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10. Wartime Jewish Orthodoxy’s Encounter with Holocaust Christianity
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Wartime Jewish Orthodoxy’s Encounter with Holocaust Christianity 10 Gershon Greenberg For the most part, Orthodox Jewish thinkers during the war had either a dualistic conception of Christianity, according to which sacred Israel remained categorically split from Christianity, or a unitive conception, according to which Israel and Christianity were bound together on a humanistic or spiritual level. There were also some instances of mixture, for example, those in the rabbinic responses of Rabbi Ephraim Oshry of Kovno (and after the war Rome and New York). Oshry was convinced that Judaism (sacred) had nothing in common with Christianity (profane), but the dire circumstances mandated attempts to compromise. In the case of a Jew who attended church and wore a cross (referred to by Oshry as Ot tumatam, To’evet hagoyim, and Ot shekutsam—their sign of profanity, the Gentile disgrace, their detestable sign) to save his life, Oshry ruled that he could reenter the Jewish community after performing penitent return (Teshuvah ) and paying a fine.1 He judged that having ‘‘R.C.’’ (for Roman Catholic ) stamped on the passport was unacceptable if it allowed the Christian inspector to believe that a Jew was denying God, but acceptable if the inspector believed the passport holder was truly a Christian.2 When asked about a Jewish corpse found with a cross around its neck and a Mezuzah in its pocket, he reasoned that the person might have converted to save his life, might have atoned for the trespass, and should therefore be buried in a Jewish cemetery—although not among the section reserved for pious Jews. When it came to reburying a girl who escaped slaughter by living as a Christian in a Christian home, Oshry stipulated 238 Gershon Greenberg that since she became a Christian under duress her body should be exhumed and buried among Jews.3 Further, he agreed that the Christian headstone for a Jew who acted as a Christian to survive should be replaced by one with a Magen David. In the case of an orphan boy who was hidden by a Christian, converted, and subsequently risked his life to return to the Kovno ghetto in order to live as a Jew, Oshry ruled that he could fully join the Jewish community—and even resume the religious privileges to which he was entitled as one of priestly descent (a Kohen).4 After the war, when asked about praying for a Christian who had hidden a Jewish boy and fell critically ill, he cited the rabbinic sages’ opinion that the poor and sick among the heathen were to be supported by Jews just as the poor and sick of Israel, ‘‘in the interests of peace.’’5 Finally, Oshry absolved an observant Jew who shot a Christian thief to death trying to recover funds stolen from an impoverished Jewish widow—not because the victim was a Christian, but because otherwise the Jew would have been killed.6 The dualistic and unitive conceptions were rooted in Jewish tradition through rabbinic, medieval, and early modern periods. At times Christianity was referred to specifically, notably by Maimonides, at other time implicitly with the term ‘‘Gentile.’’ In some cases the earlier texts were cited by Holocaust thinkers. In others not—although, given the cohesive character of the tradition from which Orthodox Jewish thinkers during the Holocaust drew, it may be assumed that they were influenced by them. The Divided Universe: Traditional Views The rabbinic sages of the Talmudic era drew a metaphysical division between the realm of Israel and the realm of the nations: ‘‘Israel had her side, the rest of the world had its side’’ (Pesikta Rabbati, Perek 33, Siman 3; Midrash Bereshit Rabbah 41:6, 42:8). In his deliberations about whether Gentile corpses caused impurity, Simeon bar Yohai (midsecond century) cited ‘‘And you My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God’’ (Ez 34:31) and concluded that ‘‘You [Israelites] are called ‘men’ while the [Gentile] idolaters are not called men’’ (Yevamot 61b).7 Over time, the alienated relationship became crystallized around Amalek, a figure of scriptural history who assumed mythic status. The Amalekites once attacked the people of Israel in the wilderness, and Moses declared that ‘‘The Lord will be at war with Amalek through the ages’’ [Ex 17:14–16]. As explained by the rabbinic [35.172.194.25] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 09:02 GMT) Wartime Jewish Orthodoxy’s Encounter with Holocaust Christianity 239 sages, the deepest...