“Now, I am sure many of you are wondering how on earth I am going to link Christmas to the Holocaust”
Many who know me, know that I am in year 3 of 6 of an online Master's degree program in Jewish-Christian Relations. This year is definitely proving to be the most difficult because I am studying the 'Holocaust' (aka: 'Churban' — meaning 'catastrophe'; 'Shoah' — meaning 'desolation'). Now, I am sure many of you are wondering how on earth I am going to link Christmas to the Holocaust or visa versa! Well, I'm not going to link them because they are not linkable — or are they?
Christmas is the time when we remember and celebrate the birth of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). The Holocaust was a time in history when "six million Jews and five million non-Jews were murdered in camps such as Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald" (http://www.unr.edu/chgps/exh/hol/hpestart.html). As Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, and famous Human Rights activist has frequently pointed out 'although all the victims of the Holocaust were not Jewish, all Jews were victims of the Holocaust'. The Holocaust is something many wish they could forget but that all should remember, so that genocide never happens again.
I am ashamed to say that I never realized before I began these particular studies that if the Jews, Jesus, Mary and Joseph had been alive anywhere in Eastern Europe in the 1940s, chances are they would have ended up in one of the death camps, where all babies were immediately murdered either by being bashed against a wall or the ground or by being thrown alive into one of the ovens, where the women were stripped, shorn of their hair, and everything else, and herded into 'gas' showers and where the men either suffered the same fate as the women, or were shot where they stood or were beaten into slave labourers.
As Christians (Messianic Gentiles), when we think of Christmas, we are aware of very rich traditions. This year I encourage you to look a little closer at the 'heritage' of the 'characters' of Christmas that we so reverently remember. While my ultimate goal is to help facilitate 'relations' between what appears to be two very diverse faiths/peoples, I hope for the present to encourage all to see the 'relations' that already exist and are an intrinsic part of our heritage. I truly believe that recognition of our common heritage is what will prevent another Holocaust from ever happening again, and will also lead us to speak up whenever we see or hear of genocide happening anywhere. With that in mind, I also encourage all lovers of G-d to please speak up, out and against the genocide happening now in Dafur, Sudan: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2004/06/canada_said_to_.html
As my dear-heart Mum used to say, 'many hands make light work', so let's all work together in whatever way we can to bring about good relations and world peace — that is the true meaning of 'Good will to all men'.
Blessings and Shalom
Madelaine Beck
Madelaine is a wonderful friend and writer presently living in Toronto.