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There are certainly parallelisms to this condition regarding the Holocaust and the current atmosphere of anti-Semitism that pervades democratic Europe. The general population of Egypt suffered greatly from the plagues that the Lord visited upon them because of the intransigence of Pharaoh and his refusal to free the Jews. The commentators to the Chumash all raise this question of collective punishment, which on the surface may appear to be unfair and extreme. But the core of the matter and the answer to this question lies in the previous mindset of the Egyptian population that long before this Pharaoh arose already abhorred the Jewish people and resented its presence in their midst. There is an idiom in Jewish life that states: "There is no king without a people." The Holocaust, though planned and perpetrated by the Nazi hierarchy, could nevertheless never have reached the proportions that it did without the active and passive participation of the native populations of Europe. Of course, the Jewish slavery in Egypt was predicted and preordained by God and revealed to Abraham centuries before it occurred. Nevertheless, as Jewish thought continually emphasizes to us, this in no way absolves the perpetrators of evil from receiving just punishment for their behavior. Only time will tell what the bill for the Holocaust will amount to. But I have no doubt that this bill like all matters of history eventually will be paid and redressed.
Rabbis in Midrash
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
