The Silence of God

Just because God gives free will does not mean that He allows people to harm others because they want to! If you, with your free will, decide to harm me but I don't deserve to be hurt, then there is nothing you can do to harm me. You might try, but you wont succeed. But if you do succeed, you will be held accountable. This is a powerful Jewish concept that this article fails to address! If God cannot be loving and kind if He allows people to hurt others just for the sake of free will...just because He decides to give one man free will doesn't mean he will allow him to hurt somebody else unless it was decreed that that person be harmed...we'll never understand why God decided to bring about the Holocaust; ultimately we have to believe that its because He knows what is best for us, even though we'll never understand why as long as we are alive, but to say that it was because man had free will is very wrong and it is not the Jewish belief! There is not a single motion on this planet that occurs without His permission, and if the Nazis succeeded in what they did it was BECAUSE he allowed them to do it and He wanted them to do it...if they wouldn't have done it, He wouldve sent some other agent to do it. the only area free will applies to is in the decision to do something, not in whether it will succeed!!

Build inner silence in you and answer to the question is answered.

God has interfered in the behavior of man several times according to the Bible. He directed the enslavement in Egypt and the release. He hardened Pharoahs heart, so Pharoahs free will couldn't be used. Many children were killed because of that and the Egyptians would be killed in the sea while allowing the Jews to escape to the wilderness. G-d directed those next 40 years. The Jews have survived many hardships after all these centuries. The enemies of the Jews have survived also. God destroyed whole cities because he didn't like what citizens were doing inside. Remember what he did to Job? Remember what his thoughts were about the World before he was bringing the flood? He directs when He wants to and he intervenes when He wants to. He banished his firstborn children from their garden home because they didn't obey him. That punishment has lasted to this day in 2009. Most of us have never learned the lesson from it. He is watching in Darfur, Rwanda, he watched in Cambodia. Whether we like to admit it or not he was right there in Germany watching the whole time. I don't like to think about it, it's too overwhelming. Has the world gone mad? Do we still have free will?

Freedom of men is the only answer i have seen to the question when i read the story and reason, but the question still remain unanswered if we will include natural calamity disaster such as: tsunami, earthquake, land slide volcano eruption etc.,etc. this does not concern the freedom of men to choose.

Rite on!. AS the British conservative political philospher Edmund Burke said: Evil triumphs when good men do nothing! And as Chazal had said long before Burke said what he said: When no man may be found, try hard to be a man!

I understand this things happen but nothing happens to us without God knowing any bad event that happens to man is a result of mans fault, we use our mouth to chat the course of our lifes. So it is up to us to make our faith work in our life and also no need to question God he said on the last days this things will happen.

First, that was an excellent commentary! Kudos! Secondly, here's what God said about it: "I am very angry with the heathen nations sitting around at ease, for I was only a little displeased with my people but the nations afflicted them far beyond my intentions." Zechariah 1:15

The Pope erred when he referred to Auschwitz as a triumph of evil. Ultimately, evil did not triumph. The forces of good, represented by the Allies, destroyed Auschwitz and the monstrous society that created it. The tragic part, of course, is that six million perished before that triumph. Never foget and never again.

There's nothing up there,that's why it was allowed to happen.Quite simple really.Don't waste your lives on riddles and superstition.I read this website because your sages are intellectually light years ahead of any others,and I get to learn a few things.I'm grateful for that.Thank you.

OK. Auschwitz was caused by man ,but God chose not to stop it when at other times in history he did intervene.The preservation of free will seems to me to be a weak response. Do we say other miracles which saved Jews such as the parting of the sea took away man's free will? Where is man's free will involved when a Tsunami or similar act of God occurs and the innocent perish along with the guilty? What is God trying to teach us? At times in history God himself states that he will kill all the seemingly innocent and wicked together. He does with the great flood and with the killing of all the first born of Egypt. No human free will involved at all. Surely it would seem that in Egypt babes and those who like in the holocaust risked their lives for Jews might be spared from acts of God if justice reigned in this world. Many of the Egyptians as I learned it pleaded with Paro to let the Jews leave long before the final plague. I do not understand God's ways and I have found no satisfying explanation as to why the holocaust. Measure for measure in this world seems to be clearly false and the idea that in the next world justice will be righted is my hope and belief. I have a tradition that the sages say it.It does seem a weak case more based on faith than any evidence. Anyone have any evidence or explanations?

We learn from early on as children "everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven." the pope cannot understand this principle and never will so he feels free to blame G-d not those who slaughtered maimed and killed innocent people

Hashem did everything to get Jews out of Europe & into their own eretz yisrael. He sent the Crusades, inquisition, pogroms, & WWI was fought in their towns. They were too stiff necked to leave their miserable environment, so the holocaust was the only answer. Many still haven't got the message & are still in the European cesspool.

I so wholeheartedly support this article. It is free choice and there are lessons to learn in order for us as human beings to evolve. Yes, pray and yes there is help sometimes, but it is our responsibility to live the life G-d Commanded us to live.

Firstly, it's a bit of a stretch for the Pope to make these comments. Nazism could never have arisen if the groundwork had not been done by 2 millenium of Catholic antisemitism. As to how could G-d allow this? He was ultimately behind it. The same as Noah's flood, taking the Hebrews into Egypt to be enslaved (as He told Abraham), plagues in the wilderness, destruction of the Temples, the dispersion. The list goes on. This is NOT to suggest that the Holocaust was a result of our sins. The point is that G-d has a plan and has certain objectives that He needs. Unfortunately, in this world, pain and suffering often come before the enlightenment and revelation (eg hundreds of years of horrible slavery before Mt Sinai). There is a story about the court case that was held in a concentration camp to try G-d for the Holocaust. The Rabbis found him guilty and then announced it was time for mincha. So, G-d organised the Holocaust but it was up to the individuals to decide what their personal role was.

if you prefer freedom of choice over god's benificence, then why do you pray? don't people often pray precisely for god's intervention. and if you or your children were in a concentration camp, wouldn't you pray that god intervene on your or their behalf? i have a feeling you would. really, one should strive for consistency in one's beliefs. it is not okay to pay lip service to one belief when it is convenient and another when that one is convenient.

