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commentary
A Glaring Omission
A
Berl Falbaum
commentary
fter stoking anti-Semitism
in the campaign, the likes
of which the U.S. had not
seen since World War II, President
Donald Trump forgot to remember
Jews on International Holocaust
Remembrance Day.
In a short Jan. 27 proclamation
(117 words) to mark the occasion,
Trump said in part, “It is with a heavy
heart and somber mind that we
remember and honor the victims,
survivors, heroes of the Holocaust.
It is impossible to fully fathom the
depravity and horror inflicted on
innocent people by Nazi terror.”
He made no mention that the
Holocaust was Germany ’s Final
Solution to rid the world of Jews.
Moreover, the omission was inten-
tional as White House spokespeople
explained in defending the proclama-
tion.
“I don’t regret the words,” said
Reince Priebus, Trump’s chief of
staff. Hope Hicks, a White House
spokesperson, added, “…we took into
account all of those who suffered.”
What the proclamation did was
“universalize” the Holocaust and may
have provided Holocaust deniers with
just the kind of official document to
prove that Jews were not the target of
the Holocaust.
Consider if other governments fol-
low suit. In a decade or two, when the
last Holocaust survivors and eyewit-
nesses are gone, we will be left with
“official” statements that ignore the
intent to annihilate Jews, but stress
that there were many other victims
as well.
Indeed, millions of others were
slaughtered. That issue could easily
have been addressed — as it was in
two previous presidential proclama-
tions (Bush and Obama) — by citing
that 6 million Jews were exterminat-
ed along with about 5 million others.
conservative magazine Commentary,
wrote: “The Holocaust was about
the Jews. To universalize it to ‘all
those who suffered’ is to scrub the
Holocaust of its meaning.”
The Israeli ambassador to the
United States Ron Dermer warned “…
If this noble, universal vision is not
firmly rooted in an appreciation that
the Holocaust is first and foremost a
Jewish story, it can become not only
dangerous but even immoral.”
John Greenblatt, the Anti-
Defamation League CEO and
national director, said, “This is not a
political issue; this is a matter of not
just sensitivity; it’s a matter of histori-
cal fact.”
However, World Jewish Congress
President Ron Lauder disagreed.
“Any fair reading” of the statement,
he said, “will see it appropriately
commemorates the suffering and the
heroism that mark that dark chapter
in modern history.”
Regrettably, Lauder misses the
point of potential consequences.
Holocaust universalization will
trivialize this unspeakable history.
In addition, universalization is the
major technique used by anti-Sem-
ites to delegitimize the Holocaust.
Deborah Lipstadt, the historian,
called this “soft-core Holocaust deni-
al.” And, by admitting it had discussed
the issue, the White House made it
clear that it understood exactly what
it was doing — which Lauder does
not.
The omission should not surprise
us. The president has as a key adviser,
Stephen K. Bannon, former executive
chair of Breitbart, a far-right (alt-
right) website that caters to white
supremacists and anti-Semites. His
fingerprints seem to be all over the
document.
He most likely was also responsible
for the dissemination of an anti-
Semitic caricature of Clinton as well
as a TV ad that featured language
— “levers of power in Washington”
— reminiscent of the Protocols of the
Elders of Zion and included exclusive-
ly Jewish officials who were paraded
as examples of that power.
These two campaign incidents,
along with others, did not seem to
bother the 24 percent of the Jewish
electorate that voted for Trump.
Organized Jewry, overall, was silent
as well. Some became Trump apolo-
gists. The usual response was: “He has
a Jewish son-in-law.” The response to
that: So what? Jared Corey Kushner
would not be the first Jew to turn a
blind eye to anti-Semitism for what-
ever reasons — money, power, poli-
tics, relationships or simple denial.
The irony in this sorry spec-
tacle: International Holocaust
Remembrance Day was initiated in
2005 by the United Nations, gener-
ally considered a cesspool of anti-
Semitism, to fight the increase in
anti-Semitism around the world. •
Berl Falbaum is a veteran journalist and
author.
continued from page 5
that if one sees another in a life-
threatening situation, then one is
obligated to intercede in order to
save a person from certain harm
— even if saving that person holds
the potential to put the rescuer’s
life in danger (Babylonian Talmud
Sanhedrin 73a).
In addition, we hold dear the
Torah’s frequent reminder that we
Jews understand what it is like to
be considered the “stranger,” and
thus we hold aloft the teaching,
“And you shall not wrong a strang-
er, neither shall you oppress them;
8
A few words, no more than 10, could
have solved “the problem.”
The late Nobel Peace Prize winner
and Auschwitz survivor, Elie Wiesel,
wrote that the Holocaust cannot be
universalized.
He said the Shoah was not an
example of “man’s inhumanity to
man,” but rather “it was man’s inhu-
manity to Jews. Jews were not killed
because they were human beings. In
the eyes of the killers, they were not
human beings! They were Jews! Not
all victims were Jews, but all Jews
were victims.”
Outrage over the proclamation
came from several sources, the stron-
gest from Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary
Clinton’s vice presidential running
mate.
“The irony is not lost on me that
it [the travel ban on people from
seven Muslim-majority countries]
was issued the same day as the proc-
lamation that, unlike any previous
administration, removed all reference
to Jews,” Kaine said. “This is what
Holocaust denial is.”
John Podhoretz, editor of the neo-
February 9 • 2017
jn
for you were strangers in the land
of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21).
Finally, we are disturbed that
this executive order violates our
moral obligation, “Justice, justice
you shall pursue” (Deuteronomy
16:20), by fomenting xenopho-
bia and creating an unjust and
immoral religious test for those
seeking life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness.
Therefore, in our desire and
our efforts to protect the United
States of America — its citizens
and residents, its laws and ideals
— and in our faith’s expectation
that we strive to lead Jewish lives
of holiness and righteousness,
we call upon President Donald
Trump to rescind this executive
order. We further pray that we
shall work together to help bring
the day when “every person shall
sit under his/her vine and fig tree
and none shall make them afraid”
(Micah 4:4). •
Rabbi Marla Hornsten is president of the
Michigan Board of Rabbis. This letter was also
signed by other rabbis of that organization.
CORRECTION
• In “Doing What’s Right” (Feb. 2, page 12),
Suzanne Levin should have been identified in
this photo.