Our Revenge Against Hitler–Adherence to the Torah

By Avi Ciment for the Jewish Press

What was Hitler’s main motive in ridding the world of Jews? I think the answer lies in Kristallnacht, when countless Jews were murdered, 30,000 men were sent to concentrations camps, and 267 synagogues were destroyed. It officially marked the beginning of the horrors, and its purpose was to strike at the heart of the Jews – their sacred synagogues, their holy sacred books, their beloved Torah.

Jews armed with the Torah represent the power of good. In fact, Hitler hated our Torah so much that he even provided extra food rations to concentration camp inmates on fast days in order to destroy their spirit. Like the evil prophet Bilaam, he knew the source of our strength lies in our strict adherence to God’s Torah. Their goal was to destroy our ability to observe the Torah, to weaken our spirit, to strike at God through His people.

How many of us – who grew up, not in the horrors of the Holocaust, but in the lap of luxury – are lax in observing God’s commandments? We have the ability to walk around with a yarmulke, find a kosher meal without too much trouble, catch a myriad of daily minyanim, and carry ourselves with real Jewish pride. Yet, how many of us violate basic prohibitions without even giving them a second thought? And how many mitzvot don’t even make it on our radar screens because we’ve fallen so low?

How to take revenge against the Nazis? By doing the very thing the anti-Semites can’t stand–Mitzvot! I could learn Torah. I could spreading the light of God. That’s revenge!

Every time we make a kiddush Hashem, the anti-Semites can’t stand it because we bring God and light into the world. Every time we build another yeshiva, erect another shul, have another baby, donate more charity, spread more Torah – they boil with jealousy. Because we represent the power of good. And they know that our strength comes from our adherence to the Torah.

But the opposite is also true. Every time a Jew intermarries, he’s indirectly granting Hitler a posthumous victory. Every time we violate a law, or hurt or steal from another, we push God’s protective glory away from us.

So let us Jews adhere to the one thing Hitler desperately tried to destroy: the Torah. With each mitzvah we perform, we act as a light unto the nations, who will one day proclaim, “Mi K’amcha Yisrael.”