i am not sure why many in the religious contingent insist on protraying the nazis as irreligious. often, you'll hear theists cite the nazis as an example of the dangers of atheism. but the example does not work. that the nazis were generally secular has no relation to their morality. our government in the united states, israel's, and many others that we conceive as moral are also secular. i guess the belief is that the nazis were antagonistic to religion. but that's not true. the nazi relationship with christianity is complex, as one can easily glean with the least bit of research. here's a quote from wikipedia: "Adolf Hitler converted to Protestantism and joined the German Christians, according to the National Secretary Klundt on April 25, 1933 in Königsberg, Eastern Prussia." here's another: "Hitler and other Nazi leaders clearly made use of both Christian symbolism combined with indigenous Germanic pagan imagery mixed with ancient Roman symbolism and emotion in propaganda for the German public." my commments are not directly related to the article. however, this is just one example of how the religious use religion to justify their horrific actions. the bilble itself is full of examples of what we today would not consider moral.

This is an age old question which still haunts us and it will always be there, buried deep in our minds .."and where was G-d at Auschitz? We have a covenant with Him, a promise of deliverance, and yet., no deliverance came...A blatant breach of contract! Can we ever forgive G-d for it? If we can, then we can move on, if we can't, then we will be a sad people indeed!

Let's look AT TODAY, with Mumbai and also examine what happened to Rabbi Akiva who was tortured for his belief. Midrash tell us that HaShem refused to save Rabbi Akiva and admonished us not to protest. Rabbi Gavriel and his wife in Mumbai died similarly as a pure soul. We can only speculate why these people were not protected as servants of HaShem. The only thing we can do is ask HaShem when it is our time why this had to be.

I am in a situation of bullying and terrorization for several years within a "reputable" organization. I have done everything within the system to change things (people in a warped system) that have harmed me emotionally and physically. I see a comparison to the Holocaust. People who promised to bear witness to discrimination and harassment they observed, are now too fearful, or too unconcerned to follow through. They are afraid of losing their jobs, but even more they are afraid of being the next victim. And, as one person said, I have been there and I don't want to go back. So there is enormous evil in these situations, and there are the weak and sheeplike who cannot see that by keeping silent, they are promoting a continuation of evil behavior. I pray for justice, and a heart big enough to forgive those who once encouraged me to go to the authorities, and who have now abandoned me to fight alone. I pray to God, who may remain silent. But, I am praying for a judge who is wise and understanding, who can not be fooled by the "cleverly evil." Thanks for giving me somewhere to pray out loud!

The free choice reason is accepted as one reason, but the fact remains that we as chosen people were given a promise of protection if we kept HaShem's Torah. Yes,to a large extent we fail our mission, but the holy people who died in the holocaust deserved better in the way of Divine Providence. As psalmist proclaimed, the enemy taunts us with where is your G-d? HaShem punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous. Yes, we are told in the next world this happens and perhaps so, but why should HaShem inspire his own desecration. There were pious people who died in the holocaust. Where was their protection? Wouldn't that have served to inspire the rest of the Jewish people to observe and change their ways? We will never know but the issue is much more complex than free choice. Evil happens as free choice of humans, but protection is Divine.

His presence and how can we understand it it is the million dollar, wait...billion dollar....wait, trillion dollar... question. Our values, like our economy has been drastically devalued. G-d is an imponderable. We learn that mankind is made in G-d's image. We also know that the Torah was given at Sinai is a guide as to how we should, or could, conduct ourselves should we CHOOSE to. Therein lies the dilemma. We all have godliness in us. Why is it so challenging to have that godliness expressed in a meaningful way? Secondly, why doesn't G-d make a grand appearance every now and then to keep us on our toes? Our dysfunctionality has permeated our entire culture from the political to the educational, all the way down the line. I think that it would take a miracle to reverse all the damage we have created and allowed to happen Until then we will all have to search ourselves for that godliness and work it to the best of our ability.

I sometimes think that HE gives adversity into life to see if we truly believe in HIM. or, whether we will "return" to HIS TRUTH, TORAH. IT yet seems we still have not learned to rely on HIM and HIS wisdom that HE gave to us. When will we "Return"? Emeq

All this terrible suffering, excuse me, there is a Higher One, the Silent One who has no need to call Himself G_d. I'm not a Hebrew, I believe (?) that there is something not right with the being that created this valley of tears. I can only refuse to accept all this great suffering and cryout to this being: This is not good, this is evil what you are doing. Why do you need all your special effects to impress us and also scare us? If we follow one, we follow because we Love. The entity that calls himself G_d, I can not follow, its no Love its a being on the loose, and I offer my tears to this being, as so many have done before me... I rememember on TV a young girl from Ruwanda, she climbed in a tree during the slaughter of her people with knives: "I climbed in the tree and looked around me, every where slaughter, I dont know what to think..." She was not alone in this tree, millions with her could not think.

The Holocaust did not disprove the existence of G-d's providence over our lives. Rather, it has only disproven that it is any possible faith in a human-based morality. As humans, we cannot be so arrogant or cruel as to answer for G-d's actions or inactions in the Holocaust, only G-d Himself can answer for what He allowed to happen. And for a religious Jew, the only answer we will accept is the immediate and ultimate Redemption that will banish evil from the face of the earth and perfect G-d's creation.

Think of this, jf not for the holocaust would Israel be here today? I think not. The world had to be convinced to bring the Jewish people home, it took the holocaust to do it. God bless Israel,

people like the pope, where were they? what did they do to stop the perpetuation of evil? just as now what is the world doing to stop the muslim terror form overtaking and terrorizing us?

