheists, capitalists or communists, they all still claim to be Jews. They consider themselves to be God’s chosen people but if this true, why do they suffer so much? What were they actually chosen for? Were they chosen to suffer over the course of time? Famous thinkers in Jewish history such as Moses and Abraham have also asked similar questions. Moses asked why the righteous had to suffer and the wicked were allowed to prosper? Abraham asked whether the Judge of the entire earth would give them justice or not. This shows that the Jews have been through a lot for these great to even question their God. The fact is that God has chosen the Jews to be a “Kingdom of Priests and Holy Nation.” All the sufferings they have been through have introduced the most vital concepts to humans such as the value of human life, the concept of history, the value of good deeds, predestination and the rights of an individual. They are predestined to be eternal people, so when a Jew dies, he or she still lives on. As in the Mishnah,

God may have delivered them from evil, but He was also the creator of said evil and the one who placed the Jewish people in the center of it. God was the one who created their famines, placed them in the hands of the Egyptians when he should’ve been aware of their intentions, and subjected them to numerous genocides like the Holocaust and pogroms. If they were His people, why must they constantly suffer under His watch?

For ages the Jewish population did not have a place to call home. They had been wandering around deserts, were once slaves in Egypt, but didn’t have any land to their name. Following the Holocaust, after many Jews had been persecuted by Hitler and the Nazis, a good portion of the overall amount of Jews in the world let alone Europe had been exterminated. As a result, Harry Truman and the UN suggested Israel, a homeland for the Jews. Tensions had been growing throughout the beginning of the 20th Century regarding the Palestinian area in the Middle East. This area was off to the side of Asia, near Africa. When the Jews and Arabs were offered part of this land, war broke out and still continues today. Even though a war happened as a result

For forty years God had miraculously provided food and water for their forefathers. The current years of blessings and protection caused the inhabitants of the lands to fear God as the nation settled it. They knew something special happened when Israel’s God showed up.

With regards to the Christian faith, and from a historical point of view, the Jewish people were considered as the chosen people of God. Abraham, who is regarded as the father of Christian faith and to whom God first revealed himself, was a Jew. The ten commandments, which serve as a guide for Christian behavior, were revealed by God to a Jewish man named Moses. Jesus Christ, who Christians recognize as the son of God and God himself, was born among Jews and hence was also a Jew. So, there is a perceived connection between the Jewish people and God. It is very ironical that the “people of God” will suffer such a horrific experience. For those who believe in some form of deity, and most especially for Christians, it seems obvious to ask why God allowed doom to fall on his people. Why do bad things happen to good people? This is a ubiquitous interrogation which generates numerous debates. Let’s consider the story of Jesus Christ, a story filled with many paradoxes. The Jews, who for a very long time awaited the coming of the Messiah, ruthlessly put him to death when he finally came. Even more troubling is the fact that Jesus Christ, who is considered son of God, has also examined God himself. This implies that he had the ability to defeat his oppressors, or even escape from them. Instead, he journeyed innocently towards death, just like the Jews. “They guess where they are going, they know it, and they keep silent. Tense, thoughtful, they

The Jewish people felt scared, mistreated and their conditions worsened so much so that their cries ‘rose up to G-d’.

This website refers to the thousands of people killed during the Holocaust. During 1933 when the Nazis came to power they believed that Germens were “racially superior” and the Jews seemed “inferior.” This made the Jews seem to be a threat to the German radical community. During this time Germans targeted not only Jews but people because of their perceived “racial inferiority” and just anyone who had something wrong with them (gypsies, the disabled, some Slavic people, Poles, Russians, and others.) Also other groups were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds, (Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals.) By 1945 the Germans killed nearly 2/3 of every European Jew as part of the “Final Solution,” which

Over the past few years, several deadly genocides have occurred. However, one of the most infamous genocides to occur was the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the “massive destruction of European Jewry during World War II, when millions were systematically persecuted and exterminated solely because of their social, cultural, ethnic, or religious characteristics” (Barel, Van Ijzendoorn, Sagi-Schwartz, Bakermans-Kranenburg). Contrary to popular belief, Jews were not the only group targeted in the Holocaust, as five million more lives were taken in groups other than the Jews. Three other groups targeted during his deadly event were the homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled, and the ethnic minorities, whose death toll equaled 2,285,000, a combined total that clearly showed how determined the Nazis were in destroying their targeted victims in the Holocaust..

