October 7th and Kristallnacht

October 7th was not Kristallnacht. But many people wish that it were.

In November, 1938, 17-year-old Herschel Grynszpan, who was born in Hanover, Germany to Polish Jewish parents, learned that his family had been arrested by the Gestapo, stripped of their property, and deported to the Polish border, where Poland refused to accept them. Grynszpan was then living in Paris, and seeking revenge, he entered the German embassy on November 7th and asked to speak to a high ranking official, as he claimed to have an important document that he intended to share. When Ernst vom Rath, the third secretary of the German embassy in Paris and a Nazi Party member, asked him for the document, Grynszpan yelled, “You’re a filthy boche [i.e., German]! In the name of 12,000 persecuted Jews, here is the document!“ He then shot him five times in the abdomen, after which Grynszpan voluntarily surrendered to French police.

Vom Rath died two days later, and Germany’s Nazi rulers used the occasion as an excuse to begin a campaign of antisemitic violence across Germany. Beginning on the night of November 9th, SS troops alongside regular citizens defaced and destroyed hundreds of synagogues, while thousands of Jewish-owned homes, hospitals, businesses, schools and cemeteries were vandalized or destroyed entirely. One hundred Jewish people were murdered, and 30,000 were sent to concentration camps. As a final indignity, the Nazi government forced the Jewish community to pay for the damage, which amounted to approximately $400 million, or almost $9 billion today. This event became known as Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass.”

Kristallnacht was not the beginning of Nazi persecution of the Jews, as the Nazis had implemented a program of antisemitic policies and decrees ever since Hitler’s ascension to power in January, 1933. Given the future annihilation of six million Jews, Kristallnacht, with “only” a hundred murdered Jews, might seem like a footnote rather than a watershed. Kristallnacht was indeed notable, however, as it marked the beginning of state sanctioned violence against the Jews; it chillingly anticipated even worse violence, as well as the potential elimination of Jews altogether.

Thus Kristallnacht, on its own, was horrible. With hindsight, though, it was far worse: a potent demonstration of Nazi capability, an ominous sign of Nazi intention, and a terrifying portent of future, unthinkable disaster.

Hamas and its Iranian allies like Hezbollah and the Houthis wanted October 7th to be another Kristallnacht. Their goal wasn’t 1200 dead Israelis and 251 hostages, but nine million dead Israelis and no living hostages. October 7th, that is, was supposed to be the first stage in the next genocide of Jews, the initial battle in a fight that would conclude with the elimination of Israel and its Jewish population.

On Sunday, August 25th, Hezbollah aimed thousands of rockets, missiles, and drones at the Jewish State, hoping to initiate the next stage in the slaughter of every living Jewish person in the State of Israel. August 25th could have been another October 7th, the next in an endless series of October 7ths which have been repeatedly promised by those who live to kill Jews.

But it was not. The Israeli air force, demonstrating exceptional intelligence capabilities, destroyed 6000 launchers fifteen minutes before they were due to launch their deadly weapons. This maneuver undoubtedly saved countless lives, and demonstrated to our Nazi-like foes that this time, October 7th was not an omen. Instead of another Kristallnacht, October 7th was a wake-up call and the beginning of a renewed Israel’s determination to fight for its own self-preservation.

The millions of voices across the globe castigating Israel’s right to self-defense, the countless talking heads who question Israel’s ethics in preempting Hezbollah’s deadly barrage, the cacophonous noise of those who chant that Iran and its allies must eliminate the State of the Jews… these are the prayers of people who wish, with all their heart, that October 7th would have been Kristallnacht, 2023: the beginning of the end of the State of Israel.

We in Israel have our differences. We shout, argue, and accuse. We cannot agree on the best way to move forward after over three hundred days of war.

But every man, woman, and child in Israel agrees that October 7th will never be another Kristallnacht. We are all determined that October 7th represents the end of Jewish powerlessness, not the beginning.

Those who despise Jewish self-determination can scream themselves hoarse. We march resolutely forward with the prayer that God assist us in protecting our children and ourselves from the baying mobs of Nazis. Kristallnacht, for us, must remain a one-time event.