WHERE WAS GOD THAT WHY I GAVE UP I DON"T BELEIEVE THERE IS A GOD

I agree wholeheartedly. Evil men are effective on a huge scale, when they can convince or coerce people to shut off their G-d given consciences. All of those systems and their followers dread the thought of an all powerful and holy Creator, to whom they must give account. I´m not sur if it was Solzhenitsyn or Elie Wiesel who said, "The silence of good people never aids the victims, but only the evil-doers. The Kristallnacht, or Pogromnacht of 1938 was a test, to see how the populace would react. Enough "good" people turned away, and this emboldened them to seriously plan the deportations. Evil triumphs when good people remain silent.

The pope like other members of his nation, were cooperating in annihilating the Jewish people. Make no mistake, they all cooperated- as did a majority of Christians in Europe and in the U.S. For the pope to ask questions about divine intervention shows that he is a fraud attempting to say that our G-d is not with us. Let him know that we the Jewish People will outlive him and his cohorts.

Although there is free will there is also divine intervention. Where is G-D when evil happens? Had G-D been earlier in the garden would the same choice have been made?!

It is impossible to understand the Holocaust. As evil and mind numbing as it was, it is events such as these that remind Jews who they are, whether they want to know or not. Similarly, it unites Jews, whether they want to be united or not. If we could only put aside our differences and realize this, we would probably have a better chance at withstanding outside enemies. Unfortunately, this is a pipe dream, and time and again, it takes a tragedy such as last week in Mumbai to wake us up. Then we fall into the slumber of indifference and go back to our divisivness. In the Hagaddah it says, that "in every generation they will arise and try to destroy us. Very few of us take that seriously until it happens.

Maybe a killer sometimes "freely" chooses to kill--unless the killer is insane, or afraid to disobey orders. Even then, how much free will does the victim have?

People have looked at the Holocaust and asked "Where was G_d?" The painful truth is that it took a holocaust to make us start asking where G_d was. G_d wants to be part of our daily lives, part of our homes, synnagogues and study halls, schools, offices.. in fact He wants to be truly, vividly and personally included and involved everywhere Jews go. G-d's wish is to be able to be with every Jew at every moment. What does this mean? It does -not- mean merely paying lip-service or merely having religious symbols, yes even mitzvot. It means living in a way that G-d feels happy to live with you so that G-d does not feel exiled, pushed away. The mitzvot are certainly a foundation for this - keeping the positive mitzvot and even more so avoding the prohibitions such as dishonesty in business and immodesty etc. But wonderfully there are further degrees possible in this with the perfection of actions, speech, thought and emotions and Jewish unity which can enable increasing degrees of G-d living with you in your house with your family. Look back in Jewish history to the times of the Temples, to the times of Tanach, G-d definitely made His presence very obvious amongst us then with clearly obvious miracles such as the plagues of Egypt, daily miracles in the Temple and the overnight slaying of an enemy army of 185,000 outside the walls of Jerusalem. But those are just some of the 'big' miracles. Many numerous small miracles also took place for individuals to the detais of clouds spot watering their crops and the already harvested grain abundantly increasing in granaries. It was very clear exactly where G_d was in those times. So really, the question "Where was G-d in the Holocaust" is part of a much bigger important and life-changing question - "Where was G-d in the many hundreds of years since the destruction of the first Temple?". The answer I suggest is that we need to radically alter our thinking. We have been used to thinking that we were exiled from our Temple, our land and our G-d. I suggest the exact opposite is true - it was us who exiled G-d from our lives, and the destruction of the Temples, and all the tragedies that followed were consequences of that exiling of G-d. And yes that includes the Holocaust for it was no different from the other tragedies only more recent, and better documented. The glorious past of Temple times when there were open miracles amidst peace and prosperity and the tragedies of the recent past should instruct us. If you think about it, this is the most important lesson there is in life. The lesson is - when G-d feels able to live amaongst us us then abundant blessings and miracles follow, and when G-d was exiled by us then we suffered horribly bitterly and terribly lo aleinu. The Kotzker Rebbe zt'l summarised this concept beautifully - "Where is G-d? Wherever you let Him in."

As religious Jews we believe that Hashem controls the world not bechirah where G-D enabled us to choose. I'm not arguing on the concept of free will, however I am crying out in the name of G-D - some more on can't kill six million Jews because he's not a puppet, - as you put it. God reigns and always will. Come up with a knew answer to explain g-d's ways. Nice try anyways.

A pope who thinks of sanctifying Pope Pius a well known supporter of Hitler isn't a man I can trust even if he were to speak of present anti semitism (it's not modern anti semitism it's as old as we are). Christianity promoted that hatred so let them not accuse others they did it themselves (read Paul Johnmson's A History of the Jews to get your answer

Ha Shem was testing us... and we Jews had nostate... no army , airforce or navy... and he knew we needed one...ans so he gave us one drastic choice under a horrible test...form a state and defence.. or br extinguished... fortunately because of the lesson of kiddush ha shem we did...we also needed to love one another and be a band of brothers and sisters... uniting together... and therefore was recreated Israel...

SHALOM ....

Bsaed on a previous asked article, about fanatism related to dogmatism, I have to say just this as a simple comment now: ;;The enemy of ''good'' is the better, the enemy of the ''bad''=evel is the worse..etc, if there is not a source Originality of justification of everything in this life in every domain.

Thanks a lot for your patience..

The Pope has missed the point.The more relevant question would have been why one of his predecessors Pope Pius xii was silent.

This article is pertainent and ends sublimely. However, at the risk of sounding cynical, I feel compelled to point out that the Catholic Church didn't speak out at the time either. I can't help but thinking this pope has a nerve!

During early 1940 a boat full of Jews hankering between Cuba and Florida, which supposed to go to Cuba. Cuba refused it and then America was the next in line to be asked but America refuse as well. The boat returned back to Europe but never made it. Well there is a mystery surround that story which has to do with the mother of Moshiach.

Thankyou, for sharing all this knowledge and wisdom so freely. Your site is excellent .

It was never the will of G-d, it will never be the will of G-d.

Was he a spectator? Should he get thanks for certain things but blame for nothing? In what sense can we say that God is just and merciful? What is the evidence for these attributes? I agree with the author but he leaves all of the above questions still to be answered.

