What Theological Questions Relevant To The Study Of Judaism Are Raised :: essays research papers

WHAT THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS RELEVANT TO THE STUDY OF JUDAISM ARE RAISED BY THE HOLOCAUST? The Jewish people have always considered themselves as God’s chosen people and have undergone a lot of traumatic oppression throughout their life. Evolving out of a common religion, they have developed customs, culture and an ethical system which identified them as Jews regardless of their individual religious attitudes. There is a pattern evident in which the Jews have been cast as victims. The first sign of oppression noted in Jewish history according to the Hebrew scriptures, was the time in ancient years when the Jews were held in captivity by the Egyptians as slaves. Moses’s escape with the children of Israel marked the crucial transition in the history of Judaism. This event is known as the Exodus. The Exodus experience can be called the ‘key event’ both in Jewish history and theology. To understand the relevant details raised by the Holocaust one needs to understand how Jewish people have a strong devotion to God and have an ongoing respect for people in other religions. This is established by understanding the intention of the holy laws given to Moses for the people from God. These laws are known as the ten commandments which illustrates a list of obligations that there theology is firmly established. Their theology is based on a closeness between tradition and their moral precepts, which became conflicting for them during the time of World War II. Such is evident when they were persecuted, traumatized and de-humanized in the concentration camps. Similarly the Holocaust would be regarded as a very important event. It is this crucial experience that the Jewish people have had to query their very existence through their theological questioning. 1/3 As an effect of the economic and political upheavals of the time, the Jews were seen as endangering the purity of the Aryan race which was Hitler’s impression of the superior people consisting of only the Germans. During the horrid times of the war the Jews were deported to concentration camps in Europe, where many were tortured, gassed and Jewish women as young as 13 and onwards were kept and raped by the German soldiers. It was noted that over six million Jews were slaughtered by the Germans and their collaborators. This outrage was called the Holocaust. The Holocaust was not just an event. It was a process that continued for over a decade and involved the deaths of many innocent Jews.