Not a Day for Introspection

I wrote the following thoughts last night, before we awoke to the outrageous remarks made by Gen. Yair Golan, Deputy Chief-Of-Staff of the IDF. At best, his remarks were irresponsibly reckless and will be used to fuel global anti-antisemitism. Moreover, to choose Holocaust Remembrance Day as a platform to shamefully compare Israeli moral shortcomings to early Nazi Germany, represent heartless cruelty. I would invite him to have a coffee with my grandmother to help him understand the difference. In recent years, Holocaust Remembrance Day seems to generate variations of a new-age discourse in the media. Questions like “What modern universal social lessons can we learn from the Holocaust?”, provide a confused, defeatist dilution of the obvious historic lessons.

Many people hate Jews. They always have and always will. No matter what we do. It is indeed wise to try and curb antisemitism, but it’ll always be around. “In every generation, they rise up to annihilate us”.

The lesson of the Holocaust is pretty simple and apparently still quite relevant. When the murders come for the Jews, we should be prepared to defend ourselves and kill them first. The sooner the better.

The Holocaust also provides an inspiring lesson about the perseverance of Judaism throughout indescribable challenges and personal self-sacrifice.

Notwithstanding, the lesson of self-defense is still the priority, because dead Jews can’t practice Judaism.

There are many worthy days in the Jewish calendar for self introspection. Holocaust Remembrance Day is not one of them. Let’s just focus on national self defense, without apologizing.