Question 1. Write an essay which discusses three philosophical responses to the Shoah. Which of these responses seems most meaningful to you, and why?
During World War II, Adolf Hitler committed one of the most terrible acts of human history: The Holocaust - or how the Jewish community prefer to call it Shoah. During this period, Hitler and his followers proposed a plan in which they would destroy the entire community of Jews because he thought of them as "a disease organism within the body of European society" (Brood, 382).
He carried out an awful genocide in which he killed roughly a third of the world's Jewish population and he left an open wound for the generations to come. As a response to this truly dreadful event, many philosophers responded in different ways. There are three particular responses that I will discuss more in detail.
The first philosophical response is from a theologian called Ignaz Maybaum. He said that the Shoah could be thought of as a "divinely willed sacrifice", in which Jews were paying for the sins of the entire world. Maybaum focused on the fact that the Jews think that they were exiled from the land because of their actions against God and were destined to make up for them.
It is a philosophy that requires a lot of faith and a selflessness, to think of such an atrocious genocide as a divine sacrifice seeking redemption for everyone else.
The second response is from Richard Rubenstein who rejects the previous philosophy and says on the contrary that "such logic is morally insane" (Brood, 382). He said that "the random killing of six million Jews challenges, at the most fundamental level, Judaism's belief in a just and benevolent Creator who values every single human life" (Brood, 382). His philosophy instilled a movement of "God is dead", where he feels hopeless and finds no divine meaning in the Holocaust, instead finds some sort of reproach against God.
Finally, philosopher Eliezer Berkovits, decided to think of this event from a perspective that analyzes human freedom. "God must ‘restrain' himself and allow His human agents to exercise their moral will, even if the consequences of divine restraint are catastrophic" (Brood, 382). Jews believe that God created humanity gifting them with free will, and after Adam and Eve committed the original sin, God had been trying to get close to humanity again. That is why he made a covenant with Abraham, but he let his people choose him freely.
Likewise, this philosophical theory, states that God has to let human beings take their own decisions, if not, it would mean that there is no real freedom.
To me, Eliezer Berkovits' response to the Holocaust is a very realistic philosophy that is the most meaningful to me. God is all-powerful and omnipresent, but that does not mean that he decides for us and that we are all some kind of puppets.
If this were the case, the entire human existence would have no real meaning. Instead, God decides to let us choose right or wrong, and to choose Him out of love. The Holocaust is something that left an open wound on every human being because it is proof of the hatred that we, as humans, are capable of; but it is also proof that we are free to make our own decisions and choose love. There would be no merit in choosing the righteous path, if we did not have free will; and there would be no guilt to choose the wrong path either.
References
Brood, Jeffrey. Invitation to World Religions. 2013. Oxford University Press. Print.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Read Chapter Eleven "Judaism"in Invitation to World Religions, Jeffrey Brodd, et al., 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2016.
2. Prepare your Discussion Board Critique (DBC) response is an extensive document with a minimum of 300-400 words. The purpose of your DBC response is:
- To bring out the insights in what your fellow students are saying - by adding to their contributions, entering into dialogue with them, and expanding on their points. To provide the foundation for learning from each other.
. To engage with your fellow classmates. A great classroom discussion is the responsibility of everyone in the lecture. This means asking questions and requesting points of clarification from your fellow students, or adding new insights to what they have to say. But be careful not to be critical, demeaning, or to enter into a two-way debate with the other student that shuts out contributions from the rest of the class.
3. You DBE and DBC responses should be representative of your best work and should demonstrate that you understand and have gained some insights into the themes and concepts presented in the chapter for this week. Your writing should be clear, comprehensive and concise.
4. All documents must have your name, the date of the assignment, the course number, instructor name and the Module Number as part of the heading.
5. Remember to proof your work. Your submitted document should be mechanically and grammatically correct and citations have been appropriately formatted.
REMEMBER TO CITE ALL RESOURCES AND REFERENCES USED TO DEVELOP YOUR CRITIQUE, INCLUDING THE TEXTBOOK. THIS IS NOT MERELY AN OPINION PAPER OR RESPONSE, BUT ONE WHICH REQUIRES THAT YOU USE REFERENCES TO SUPPORT YOUR CLAIMS.