Other victims of the Holocaust took much different approaches to how they viewed the treacherous and seemingly godless times they faced. Specifically, certain sects of Hasidic Jews grew closer with their faith, and maintained a strong relationship with God through the carnage. A variety

Dehumanization is defined as a psychological process whereby members of a group of people assert the inferiority of another group.� Opponents view each other as less than human and thus not deserving of moral consideration, and are treated as less than humans through subtle or overt acts or statements.� Experiencing dehumanization can often lead to feelings of intense hatred and alienation among conflicting parties. The more severe the conflict, the more the psychological distance between groups will widen. Eventually, this can result in moral exclusion and these people are typically viewed as inferior, evil, or criminal.� In the holocaust, the Jews, in the eyes of Nazis, are a group of people that do not deserve moral consideration.� The Holocaust affected the lives of millions because of the hate inside of one certain group of people: the Nazi 's.� The victims of the Holocaust provide an excellent example of individuals who suffered from the torment of this psychological process as, for a variety of reasons, the Nazi 's goal was to deprive human qualities such as individuality, compassion and most importantly, identity through the process of dehumanization. In his attempt to bear witness to the horrors of the Nazis ' attempt to exterminate the Jewish people, Primo Levi, a Jewish-Italian chemist, writer and Holocaust survivor provides his own personal testimony of his experience in the Auschwitz concentration camp in the form of his memoirs, If This Is a Man. In these

Just as western religions accept that G-d exists, we know that evil and suffering exists. Western religions know G-d as omnipotent, omniscient, and morally good. With these three fundamental characteristics in mind, G-d would have the power to destroy evil, the knowledge to know what evil is, and the will and desire to destroy it. Thus, the western conception of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good G-d gives rise to a new Problem of G-d. To answer this problem, many scholars have searched for a theodicy, a rational explanation for evil in the world. When analyzing Judaism, the necessity for theodicy is most prevalent, and possibly most difficult, when trying to come to terms with the Holocaust. Using Elie Wiesel as my starting point, I will address the three conclusions scholars have reached: theodicy is possible, there is a human inability to construct a convincing theodicy, and a completely rejection of any possibility for theodicy. After presenting these options, I will offer criticisms as well as explain my own rationale for supporting Wiesel’s claim that G-d deserves to be questioned because He bears responsibility for evil in the world.

The exterminattion of six milloion jews was the Holocaust. Led by adolf Hitler, he felt like he was so surpreme that he had all the power in the world.Many historians point to Hitler’s years in Vienna as having shaped him. Between 1908 and 1913 the young Hitler unsuccessfully tried to set himself up as an artist there. The city had a large Jewish community just before the First World War, nearly 9% of the two million residents were Jewish – but the social climate was openly antisemitic. With an outspoken anti-Jewish mayor and many anti-Jewish newspapers and magazines there was no restriction on antisemitism, and Hitler was strongly influenced by this. The concentration camps held Soviet civilians: around 7 million (including 1.3 Soviet Jewish civilians, who are included in the 6 million figure for Jews.Soviet prisoners of war: around 3 million (including about 50,000 Jewish soldiers.Non-Jewish Polish civilians: around 1.8 million (including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polish elites.Serb civilians (on the territory of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina): 312,000.People with disabilities living in institutions: up to 250,000.Roma (Gypsies): 196,000–220,000,Jehovah's Witnesses: around 1,900.Repeat criminal offenders and so-called asocials: at least 70,000,German political opponents and resistance

Since the commencing of Judaism coming into existence, the Jewish people have been exposed to oppression and also discrimination. They have not been obliged to even come close to having a stable place of worship and have been through ill-treatment and torture that most of us would consider unimaginable. The two themes that are mainly thought about within this time period is the persecution the Jews had to undergo during this time period but also the perseverance they managed to carry as well during the time. Everything that occurred during this time period is the reason as to how the Jewish faith is impacted today and why everything is the way it is. There are concepts during this time period that are very important and also connect to the reason why the Jewish faith relates to things, for example; the covenant: reciprocal, solemn and binding agreement between humanity and God, this is an important factor to their faith and is connected to the faith in some way shape or form.

Silence Speaks When Words Cannot In Jewish culture, Jews are the “chosen people”. According to Jewish writings, they are set apart from the rest of the world. In the bildungsroman novel, The Chosen, none of the characters choose to be Jewish, they are in fact born into the role. The phrase “The Chosen People” means that Jews are trying to make the world a better place. Their goal is to study and do good works and live out the commands that God spoke to them.

Kitty Hart-Moxon recalls, “Arrival in Auschwitz is a defining moment in your life. The doors open, you are thrown out, greeted by barking dogs, screaming figures with whips, a stench of burning flesh and a glow of fire” (Harding). Hart-Moxon’s vivid memories of violence stayed with her a lifetime. If a person was fortunate to survive the agony of the Holocaust, one was left battered, broken, and in most cases asking why. Although the Jews, political dissidents, homosexuals, and other groups targeted by the Nazis will never get their lives back, they can gain some solace from identifying the perpetrators of the Holocaust and using that knowledge to ensure it never happens again. Many people share the burden of the crimes committed during the Holocaust, yet the three groups that can be allotted the most blame are top SS officers who planned the mass exterminations, the citizens of Germany who voted for and supported Hitler, and minor SS officers who carried out day-to-day duties.