On July 18, the Jewish people commemorate Tisha B’Av, the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av. It is a somber day as the tragic events in the history of the Jewish people are reviewed. It is thought that both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on or about the 9th of Av. In 1492, King Ferdinand of Spain issued the expulsion decree, setting Tisha B’Av as the final date by which not a single Jew would be allowed to walk on Spanish soil. The first Crusade was declared by Pope Urban II on Tisha B’Av. 10,000 Jews were killed in the first month of the Crusade. But this generation of Jews remembers the most recent tragedy when deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp began on the 9th of Av and the Holocaust became a reality. We remember the tragedy of the Holocaust where almost 6 million Jewish men, women and children were put to death in extermination camps such as Auschwitz, Birkenau, Dachau, Sobibor, Treblinka, and Bergen-Belsen simply because they were Jews.

“Holocaust” means burnt offering, wholesale destruction.  Nothing in the history of the world is more notoriously sinister, evil, barbaric or outright revolting than the Holocaust.  It immediately brings to mind thoughts of horror and with it mystery. The horror and mystery of anti-Semitism.

Two questions immediately emerge in one’s mind in response...how and why? How could such a terrible atrocity ever happen? How could any one man or race of men in modern times be so depraved, so possessed with hatred and evil to do something so despicable? It doesn’t seem possible - it is incomprehensible and frightening. And secondly, and perhaps more even more incomprehensible is: “WHY, GOD? WHY DID YOU ALLOW something so tragic, so obviously diabolical, evil to happen to the supposed Chosen People of God?”  Why would a God of love allow this?

The Roots of Anti-Semitism
First, it is important to point out that the Nazi Holocaust of World War II was not the first holocaust the Jewish People have suffered, nor, sadly enough, is it likely to be the last. There have been other holocausts and attempted holocausts before: in Egypt during 400 years of slavery, the planned destruction of the Jews by Haman as told in the book of Esther, the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, Herod’s edict at the time of Yeshua’s birth to kill all Jewish male children in Bethlehem, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Pogroms of Russia…and the list goes on. 

Anti-Semitism is not a modern “invention”, its roots are ancient. The infamous Adolph Eichman once said “Throughout history men have dreamed of destroying the children of Abraham” and they have. Many have sought to destroy the Jewish people, but clearly, this desire is the result of demonic influences. Ephesians 6:12 reveals clearly that “we fight not against flesh and blood but spiritual wickedness in high places”.

In fact, the ultimate source of Anti-Semitism begins with Satan himself. Satan hates God; he hates God’s Word, he hates God’s plan and he hates God’s People. And he is and always has been committed to the destruction of that which God loves and desires. As God’s chosen covenant people, the Jewish People are at the bull’s-eye of this hatred. He also knows that the restoration of the Jewish People play a central role in the return of the Messiah to this earth and Satan is committed to keeping this from happening at all costs! But we know the end of the story…he will fail. The Jewish People will be restored and Jesus will return in glory to establish His Earthly Kingdom!

Trying to Explain the Whys
Jewish theology can’t explain the Holocaust. How could a loving God, who declares Israel as His chosen people allow that? Actually, this question is really part of the larger question: Why is there evil and suffering in the world if God is a God of love? The question is perplexing to the most solid believer.

Rabbinic doctrine states that man is born inherently good, that we have good and evil impulses, but inherently man is good. You can’t possibly understand the Holocaust or any modern genocide with that theology.  It is only by turning to the Scriptures that we can begin to get answers to this complex and troubling question.

The Holocaust and other horrors of history are all cases of man’s inhumanity against man.  I Corinthians 15 tells us that death and sin came into the world through Adam.  We are all attached to Adam like it or not, and when Adam sinned in the garden, he attached himself to Satan, and as a consequence, brought all mankind under his evil dominion. Evil came into the world and into the heart of man. And we are suffering inhumanity and hatred as a result. It is not God’s fault. He loves us and wants us to love each other. But he set up an order for His creation and He has chosen in His sovereignty not to violate this order.

We Must Act Vigilantly
Once again, anti-Semitism is on the rise at an alarming rate. Synagogues, Jewish establishments and cemeteries in France, England, Norway, Russia, Ukraine and throughout Europe are being bombed and desecrated. Jews all over the world are being threatened and attacked, even here in America! Just recently, in San Francisco, police had to protect a group of Jewish college students from a violent mob of protesters shouting threats and curses at them. According to the Anti-Defamation League, from September of 2000 through November 2001, there were some 330 acts of anti-Semitism just in and around Paris and more than 100 anti-Semitic incidents, including graffiti, vandalism, hate speeches and violence have occurred on US campuses since January. One top official of that organization recently stated “Now, in our lifetime, Jews are more vulnerable than they’ve been since World War II.”

How will you respond? Are you committed to standing with Israel and the Jewish People as things intensify? Will you speak out against Anti-Semitism wherever you encounter it? Are you willing to risk your very life to help Jewish People in their hour of need?

“For assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”    (Matthew 25:40)