The Teachings of Rubenstein on Post-Holocaust Theology Are More Convincing Than Those of Fackenheim.’ Discuss
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Submitted By jcyl Words 1676 Pages 7
1) ‘The teachings of Rubenstein on post-Holocaust theology are more convincing than of Fackenheim.’
The Holocaust can be considered the greatest tragedy of human history, it included the cold blooded extermination of 6million Jews, and millions of others who were disabled, homosexuals or whom didn’t agree with the Nazi regime. The Nazi’s came to power because they were depressed from the German defeat in WW1 and humiliated with the reparation payments. Consequently, the National Socialist Party, (Nazi’s) rose to power in the weak environment using propaganda to blame the Jews for the war. The Nazi’s never started anti-Semitism, they just bought a political dimension to anti-Semitism- there was still the suspicion that Jews were blood libels. The Nazi’s rose to power from 1933-1945 and within that time, millions of people were humiliated, beaten, starved, gassed to death, cremated and burnt in mass graves.
Over 6million Jews were killed during the Holocaust in evil ways, and those that survived were left with the mental scars and images of what they lived through miraculously. The cruelty that they witnessed, along with the personal and communal sufferings that they endured left the Jews that were able to survive with a shaken faith and the ability to question G-d’s existence. Four theologians; Eliezer Berkowitz, Emile Fackenheim, Ignaz Maybaum and Richard Rubenstein provide the main sources and viewpoints that Jews after the Holocaust base their beliefs on.
Eliezer Berkowitz has an orthodox attitude; that we shouldn’t change a thing and that we should remain exactly as we were to highlight our victory over the Nazi’s. He emphasizes that it is important to remember the anti-Semitism of the past and make sure that it doesn’t repeat itself to make sure that a tragedy like the Holocaust can never happen again. Berkowitz stresses that G-d gave man free will,