Wow.....the end conclusion is just Excellent!!! Nothing more is needed to be said.........that says it all!

As a South African I could see our country following in the footsteps of Hitler. Some South Africans idolised Hilter and wanted to follow in his footsteps.

What is the relationship in Judaism between God's word and man's acts? If God is not to be blamed if man does something bad, is God to be praised if man does something good?

As an individual who lost his grandparents , aunts and uncles to the holocaust this explanation is terribly hollow. If you wanted a more honest discussion of the holocaust you need to frame it by the constant drumbeat of Catholic anti-semitism throughout the ages and the countless atrocities visited on both Jews in Europe and indigenous peoples throughout the world in the name of the Church.
Regardless, there is no question that the current Pope is generally a man of integrity and courage and I hope and pray that his courage will be sustained in dealing with the cruel legacies of both the German people and the Church.

I, as a Christian, am often at a loss when someone asks me the same question..."Where was YOUR God when this awful thing happened?" This author articulates a very good explanation in a simpler way than I have been able to achieve.

It is shameful that a "leader" of a "religion" of so many would still dismiss and deny any type of responsibility. "Dancing" around a subject does not make it 'not so'!!

Pardon me, but I can not agree with ANY argument given. 1. Tehillim say: "Why build the house if G-d is not building it..." read "Why build Aushwiz..." 2. A murderer is condemned for a single murder which is a manifistation of his free will. Does he have to slaughter thousands? 3.What free will these thousands had? 4. G-d saved Jews from Egypt - that did not affect their free will, G-d gave them water from the rock and mann from heaven.
There is some other reason, unknown to us on our level of understanding. Untill G-d himself explains it, articles like these are, at best, a waste of time. By limiting G-d to our logic we are not exactly polite to Him too. Sorry.
P.S. ALL of my grand parents vanished in Holocaust.

G-d was with my father and others like him that were wounded and killed fighting the Nazi's. G-d was with my mother's great uncle when he stood to end slavery only to starve to death in a confederate prison camp. G-d is with anyone who stands to fight evil when ever,where ever .

Gentle Mr. J. Jacoby:
I really liked your article "Where was God in those days?..." And I agree that we cannot blame God for human mistakes. However, I want to make the following question: How, if God is so powerful and so merciful didn't stop the extermination of all these people on time? Was the Shoah necessary to know how cruel and evil we can be? According to some jewish and christian philosophers and theologians (like E. L.Fackenheim, for instance) think that the idea of the God of the history, the God who rescued Israel from Egypt, etc., is in crisis. What could you say about that? Friendly, Hector Conde (UNAM-Mexico)

As always AISH has informative and insightful articles. However, the one thing I found out when I became a victim of prejudice (I was ordered out of my seat at the Zurich airport by a white lady... I happen to be brown... ) a few years ago is that when something terrible happens, many times it is because so many choose to look the other way. It is this cowardly indifference that enables injustice/cruelty to triumph.
Helena

Excellent Article!!!

Between Hitler and Stalin about fifty Million died between 1930 - 1945. How many in Asia? No one will ever know. Now our government has taken the lead in ignoring the destruction of our environment. Can we survive much longer with these favors?

For thousands of years we Jews have played Their game on their court, with their rules and their ball. And we have contributed so much to the health and welfare of the whole world. And our efforts have earned us - what?

This is the best response to that sort of question.I dont actually think that God is silent but as is said in the article He already gave His commands and we are all to obey.Thats never the case though but we know that He said that he will have something instore for those who disobey in the after life so we may try to take comfort in divine retribution .My question though is where was the pope of the day when Hitler was causing havoc and during apartheid in South Africa and the Rwanda genocide etc.what is the pope saying about Dafur,modern anti-semitism etc.not just him though,why are all those influential people who claim to believe in the God of Abraham silent?

If we cannot rely on God to cushion the blows of life then what's she/it/he for. The slaughtered people, (and Jacoby is correct here)are all those who died nasty, painful deaths had not much to say about what happened. Their free will was exactly zero.

There is no Godly explanation that fits the occasions. Those who have faith argue that God's ways are inscrutable (they ignore all the times they claim to know God's intentions), that we must have faith. Not me. I gave up that fantasy a long time ago.

This write up has to be continously be reproduced, so that Generation unborn will learn from the mistake of the past.That Some greater is watching at the end he willl jugde us according to our deeds.

Through the years why did G'd do this and now you gave us an easy to understand answer. Sent on to people that needed to understand and also to Christians.

Writers of Aish articles ! Please pay very close attention to the comments here questioning this idea of G-d being silent in the name of freedom of will ! There are some very basic ideas and answers that need a very careful and concise treatment - we need another article explaining this !! Thanks.

The fact that we desire to hold someone ( G_D or humanity) accountable for suffering always brings up the question of "where do we get our sense of fairness or justice?" Is it not from our Creator? If it's merely a product of a bio-chemical evolutionary process, then morality is ultimately meaningless. As for G_D stepping in to judge (stated as "stop suffering") humanity, be careful what you wish for...His standard is Holiness, not just "innocent niceness"and we will all be judged. To quote C.S. Lewis, " The play isn't over until the author steps upon the stage"

This young writer has hit the nail square on the head. As for the Pope he has no clue, as to what God wants from us. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

God is silent when we refuse to rise up and speak against evil He will not come down from heaven to personally intervene, but acts through people. for example, those good Germans who risked their lives to save scores of Jewish people from the concentration camps, or the Ukrainians, spaniards, Arabs etc who have hidden jews and defended them against hostile communities. That is God speaking.

The eveil of the Khmer Rouge is one genocide that has always baffled me. In this case, a very small negligible number of people rise up, and hold the larger population to ramsom, killing the population in millions, turning children against their parents. The Cambodians kept quiet. The world kept quite. God kept quite.

In Rwanda people turned on their neighbours and massacred them in hndreds of thousands. The Hutu's kept quiet. god kept quiet. These are just a few examples. There are scores of others:Darfur, The Lord's Resistance Army,Zimbabwe, North Korea etc. We are all keeping quiet, allowing atrocities to be commited under the gies of sovereignty;so, God keeps quiet.

