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Vocabulary

• • • Shekhinah in Exile – Talmudic word for “glory of God” in the world; shares in the exile of the Jewish people.

“destruction of the Temple – 70 CE destroyed by the Romans. Formal part of daily prayer.

Maimonides wrote Mishneh Torah –

Code of Jewish law all must follow

– Father’s instructions to Eliezer. “Black and white” No gray area of thought….These are the rules…follow them without question…Obey my command without question.

Moshe the Beadle

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Beadle – caretaker of the synagogue Represents the commitment to Judiasm

– Focus on mysticism • God is everywhere; nothing exists without God; everything in the physical world is a reflection of the divine world – God’s holiness and power • God is all good; therefore, the world is good – Riddles of the universe; quest for understanding • His words: “I pray to the God within me for the strength to ask Him the real questions.”

Eliezer’s Conflict

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Omnipotence of God Faith is based on questions, not answers Elizer’s constant questions

– “Why did I pray…Why did I live…Why did I breathe?”… – Where has God gone; why is there evil in the world?

• • Nyilas Party The party had its origins in the political philosophy of pro German extremists. Arrow Cross Party, modelled fairly explicitly on the Nazi Party of Germany. the Arrow Cross emblem was an ancient symbol of the Magyar tribes who settled Hungary, thereby representing the racial purity of the Hungarians in much the same way that the Nazi swastika was supposed to allude to the racial purity of the Aryans.

Fascist anti-Semitic party that assumed power in late 1944 and assisted the SS in deportations of Jews in the autumn of 1944

• • • • • • • • • • • SWASTIKA

The Oldest Known Symbol

The swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for over 3,000 years. (That even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol, the Ankh!) Artifacts such as pottery and coins from ancient Troy show that the swastika was a commonly used symbol as far back as 1000 BCE. During the following thousand years, the image of the swastika was used by many cultures around the world, including in China, Japan, India, and southern Europe. By the Middle Ages, the swastika was a well known, if not commonly used, symbol but was called by many different names: China - wan England - fylfot Germany - hakenkreuz Greece tetraskelion and gammadion India - swastika The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix. Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck. In the early twentieth century, the swastika was still a symbol with positive connotations. For instance, the swastika was a common decoration that often adorned cigarette cases, postcards, coins, and buildings. During World War I, the swastika could even be found on the shoulder patches of the American 45 th division.

• • • • • Vocabulary death's head: the skull insignia, worn on the collar lapel, for SS units that administered and guarded the concentration camps billeted: to assign lodging to soldiers Zionism: a Jewish movement that arose in the late 19th century in response to growing anti-Semitism and European nationalism. One of its primary aims was to re-establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Zohar: Hebrew meaning "splendor, radiance;" one of the major works of the Kabbalah.

Shavuot: a Jewish holiday in commemoration of the revelation of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai

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What If?

Humanity’s inability to acknowledge the evil that humans are capable of committing. Jews of Sighet are unable or refuse to believe in the horrors of Hitler’s death camps.

Warnings, glimpses of the reality; but, still will not/cannot accept the fact that humanity has the free will to do evil….Satan lives!

Hitler’s plan is REAL….

Do we do the same in our world? Do we refuse to see the evil in the world? Or --- are we apathetic, because it is not happening to us….NOW?