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Five Ways To Reflect On the Holocaust

April 16, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier

Yahrtzeit_candle

Today we begin Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Here at PunkTorah, we have four resources that give pause to reflect on the meaning of the Jewish community’s greatest modern tragedy.

Learn About the Holocaust on Darshan Yeshiva

Our Intro to Judaism course has a great series of Jewish history videos, including ones on the Holocaust. Register today for a 14-day free trial.

Jewish Philosophy After the Holocaust

How could a loving God allow the Holocaust to happen? This is one of many questions Jewish philosophers sought to answer. This two part video series covers the debate, and many others.

Never Forget This Video

This video made by PunkTorah was released three years ago on Hitler’s birthday.

A Poem For the Holocaust

Written by YentaPunker, a poem that demands us to “take a number”.

Irena Sendler: the Non-Jewish Holocaust Hero

In 1999, a group of Kansas students began a research project dealing with the Holocaust. During their research they heard a rumor about a “female Oskar Schindler” and decided to investigate. Their investigation turned into an incredible account of a Polish woman who managed to save over 3000 Jewish lives during the Nazi occupation of Poland.

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Irena Sendler: a Non Jewish Holocaust Hero

May 23, 2013 by Patrick Beaulier

irena sender

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was commemorated this year with ceremonies and speeches but some of the most meaningful commemorations sometimes take place in a more informal environment.

Such is the story of Irena Sendler which was brought to the attention of Jewish organizations and leaders by a group of non-Jewish Kansas students. In 1999 these girls began a research project dealing with the Holocaust. During their research they heard a rumor about a “female Oskar Schindler” and decided to investigate. Their investigation turned into an incredible account of a Polish woman who managed to save over 3000 Jewish lives during the Nazi occupation of Poland.

Irena Sendler was a young Polish social worker when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. She immediately joined the Zagota, the Polish underground which was dedicated to helping Jews escape the Nazis and, as part of that group, assisted over 500 Jews to escape from the Germans.

In 1941 Sendler moved to Warsaw where she obtained false papers that identified her as a nurse. With these papers she was able to move freely into the Warsaw ghetto to bring food and medicine to the Jews who were interned within the ghetto walls.

Sendler quickly ascertained the true intentions of the Germans and began a program of smuggling Jewish children out of the ghetto. Many of the children that she brought out of the ghetto were orphans, with no identifiable family, but others were children of parents who were still alive and had to be convinced to allow their children to be removed from their care. Sendler described her activities as “talking the mothers out of their children” and, all in all, she is credited with removing over 2500 children from the Warsaw ghetto.

Together with her Zagota comrades Sendler brought the children out by sewer pipes that ran under the city and through the old courthouse that sat on the edge of the ghetto’s border. In addition she sedated many young children and carried them out in luggage, bags and toolboxes or hid them under her legs as she traveled out of the ghetto by tram.

The children were hidden by sympathetic Polish families and in orphanages and convents. Sendler carefully recorded all of the children’s names on pieces of tissue paper along with the names of the families or institutions where she placed them for hiding. She hid these pieces of paper in jars which she buried in her garden, hoping that the children could some day be reunited with their families or, if not, with their Jewish community.

In 1943 Sendler was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned. The Gestapo tortured her, breaking both of her feet, but Sendler never revealed the hiding places of any of “her” children. Her friends from the Zagota were able to bribe a German guard and secure her release and Sendler spent the rest of the war years in hiding.

In 1999 students at a Kansas City High School learned of Sendler’s exploits and, after careful research, publicized her story in a unique project — Life in a Jar. The students met with Sendler, who was, by this time, in her ’90s, and created a presentation that depicts Sendler’s actions during the dark days of Nazi rule. The play has been performed dozens of times over the past decade for audiences around the world. Later funded by a Jewish businessman, the project expanded to include a book and a website.