Until we learn to stand up and speak against evil, fight evil, God will remain silent.

Enough said.

There are times such as at Auschwitz where one can say man acting on his own free will is resposible for the murder of multitudes of innocents but it does not address the question of when and why God does intervene and when and why not? Much more disturbing is when God decides to murder the righteous along with the wicked and mans free will does not enter into the equation. Examples of this which come to mind are the great flood,the killing of the first born in Egypt and the commandment to kill all of the tribe of Amalek. Just as there were righteous gentiles in the holocaust there were righteous gentiles as well as innocent babies in the examples listed above. The idea that we are supposed to emulate God is difficult to fathom in situations where we would condemn a human as guilty of a grave sin if he deliberately demanded and caused the death of innocents along with the guilty when he was perfectly able to prevent it. One may God forbid come to the conclusion that God is all powerful and to be feared no matter how one acts because he is unjust.We seem to be left with making a great leap of faith that we don't understand the big picture and ultimately all that God does and/or allows is for the good.That would include Auschwitz,Crusades,Pogroms,Tsunamis,etc along with the above mentioned occurances where God himself commands wholesale slaughter. Something strikes me as obscene in that statement of it all being for the good. I think our sources state that the ultimate good will be revealed either in messianic times or in the world of souls both of whose existances seem to be somewhat speculative. It sounds great that goodness and justice prevails and I'm embarassed to say I believe it with a dose of scepticism but where is the proof?

The Pope spoke very well and deeply when he said that the attempt to destroy the Jews was really an attack on God and all that He represents.This sentiment has been expressed previously by the Piaseczner Rebbe, who lost his family and himself perished by the Nazis.

Without letting people who do evil off the hook,if we believe in hashgacha or divine providence, then is not God ultimately responsible for evil done by one person to another?

Rather than defending God with arguments that do not ultimately satisfy us in our deepest recesses, perhaps we should remain silent and have faith that there are some things, like the Holocaust, that we cannot answer.

The prophet says,"Be'domayich chayee", (usually translated as "By your blood shall you live") which, as the late Klausenberger Rebbe said, may also mean,"By your silence shall you live".

I wholeheartedly agree. God gives all a free choice, to obey His laws or not.
God must have been looking down with deep sorrow.

Perhaps the pope should ask himself where was God in the dark ages, when the catholic church put to death millions.
Where was God when they changed the Ten Commandments, to suit their own purposes.

God gives all a choice, alter His word and ignor His call at your own peril.

I wonder why the Pope didn't ask: "Where was G-d during the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisition?"

There is no such thing as Judeo-Christian values!

EVERY DAY I ASK Gd.WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I CRYED ,WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I LIED? WARE WERE YOU WAS ALL HE REPLYED.

All "God fearing people" when faced with questions they can't answer use the "Free will" response. Do you realy believe that if God intervened in all matters of cruelty and violence freedom would be meaningless and do you think that is worse than the Holocaust and all the other cruelties you mentioned? I think not.

We cannot ask where is G-d.We must ask where are the people who believe in G-d?We were given free will and when we do not exercise that will consistent with the belief that there is a supreme being who judges us,we are ineffect abandoning G-d and not the other way around.

WHERE WAS HUMANITY INDEED.?. Seems like HUMANITY and MAN KIND, they were swallowad up by Nazism, Socialism, and Fascism, and Nietsches Superman theory, and D arwins Survival of the Fittest...

A pope asking such a question where G-d was? And he wants to tell people to believe in G-d he himself could not find.What a difference between lehavdil our Rabbonim and him!He blames H. instead of blaming the Nazis? And this is a Pope?Is he the one to install religion among his people .Once again H. shows us how lucky we jews are to have Gedoileh Yisroel to lead us, we have no questions-Nasse Venishma.

BS"D

It is just for you.
Behatzlacháh.

the question is not where was G-d, but what did Benedict do to save innocent lives? What did he choose to believe in? How can he live with it now? It is very easy to blame G-d, but it is much harder to be honest and live with that knowledge.

WHy is humanity alone to blame for suffering, we all can suffer loss and pain to disease, famine, and acts of nature. Should the cancer sufferer who did not smoke or use a tanning bed (or any other one of the ways we try to blame the victims) blame humanity too?

Didn't God give warning to Jews of impending disaster through both Hitler and Jabotinsky? Is it God's fault if too many Jews chose to ignore or dismiss those warnings? Are the Jews or Israelis any different today?

Excellent article which made it clear to my mind the responsibility we as individuals and collectively hold when making a decision. It was definitely humans who chose the paths that led to Auschwitz, the Gulag, Rwanda, Darfur etc. We could have chosen otherwise and save countless lives and sufferings.
With regards to personal sufferings like cancer, Parkinson's disease, MS etc unfortunately I do not have an answer and this article did not set out to approach this subject. I do not think that I can blame the sufferer but neither can I blame G.od for this. I trust in G.od's ways and until I know otherwise must accept the facts of life, however painful it is. I know of this from personal family experience.

It is not a question of blame; it’s a question of value. If we value our physical being above all its suffering is all important. If we see our bodies as very temporary vessels that contain our eternal souls its suffering may be viewed as part of what molds our personalities and our souls. The analogy is of the butterfly and the cocoon. This is not meant in any way to minimize the suffering of people, but once we bring G-d into the equation than our perspective or understanding of suffering, by definition, must shift to the spiritual plane. From a spiritual perspective, it is not what we physically gain or loose that has value, but it is how we act and what good we accomplish that has value. When we go to bed every night, it is not how much we have that matters but what we have accomplished and what kind of person we have been that helps us to sleep better. So it is at the time of our death.

Most of us know the answer but it is always good to be reminded that Hashem gave us free will. With so much going on in the world and daily tragedy your article remind us all.
Thanks for a terrific piece.

Shalom Yoka

I have read many books and articles about the horrendous Holocaust, and yet the magnitude of this mass murder is still incomprehensible.
9-11 was a one day ordeal where 3,000 people died at the hands of murderers for no discernible reason.
The Holocaust lasted over a three year period where 5,000 died every single day, for no reason. It was like a 9-11 every day for three full years. Since G-d is always present and nothing happens unless it is His will, perhaps a better question would be to ask why G-d's will was to allow it. To most human beings, His will appeared unfair. Thus the question.
It was certainly not a punishment from g-d as many holy and good people were murdered. A climate of hatred was created which should have been prevented. We need to make sure we do not have an environment in which intolerance against others can lead to murder of innocent citizens. We need to learn the lessons and not repeat them.

My one line summary states what I want to say.

This article has to be the most salient, erudite, true and sensible reply to this question that has ever been penned.

I grew up thiking that G-d was like a parent to us. After all, he had given us life just as a caring mother would do. I have come to the realization that NO DECENT mother would treat her children like this. No mother would harm her own children. Yes, we supposedly should know or at least practice the difference between good and bad. But, why even create the bad to begin with? Why create horrid diseases that adults suffer but also ones that kill young, innocent children? No, sorry, i disagree that we have control. At times i feel that we are all pieces on a chessboard being played by some sadistic larger than life players.

Did not God enslave Israel in Egypt? Did not God bring about the destruction of the temples with the exile and annihilation of great sums of innocent children? Do you honestly think the God did not know what was happening and what he was doing? Do you honestly think that God does not rule the world and a handful of stupid Nazis can control the masterpiece of his creation? Does it not say in Isaia "God molds light and creates darkness makes peace and creates EVIL. If it happened it was destined to happen the same way the children of Israel were destinedm to go 40 years through the desert. Why do you have the right to decide what Gods will is?I think your idea of writing is to make everything look nice. Yeah God is really cool he doesb exactly what I like him to do. That is for fairytales. God has created the world for his completely justified purposes, and if an atomic bomb falls tomorrow on Tel Aviv we will continue to say "God is Rightous (tsaddik) in all his ways, and does Hessed in all his deeds". You say this three times a day. If you do not understand this you do not begin to understand Judaism.

As the Pope stood in the remnants of the evil that could not destroy the Jewish people, I recalled what my Bubbe said to me as she described how she responded to the Holocauset, having lost almost her entire family.

"Some say that we should never forgive. Others say we should forgive, but not forget. That isn't enough! Yes, we must respond to evil with good, but we cannot forget to hold those evil doers with accountability, as well."

With each new genocide and human atrocity that occurs, I think of her words. I onced asked her,"What is accountabilty? IS that when evil people are punished?"

She believed you can't just punish people for evil acts. You have to educate them and the people around them, and embrace them with with shared acts of goodness.

Pope Benedict can accomplish what his predecessors did not visibly do. He can assume and lead in accountability for the followers of his Faith. He can lead them by example; not just by catechism.

Afterall, we are just human beings My Bubbe taught me that forgiveness is not divine. It is an opportunity given to all of us us to guide and nuture people to accept and practice goodness, disintegrate evil, and share the blessing of goodness with everyone.Jeff Jacoby, once again, reminded me of the value and full measure of goodness.

I found the answer to the eternal question in Jeff Jacobi article.
We do not listen!!!!!
Try to listen, it is difficult but you can do it, you will see that the road is much easier and the world would be a beautiful place to stay on.

I think that the pope flatters the Nazis,by attrbuting such deep intellectual ideas to Hitler and his cronies.The leaders were just a bunch of sychopaths leading a multitude of supercharged football hooligans[the S.A.] using the politics of hatred/envy of an ethnic minority to gain power, and enjoy its fruits,aided by ambitious men who saw the Nazi Party as a way to advancement.

I was pleased with the Pope's visit to Auschwitz and most of his comments, but disappointed with his question towards God being silent... what about the Pope's silence today on anti-semitism such as the leader of a sovereign nation swearing the destruction of the Jewish State... which by strange coincidence has a population very nearly 6 million???

When I first read the Pope's comments, my first thought was: where, in deed, was the Church? Enough said.

Thank you Mr. Jacobi for helping me understand and refocus on, "why." There is no relativism nor sophistry in your essay. You speak the truth in a most understandable manner. You are bound by the tradition and orthodoxy of understanding. May he who blessed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob continue to bless us by your presence.

.ON D DAY ENGLISH , CANADIAN AND AMERICAN ALLIED FORCES INVADED NORMANDY ,IN THE MOST UTMOST TERRIBLE CHALLENGEAND CAME THROUGH FIRE AND WATER FOR THE TORAH AND PSALM TWENTY SEVEN WAS ON MANY LIPS ANDTONGUES NOT TO MENTION HEART,SPIRIT AND SOULS..SOME SOLDIERS HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN IN BLOOD STAINED POLAND AS VICTIMS, THEN ICY SIBERIAN ARTIC CIRCLE SLAVE CAMPS, ESCAPED THE POLISH ARMY WHO HAD PROMISED TO PUT JEW BOYS IN THE FRONT TO DIE FIRST, FOUGHT FOR YEAEARS OF THEIR PRECIOUS YOUTH AROUND THE HOT SPOTS OF THE WORLD... HA SHEM DID LIBERATE EUROPE AND THE DEATH CAMPS.. BUT HIS SOLDIERS HAD TO COME THROUGH FIRE AND WATER TO DO SO... AMERICANS AND RUSIIANS ALSO LIBERATED THE DEATH CAMPS..REHABILITATING SHATTERRED LIVES AS THE BRITISH DID LATER BACK HOME IN BRITAIN...THESE WERE ALL HA SHEM LOVING PEOPLE...THE NAZIS WERE NOT...

