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I do not mention any sense of morality or human feeling in this analysis, for neither of them had any such sense or feeling. By the end of the twentieth century, Germany was pacified, shrunken in size and ambition but still prosperous, united and successful. It was not to be the thousand year Reich that demanded lebensraum and killed millions on the basis of hateful racial superiority theories.
Stalin’s Soviet Union emerged as the apparent victor from the war putting a third of Europe under its rule and Communist system. But it was a pyrrhic and illusionary victory. By the end of the century, the Soviet Union had disappeared and Russia reverted to a much more contracted and constricted state.
Communism had lost all intellectual and practical allure and Stalin himself went from being the great hero of the Soviet Union to being one of the greatest butchers of humans in the history of civilization. Both villains were driven by their ideologies and the belief that their will and terror tactics would make the world conform to their plans and ideals.
As I mentioned above, since neither man had any sense of morality and scruples, it is not so shocking that between them they were responsible for almost fifty million people being killed in Europe and the Mediterranean areas of the world in a little more than five years.
Hitler’s ideology was pure and simple. He believed in the supremacy of the Aryan race and the destruction of others whom he saw as being sub-human, especially the Jews. His two cardinal mistakes in the war stemmed from his ideology. He invaded Russia because he needed its territory for lebensraum and he wished to destroy its Jews and enslave its Slavic population.
He embarked Germany upon a two-front war that it could not possibly, in the long run, win. He pursued the extermination of the Jews unhesitatingly even when this policy was at the expense of his successful prosecution of the war itself. The Soviet Union had to collapse like a house of cards because he willed it to be that way.
He changed his mind dozens of times on critical personnel and military issues and even contradicted his own previous orders, but his loyalty to his ideology never wavered. Until his suicide, he was still convinced that he was right and that the war was lost because the German people (who had sacrificed so much for his rantings and ideas) were not worthy of his leadership.
His second cardinal error was in declaring war on the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was under no obligation to do so but his ideology that a country dominated in his words "by blacks and Jews" had no right to exist and promulgate "mongrel races." He believed the future would be an Aryan world order. Millions would yet perish until the war finally ended but those two errors of Hitler, driven by his rigid ideology, sealed the doom of Germany and Naziism.
Stalin was also an ideologue - and an amoral and wicked one at that. Communism was the wave of the future and Marx and Lenin had guaranteed its success and world triumph. The state was everything, the proletariat was the dictator, but the individual counted for nothing.
There was no army in the Second World War, even that of Japan, who was as wasteful of the lives of its own soldiers as the Soviet Union. Stalin was aware of the opposition to Communism in the Soviet Union. He was cognizant of the discontent in the population caused by the fact that the promised workers’ paradise had not yet arrived, even after coercion and terrorization of the population into forced Communist correctness.
Again, Stalin’s ideology overrode common sense and practical planning. So all of the alleged territorial and economic gains occasioned by being a victor in World War II were frittered away on the altar of ideology. In our current contest with the Palestinians we should also be careful of ideologies, both pacifist and aggressive, which may not stand up to the test of practicality and reality. Ideology per se is usually a loser in human conflicts.
Rabbis in Midrash
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Shlach Lecha "Why So Many Don't Make Aliya?" - Parshat Shlach
This short article deals with the weird phenomena that every single time Am Yisrael is meant to enter the Land of Israel, throughout the Tanach, 2nd Temple and until today, they "chicken out" and look for excuses. What's the problem with this mitzvah that proves so challenging. The article, based on sources, suggests that the difficulties of Eretz Yisrael is precisely her secret and beauty!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 4
The class deals with Islam and how the Muslim tries convincing the King of the Khazars, and why he was also rejected.
Beha'alotcha JEWISH STATE= GUIDE TO G-DLINESS & SELFLESSNESS
A Jewish State not only is a good idea, but educates us towards selflessness, altruism and G-dliness in our daily lives.
Ein Aya In Zion Even the Smoke of the Bark is Sweet
Just as Jewish nationalism is different from others, so too our capitol of Jerusalem is totally different than other national capitols. Rav Kook beautifully explains the passage in the Talmud that the trees of Yerushalayim were cinnamon trees.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 3
The second speaker invited to convince the Khazar King is the Christian, who presents their beliefs. Even before the questions of the King, "between the lines", the author R. Yehuda HaLevi already begins disproving them.
Ein Aya "Intimacy: Love, Life & Giving or Egocentric Taking & Expiration"
Today, many confuse between intimacy in marriage, based on love, giving and life which are diametrically opposed to empty "sex", pornography and prostitution which destroyed the Beit HaMikdash. The practical importance of clarifying this topic in today's western society is obvious, especially for young adults.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 2
The King of the Kazars, in his search for truth, starts by inviting the philosopher. This is a "crash-course" on Aristotelian philosophy and the reasons why the king is not convinced. Through this dialogue, R. Yehuda HaLevi already foreshadows some of his central ideas that will appear later.
Shavuot "Love of Torah = Love of Israel"- for Shavuot
People often identify Judaism as just a religion, but upon examination, we see, even halachically and explicitly in the siddur, that the Torah is dependent upon Am Yisrael, Jewish nationalism.
Ein Aya The Middle-Child & Anti-Tzni'ut Syndrome- Negative Attention
Although tzni'ut is for men just like women, Rav Kook deals here with the sources in Yishayahu and the Talmud which deals with the special problem of lack of tzni'ut in women's dress and actions, where it's not just a problem of midot and character traits, but also can include practical, social and national ramifications, as well, which caused the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash and exile from Israel. The class continues the previous one (Ayn Aya Shabbat vi, 29), and is a must for all educators and parents of high-school aged and young adults.
P'ninat Mishpat P'NINAT MISHPAT: A Mess of Loans, Repayments and Grievances – part II
based on ruling 83033 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
based on ruling 83033 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts