On January 27, 1945, the gates of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp opened, and multitudes of Jews faced a shattered world. They stood at the lowest point in history. Millions of families were destroyed, entire communities had become extinct, and extensive Jewish property was stolen and plundered.
The survivors had every reason to lose hope, give up, and flee. But they did exactly the opposite. At this lowest point they found the best opportunity for rebirth – the establishment of the State of Israel.
Survivors rebuilt their families and communities, and established the Jewish state. Once again, they accumulated assets by developing businesses and thriving companies. The question “Can we rise from destruction?” is not a historical question. It is still valid now and is directed to each of us today as well.
More than seven months ago Israel suffered a barbaric attack when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel’s southern communities. For one day we experienced destruction unlike anything which has occurred in the last 80 years. Since October 7, the Jewish people have been shaken by a bloody war, in their country, their homeland.
The Hamas terrorists from Gaza wanted to transform Kibbutz Be’eri into Babyn Yar, Ofakim into Birkenau, and Kfar Aza into Kishinev. They were armed not only with weapons, but with cameras as well. For what purpose? To preserve the moment in which Jews are once again defenseless. To show the whole world the antisemitic caricature of the helpless Jew. They wanted to prove that Jews in their country are no different than the Jews during 2,000 years of exile – persecuted, weak, begging for their lives.
We suffered a drastic blow, seared in blood and fire in our personal and national memories. But despite the fear and shock, we recovered and rose up again. We are in our country. Our soldiers are fighting valiantly to protect us.
THIS YEAR’S March of the Living at Auschwitz-Birkenau includes several major events in Zionist history. We are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust of the Hungarian Jews, together with the 120th anniversary of the death of Theodor Herzl, who envisioned the establishment of the Jewish state – all this during this last terrible year for the Jewish people.
What, in fact, was Herzl’s vision? What did he foresee? He saw the antisemitism sweeping over France and Europe in his times. A dark wave of Jew-hatred of which we are painfully reminded by the growing antisemitism on campuses in the United States, Europe, and many other parts of the world, where Jews are once again feeling the bitter taste of antisemitism.
Herzl foresaw the pogroms, but also realized that a national homeland for the Jewish people is the only assurance against persecution. Our future in the Diaspora is unclear, but our future in a country of our own is ensured.
Choosing which history to tell
And now, we have the choice of which story to tell: the story of pogroms or the story of rebirth. Whether we remain in what we were or move on to what we can become.
I am sure of the answer. The fathers of Zionism knew the answer. Herzl knew the answer. With this vision he founded the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund at the Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901. He knew we must build a strong national home for the Jewish People. He understood that our rebirth is based on sovereignty over the Land of Israel. That the security of Jews the world over depends on our rebirth.
KKL-JNF is a partner in the March of the Living every year and waves the flag of rebirth. It reminds all of us that the Jewish story is also a story of rebirth, of rebuilding the Jewish national homeland after the pogroms and the Holocaust. In the face of growing antisemitism, in the face of murderous terrorism, we are the response to evil.
Jewish history is replete with suffering and terror: the destruction of the Temple, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the Crusades, and the Holocaust.
But our history is not the history of the pogroms, it is the history of the rebirths. The history of the Jewish people is not a series of expulsions and terror, it is a succession of rebirths following these events, it is rising from the ashes, being able to see the present, and hope for a better future. The Jewish Zionist story is a story of rebirth.
The writer is the KKL-JNF world chairwoman.