ABSTRACT
it must have been with tongue in cheek that the great second-century sage of the land of Israel, Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, speaking on a different matter, said, "Four things the Holy One, blessed be He, detests, and I don't like them either" (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Niddah 16b). I would like to say the same, in all seriousness, in connection with the Shoah. There are four things that the Holy One, blessed be He, detests (at least this is my hope), and I reject them as well. These four things are, first, theological justifications of the Holocaust, which must be rejected out of hand; second, even raising the theological question of why there was a Holocaust, implying that an answer might be found; third, the notion that survival was possible only at the expense of others and that, therefore, every survivor must have a sense of guilt; and fourth, the idea that all survivors of the Holocaust necessarily share certain sociological and psychological characteristics. (In this last instance, unlike the first three, I merely disagree. I would not go so far as to say that I detest those who search for commonalities.)