It is nice to see that the pope made these emotional statements about the Holocaust. "Where was God?" If one read the scriptures and listens, they would know where HE is(and was, and will be) there are many instances in the TaNaK, and the Nevarim, the Ketuvim, etc, that will show the character of Him who sits on the heavenly throne. G-d is One. People do certainly change from day to day, and hopefully for the better to fulfill the way God has for us as humans to give him glory.When the pope was a young man, I know he was in Germany, and I have heard he was a member of the Hitler youth group and was in training. As I mentioned that was long ago and people change. We are to know HIS CHARACTER as we read the scriptures and learn and listen from them. He does not change, as HE is righteous, full of compassion and mercy, and yet, cannot excercize his Love at the expense of HIS justice. Be careful of statements made as such. Be careful of whom is speaking them, one never knows. Where was God? If one such as the pope in the position he is in, should know where is God. If one knows the scriptures, one should not question as one is intelligent enough to answer that question himself,

I really enjoy the articles of Jeff Jacoby, like the one he wrote after Arafat died. This one is supurb, and reflects what many thinking Jews and Christians believe. Most atheists do not want the idea of a G-d they have to stand before someday, and the reason why Jews and Christians are hated in many parts of the world is because they believe in a Holy, righteous, but loving G-d who lets us decide for ourselves if we want to love and serve Him. He respects our choice.

First, most people, especially those who ask such questions, forgot that God does'nt made robots programmed to do only good things(it would be simple, without any ratio..), but human beeings with their own free willing. All their life, they can choose between good and evil.
Second, God has created a wonderful place for us, the Earth, to live in. We, the whole humanity, have transformed it - choosing to do mostly evil things - in a much less agreable place. But He will restore and renew it when He comes (see Johannes-Revelations).
Third, when God is silent, it does'nt mean that He approves our evil acts: as told, we are free to do even the evil.
But(fortunately), He take notice about all we are dooing - good and bad - and it will be one day, the Judgement Day, when everyone must answer His questions. Even the death. Fortunatelly. And this is also forgotten by the majority.. Unfortunatelly.

Where was g-d? the question that has been asked over and over BUT did anyone think of asking WHERE WAS HUMANITY????

I think that the explanation given by Jeff Jacoby (which was excellent), does need to go a bit further in explaining. Personally, I think that another answer is that what we see as bad and what Hashem sees as bad are two different things. With our human senses, we believe that anything causing pain or death is bad, and when the "bad" happens we wonder why Hashem does not protect us. From His perspective, this pain might be exactly what we need. After all, death is an inevitable part of life. The very fact that we must die means that we can't hold Hashem to the standards of human parents; what loving parent would let their child die? We hold Him to different standards because He is operating from a perspective of pure truth and clarity, where death is not the end, and pain is not meaningless suffering.

Of course, this doesn't affect our obligations to end suffering and violence whenever and wherever we are able to. But when suffering and death are inevitable, we can try to remember that the pain we see on the physical level is not the only reality, and that Hashem who knows all worlds and all realities is watching over us.

so you mean hashem had nothing to do with the holocaust?

Someone else besides me is saying it! Thank you! Usually I am met with a lot of grating argument about this and that miscellaneous detail and how it should be God's fault. Thank you! Finally someone who agrees. I feel I have been holding my breath and now I can breath again.

OK, people didn't listen to God-- no question. Ok, in a world where God constantly intervened, we would lose our free choice. Fine, no argument from me. But, as Jews, aren't we supposed to believe in a God who controls everything and who intervened on numerous occasions (splitting the sea, making a donkey talk, etc.)?

In the end, if God is omnipotent, He could have stopped it. He didn't. That leaves a serious moral question that isn't answered (at least not persuasively) with the standard shpiel about preserving our free will...

Untill when will we stop saying it was G-d's foult.He ignores(ed)us.Where was(is) He? G-d said:I've been there since the anchient times, before you all were brought here,I've been here allways.Think about it,how many times we have ignored His warnings,His Love,and His living Word? Which gives us Life.Do you care about His creatures? Do you relize who you are among them? If you answered these questions carrectly then you have heard G-d's voice. Let every and each one of us follow Him alone.

Yet one more agent of the satan was killed this morning, Al-Zarqawi. Unfortunately, I do not believe in a hell, else I would have to believe his arrival there would be celebrated by Hitler and his ilk. “Didn’t we do well” they say, slapping each other on the back, “look at what we did to them.” Blindness to who and what the almighty is and what he brought into the world through Abraham brings forth the questions, “Where is God, where was God when we needed him.

I am persuaded that if HaShem were to speak out at the horrors that people have done to His ultimate creation—mankind—the very foundations of the Universe would tremble and collapse into an unrecognizable black hole that would forever make the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah seem like a mere pebble displaced on a beach.

In Job we are reminded of who and what God is. We don’t like the lessons we could learn in Job’s little book. Some say Job is only a parable. In that case, I have to say, “Well done, Job!” For it is within those few pages that so many questions are asked and answered that trying to digest it in one sitting is impossible.

I find that I like the new Pope. His church’s definition of him as being God’s representative on Earth is idolatry at its worst, but I like his forthrightness. To have him question God at a place where his fellow Germans did their best to do their worst should silence those who criticized him for not bringing up the subject of anti-Semitism. His very presence at the gates of the hell his countrymen built spoke more eloquently about anti-Semitism than any words he could have spoken. At that moment he was just one of us, a fellow human being who reflected what many of us have, at one time or another wondered: WHERE WAS GOD?

I am willing to take him as he is without trying to filter out what his ulterior motives was or was not. I saw a man who doesn’t try to play down his country’s hand in bringing forth the horrors that will last into eternity.

As for him making the sign of the cross, it is like asking a fish to breath out of water. I doubt that he even thought what he was doing. Genuflecting does not somehow “baptize” anyone. If you understood a little bit about Christianity other than its negative qualities, you would understand what making the sign of the cross is. When we accidentally drop a siddur and kiss it, Christians may wonder if we have lost our minds. That is something they don’t do.

I find that Jeff Jacoby has summed up the great questions that have been asked for centuries in a most laudable way.

I’m currently re-reading Rabbi Irwin Katsof’s book, “How To Get Your Prayers Answered.” I know that Jeff must have had some of what the Rabbi written in mind in while writing his remarkable article.

Thank you for an article that I will add to my Aish collection.

