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Does God care about individual lives, or merely the survival of the Jewish people as a nation?

God and the Holocaust (Topic 1, part 3)

In April 2020, to coincide with Yom HaShoah, the day in the Jewish calendar dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, and the 75th anniversary of the liberation, Rabbi Sacks launched a series of videos offering his perspective on many of the big questions raised when studying the Holocaust.

We believe that God endowed His image and likeness on every single human being. Therefore, every single human being counts, matters, has dignity, is sacred.

Every human being is unique. Even identical twins only share 50% of their characteristics. Therefore, no human being is substitutable for any other.

God cares about us as individuals, and not as a totality, a class, or a group. That is what makes the Holocaust so unbearable to think about. The Sages said that every life is like a universe, and we as a people lost 6 million universes. Humanity as a whole lost, in the 20th century, over a 100 million universes as a result of man’s brutality against man.

Every one of us counts.

This series, created in partnership with the Holocaust Educational Trust, has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Richard Harris.

View the full Holocaust series of curriculum resources with additional discussion questions and historical background

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Faith After the Holocaust

Rabbi Sacks responds to the devastation of the Holocaust

Does God care about individual lives, or merely the survival of the Jewish people as a nation?

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More Holocaust Curriculum Resources

Faith After the Holocaust

Where can you find hope in the history of the Holocaust?

How does the Holocaust impact interfaith relations today?

How do you connect the Holocaust with the establishment of the State of Israel?

Do you think it’s ever possible to forgive the perpetrators of the Holocaust?

What is the difference between vengeance and justice?

What about a statute of limitations?

A Just Punishment for the Nazis?

Do you think the Holocaust represented a failure of humanity?

Do you have faith in humanity after the Holocaust?

Where was God during the Holocaust?

What is theologically unique about the Holocaust?

Practically speaking, is there something unique about the Holocaust?

Should a Jewish theological response to the Holocaust include issues of justice?

Should the Holocaust be a key ingredient of our Jewish identity?

How has the Holocaust impacted your personal relationship with God?

What do you think the Jewish theological response to the Holocaust should be?

How can I have faith that God is within each of us if I mistrust humanity?

Can we trust people other than ourselves?