Orthodox Views of Non-Jews During the Shoah

Wartime Orthodox Jewish thinkers divided categorically betwen Israel and the nations, with Christianity together with Nazism identified as the alien other. For Shelomoh Diamant-Yahalomi, the crucifix stood at Maidaenk.

Specifically, paganism had made inroads into Christianity, and it ultimately blended with Nazism. The paganism, which Christianity originally sought to repel, lay dormant within and now exploded into orgies of persecution (Eliyahu Botschko) and poisonous hatred toward the people of Israel (Yehudah Layb Gerst). Christianity failed in efforts to undermine racial fanaticism in the name of unified humanity, for barbarism had infested it too deeply (Gedaliah Bublick). Mosheh Prager pointed to the blending of Christianity and Nazi pagan racism by the Deutsche Christen.

Citing Rambam`s Epistle to Yemen, Sefer hahinukh by Aharon Halevi of Barcelona, Kitvei maharal miprag, Degel mahaneh efraim of Mosheh Hayim Efraim of Sudilkov,et al, the wartime thinkers` dualistic mindset manifest itself theologically and concretely.

On the theological level, Yeshayahu Wolfsberg-Aviad and Shelomoh Zalman Shragai rejected Christian appropriation of Isaiah 53:5-6 and Christian vicarious suffering. Yosef Yitshak Schneersohn fought attempts to Christianize Jewish redemption. Together, Bentsion Firer wrote, Christianity and German Fascism falsely affirmed that a human being, namely Jesus and the Fuehrer respectively, was an idol and divine - and therefore hated the people of Israel for whom Hashem was God.

On the concrete level, Yissakhar Taykhtahl would risk death rather than use a baptismal certificate to escape. Yehudah Yekutiel Halberstam risked having his daughters killed rather than shelter them with Christians and open the possibility of conversion. Efraim Oshry set aside the compassion of monks and nuns for Jewish misery, believing that they were ultimately intent upon severing Jews from their religion. Shelomoh Zalman Ehrenreich held that Christian intrusion into Israel`s sanctity through intermarriage reverberated in the form of Israel`s physical destruction.,