What really alarmed me, though, were the news reports and videos of pro-HAMAS protestors in Florida arguing for Jews to "go back to the ovens", a thinly-veiled reference to the Holocaust, Nazi Germany's systematic genocide against the Jews and other undesirable targets. Unable to bury enough victims, ovens were constructed to burn corpses as millions went to their deaths in gas chambers and other horrific ways. I still recoil from the memory of WWII footage of the liberation of concentration camps while in high school history class--stacks of corpses, emaciated victims, etc. How many scientists, artists, musicians and other good, loving, talented people were cut short in the bloom of their youth, all for little more than glorifying God in a distinctive and beautiful tradition spanning thousands of years? Even if the loss was one, that was one too many. Six million voices cry out to be remembered. How could we not have known? How could we not have done more? Are not all babies, ours and theirs, beautiful? Are not all children, theirs and ours, gifts from God? Are their mothers any less tender, their fathers any less committed to their future?
All I could think of was how a group of people was killed for sharing the heritage and prayers that Jesus Himself knew and shared. How can I honor the memory of Our Lord without honoring and respecting the people and their traditions He Himself knew, served and loved? I am well aware that many misguided people in the name of Christ have sought justice against Jews for the Roman execution of Christ. But how can we condemn those whom Jesus Himself has forgiven and has called us to love?
But to those who speak of gas chambers and crematoria, I say this in solidarity with my Jewish friends: "Never again."