Where was America in WWII ? why didn't it let the Jews in ? by the way, this week it just got revealed in the news that CIA Knew Where Eichmann Was but Kept Israel in the Dark .....(A7Radio and cnn.com)So, is Amerca better ???!!!!! Trust America ?

unfortunatley, at least on this planet, only man rules and the powerful. Thoes who believe they should rule the world, do not find it neccessary to think too much. It is one of the basic instincts in humans to be selfish and look for power. Its easy for them to be aggressive. Thoes who concentrate on avoiding evil,doing good, and follwoing religious teachings , are usually passive and while this group is busy with finding ways for aleviating people's suffering in the world, teaching others to be Godfearing people, and thinking about peaceful ways of confronting evil, the first group attacks. The evil is ready and they are not. Evil wins and rules. The end.
Where is God? God caanot make the evil people vanish or become zombies. not fair. He cannot give supernatural powers to the good people and help them win all of a sudden. not fair. They have not tried hard enough to gather power and defend themselves.On the other side, thoes who attack first are usually the winners not thoes who live peacefully and only defend themselves when neccessary. Most of the time it is extremely hard to keep a balance between being aggressive and being peaceful. Therefore, there is no help for thoes who love peace. This is very simple to understand. I am still waiting hopefully to see this belief proved wrong.

much of the death could have been saved if the alied forces had bombed the railroads lines to Germany in the beginning of the war
a big Human misconception.
They don't use the brain G-d gave them to think, not only to fill their skul only
.
Not G-ds fold.

Well said! I am pleased that the Catholic church is starting (be it very late) to recognize anything having to do the holocaust. Benedict should be commended for his presence (Especially given his Hitler Youth past) I am pleased to see the Catholics doing something/anything for a change. I do agree with Jacoby that God speaks/spoke/will continue to speak, it is people that do not listen.
Man built and carried out this invention. God crying from the heavens was not heard, that doesn not mean that he was silent.

This article, while eloquently summarizing the case, ignores a facet of the dilemma of "good and evil" that makes the derived answer ineffective: We hold human parents to higher standards that we do G-d when it comes to the evil that men commit. Parents are obliged to step in and protect their children when they act inappropriately; a parent who knowingly allowed one child to maim or kill another child would be legally and morally culpable. When parents exercise good skills, they do not thwart the "free will" of their children; they only prevent grievous harm. If we believe in a G-d as defined by the monotheistic faiths, then we cannot simply let G-d "off the hook" with the question "where was man?" After all, G-d actively intervened in the affairs of Israel after the Exodus and the people all saw the wonders that were done for them (as well as the punishments), yet they STILL acted as humans with free will, free to act decently or as barbarians. Free choice doesn't preclude the intervention of a just and loving G-d. Explaining the horrors of human barbarism in terms of G-d goes far beyond easy explanation.

It is literally not in the realm of thinking for the Christian mind. Without a full understanding of the concept that true freedom of will is the way mankind learns to imitate G-d through his own volition, without a full understanding that this learning is the very reason why the universe exists in the first place, the only way to ever explain cruelty is either that G-d abandons mankind or is on the losing side of a war with an adversary. By holding onto the concept of duality, Christianity can only find the idea of G-d's complicity anathema, just like the very idea of duality is anathema to us. The other alternative, that G-d can decide to abandon mankind when the going gets rough, sounds like reasoning typical of an agnostic (not even of an atheist). Judaism is the only religion that can properly and adequately answer the question of "where was G-d?" The Pope will never be able to.

Thank you so much for this article!!

It is ironic that the Pope made the statement,"Where was G-d?", when the question should be where was the Pope, and the Catholic church? Thank you for your much needed article.

Clear as water! A masterful explanation of Gd and freewill (all wrapped up in the last two paragraphs) The best writing is really "received," may you continue to receive it.

thank you for this article.so simple,so eloquent,so very,very true.

Absolutely fabulous article. In one place, you summed up the Aish Seminar "Why the Jews" (which concludes that antisemitism in general, including the Holocaust, are targed at the Jews because they are the bringers of morality and thus the world's bad conscience) and why G-d does not actively intervene to stop evil.

It reminds me of two things of Rabbi Joseph Telushkin's: First, he quotes his friend, columnist Dennis Prager, that if G-d overtly punished evil and rewarded good, there'd be no real free choice, because everyone would choose good if only for pragmatic reasons. Rabbi Telushkin also notes that the Holocaust can make faith in G-d difficult, but it makes faith in man impossible, because after all, man not G-d committed it.

You apparently still do not understand the pope or Christianity. Their ultimate goal is to convert all people to their religion. The pope displayed great chutzpah by giving the sign of the cross for the victims of the holocaust. He thus "baptised" them ! There is a need to understand Christianity and its goals and stop being hoodwinked by the preachers of so called love-which is the love of Esau to Jacob. Wake up!

Thanks so much for your wonderful piece...it is said so well...so many want to place blame on the Creator...when in fact it is His human creations he has given the gift of choice and makes them free enough to choose His Loving Essence or not... Thanks again for you perspective... Maralene

Jeff,
You nailed this, right on the head! You wrote it so well, that I would be doing harm to comment, I need to read more of your writings.

Keep up the good work.
Brian

Whether we can see it or not, whether we understand it or not, G-D was and is orchestrating every minute. Yes, we have the free will to make choices based on circumstances, but what bothered me the most about the Pope's comment is the lack of recognition that G-D runs the world. There is no other entity that is in charge of what we perceive as cruel and wanton destruction - it's absurd to think that G-D is "helpless" to prevent something that happens since it's all part of His Own plan.

"Auschwitz is not what happens when the God who says "Thou shalt not murder" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" is silent. It is what happens when men and women refuse to listen."--many very righteous people were also killed. Only G-d knows why it happened !

People love to ask this classic question as an excuse not to believe in g-d and do as they pease... Thank you for your article.
My gradndfather, may he live and be well, had the merit to save Jewish lives by pretending to be a non-Jew. He got a job in Nazi headquarters in Budapest and managed to cross names of people to be "taken away" off lists he was delivering between offices.