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, Holocaust, Holocaust Remembrance Day, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Shoah, Yom HaShoah

Never Forget This Video

April 20, 2011 by Patrick Beaulier

In remembrance of the Holocaust on Hitler’s birthday today…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE7lML-CsDg

Filed Under: Podcasts & Videos, Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Shabbat & Holidays Tagged With: 4/20, hitler, Holocaust, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Never Forget This Video, punktorah, Yom HaShoah

Opening The Gates: An Essay

February 21, 2011 by Patrick Beaulier

Opening The Gates: An Essay

(Loosening up about faith, welcoming converts, and letting go of the past)

When one thinks of spreading their faith one probably imagines a ‘Jehovah’s witness’ type, going door to door, harassing poor folks about G-d, salvation and the like. Judaism, once upon a time, had its own tradition of proselytizing. In the Roman Empire, Judaism was well known as a missionary faith and accepted converts from all regions of the Empire until the Roman Emperor Hadrian outlawed the practice around 131 C.E. As Jews, we shouldn’t necessarily feel obligated to spread our faith, but at the same time we shouldn’t shy away from talking about it either. The Torah itself specifically commands us to be open to Converts, with the passage of history and in large part due to the Diaspora, Conversion to Judaism has been, up until modern times, largely not talked about openly amongst the Global Jewish community. Biblically, the first Convert to Judaism – Ruth had herself a relatively easy time coming into the community versus the experiences of prospective converts in contemporary times. With that said, it has to be asked, why is it so hard? Why are Converts often subjected to long periods of study and Reflection often lasting a year or more?

Some Rabbinical opinions cite ‘Sincerity of the Convert’ and ‘integration/acceptance into the community’ as being key reasons for such lengthy periods. Jewish communities everywhere are shrinking, areas of the United States where Jewish communities once thrived are now largely faint specters of what once was a mere five years ago. The remedy to our decline lies in future generations, how we continue our traditions and talk about our faith is key to our survival as a people. Halakah, Jewish Law, contrary to some, was intended as malleable work, open to revision and change as the world evolved. While this is not the case for a number of us, and that’s fine, we must confront and adapt to the changes we see around us, more importantly, As Jews, we should not shy away from talking about faith. The Torah teaches to live so as to be an example to the Nations. Sharing our spiritual and religious life with others is a major part of not only our bonds to our brothers and sisters, but also allows those who may be curious or spiritually a glimpse of the Joy and connections Judaism, and religion in general, can provide.

The world Jewish community still forces the global community to be reminded of the Holocaust, and for good reason, that we ‘never forget’. Yet, if we dwell in the past how can we ever look to the future? While Yom HaShoah by its very existence, causes us all, Jew and non-Jew alike, to be mindful of past evils, it should not force us to live in a bubble, Judaism is not some exclusive country club, it is a vibrant and all-inclusive living spiritual tradition that, together with Christianity and Islam, commands the attention of some several million people. If Judaism is to survive into the 21st century, we as a people must go forward with open hearts, open minds, and, more importantly no fear. The story of the Jews lies in the soil of the fields, from dust we came to dust we return, so lets keep our ears to the ground and our eyes towards Zion.

Bud W. Andrews    2/3/11

Ari Ben-Avraham

Filed Under: Converting To Judaism, Rants Tagged With: community, convert, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, faith, future, Jewish, online conversion, past, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, welcoming, Yom HaShoah

A Poem For The Holocaust

April 11, 2010 by Patrick Beaulier

Society tells us, “Stand in line and take a number.”
Well, they make numbers seem so optional now.
And Tattoos no longer taboos.
Make a trend out  of what they brand.

7359624
“Take a number!”
Lines once made for dyin’
Women and children cryin’
Packed-
Moved like cattle
Guns to fists my people battle
And you want me to take a number?

Why don’t I just sew a patch on my arm?
What’s the harm?
I’ll give you a number.
6 million of me filled in line.
Not doing time-
Doin’ eternity.

Brother don’t look at me.
You called that a ghetto?
Your ghetto gets groceries!
I don’t know what a food stamp is.
And your showers have water
That’s different too.
Washing our bodies with toxic gas
Being called Jude
Where the only way your number was gone was burned.
In an oven no less.
The flames of fire cave in your breast.

Heads shaved, shoes stolen, women raped for fun.
Police were public enemy number one.
Crimes against humanity-
Nazis countless, Jews none.

7359624
Take a number! Take a number you say?
Kristlanach was not just some shards of glass on broken sidewalks
But broken dreams from twisted hearts.
And those tears fallen were swept by angels.

Take a number!
But numbers mean nothing
I am a statistic
Of the sadistic-
Time?
You conceder the 1930’s the good ol’ days.
Take a number
7359624
I’ll stand in line, but I already have my number.

Written by YentaPunker for PunkTorah.org

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: Counterculture, darshan yeshiva, Holocaust, holocaust poetry, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, poem about the holocaust, poems about the holocaust, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Religion, rememberance day, Torah, Yom HaShoah

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