There is a lot of debate in the last weeks and months about 'truth' when it comes to events related to the Jewish life in Europe in between and after WWII. There is still a lot to be told, and the discretion of most old hasidic rabbis in getting public or writing about their experiences. Some, as many in my family, will simply refuse to disclose any details, especially about circumstances, people and locations. It was hard to understand what was going on and what was the right decision to make. Probably it was even harder to give advice to other people about what to do. It was like a night, and everyone was trying to swim against the current in that night.
After everything was gone, the constructed narrative were often based on personal accounts and not in a few situations, the escapes were miraculous. How politics, individual religious interpretations or various other reasons influenced the decisions for or against moving to Israel, there is a separate story. The Satmar, for instance, kept being against the state of Israel as usual, and their opposition didn't change. The decisive religious explanations given as an irrefutable fact about the reasons why 6 million people were killed is widely exaggerated and denies a basic right of the Jews: to never stop asking questions.
As for the decision of making aliyah, I assume it is individual and should be done when one is completely convinced it must be done. At the end of the screening process, one makes this fundamental step when fully aware of the reasons to be done: not because wants an outstanding career, or to find a mate, or to get rich, but because it is obvious that the Jews should live in their country and build their country against all odds. There is no other country for the Jews. The stories I am hearing recently of people moving back from Israel after 2-3 or even one year of aliya because disappointed of the economic situation or disillusioned about the different reality of their 'Zionist dreams' are sad. Maybe before making aliyah, people should really get in touch with the reality and their own reasons of moving in Israel.
The post-Holocaust generations, religious or not, grew up with the burden of the Shoah. Stories about what our grandfathers and parents went through were transmitted from generation to generation, not only in the shuls, but during the secular weekend afternoon. The acknowledging of the reality was equally shared to religious and non-religious children and the fear that this could any time happen again, was hunting us all. But it was this fear that made many of us powerful: strong enough to assume a religious identity that our parents couldn't have because their own parents were turned into ashes too early to learn them Shma; strong enough to assume in the front of the goyim that we are Jews; strong enough to face anti-Semites of all colours.
Despite all the small or big histories, real or not, about salvations and punishment, it is a clear historical reality: they wanted to kill us. That's obvious from all the official documents and policies of the interwar period. The Germans were helped by other smaller Amaleks, hysterically drunk with the idea of finally making real their old killers dreams, nurtured by their religions. This was the reality of Europe before and during the war: overwhelming hate against the Jews. Of course it was no clear reason to stay, but at the time, it was no state to defend us. Now we do, and it is our Army and they our our Jews, sons and grandsons of those who were killed.
The instrumentalisation of our huge misunderstanding of the reasons why the tragedies happened for fighting one against the others is sad. Obliterating very often who our real enemies and where the serious dangers are.
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