“Why Can’t the Jews Just Get Over It?”
Each year, January 27 is dedicated to the official international remembrance of the Holocaust, and there are other Holocaust memorial days throughout the year.[1] As I think of Holocaust International Remembrance Day, I remember my conversation with a man who sadly said these words: “Why can’t the Jews just get over it? This was so long ago now.”
I had met this man before on the college campus where I would set up a table with free literature about Jesus the Jewish Messiah, along with Bibles and other gospel literature. His callous, angry remark was not a question, but rather a statement from a man I knew to be deeply antisemitic. He was venting his irritation that there would be a campus commemoration remembering the six million Jewish people systemically murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.[2]
Too often when speaking with people about the Holocaust or antisemitism over the years, I hear a weak acknowledgement of this horrific, targeted mass murder of six million Jewish people, followed immediately by a “Yes, but . . .” What follows is often a statement along the lines of, “There have been genocides against people all over the world. They’re not the only ones, you know.”
This is the same type of subtle resistance I sometimes encounter when talking with believers about reaching the Jewish people specifically with the gospel. When an individual responds with “Everyone needs the gospel, not just Jewish people,” I know they lack understanding of God’s heart for His chosen nation.
God chose the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as a special people to be in a covenant relationship with Him,[3] and to deliver the Law and the Prophets to the people of Israel. The Scriptures would give the message not only to Israel but to the world of a coming Redeemer who would bring spiritual salvation to those who believe and trust in Him.[4] This Redeemer will also return to fulfill God’s promises for Israel.
The Holocaust is a reminder that the centuries-long hatred of the Jewish people is a satanically inspired hatred against God Himself and the people He chose as His own possession. The Holocaust is also a reminder that the enemies of God will continue their evil pursuit of the Jewish people’s destruction, as witnessed on October 7, 2023,[5] as well as in the attacks by Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran. Worldwide acts of antisemitism have been rising globally for years.[6] Now, more than ever, we remember the past pain of Jewish communities around the world and God’s future promises for them.[7]
The Jewish people cannot “just get over it,” as the man told me on the college campus years ago, because they are a people of remembrance – called to remember God, His commandments, His previous faithfulness and deliverance, His chastisement, and His future promises.[8]
How can we remember? If you have never seen a documentary on the Holocaust, though they are very unsettling and graphic at times, watching one or two of them will help inform and remind you why the Jewish people will not forget.
Rather than asking Jewish communities around the world to “get over it,” I suggest that the people of God who follow His Son, the Messiah Jesus, should “get on with it,” which is to share the Good News of salvation and forgiveness of sin with the people through whom the Lord brought His Redeemer into the world.[9]
Finally, pray for the people of Israel and Jewish communities around the world. While many seek their demise, we pray they would have life through their Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), and have it more abundantly, both for the Jewish people and the nations.[10]
Written by Jeff, Life in Messiah staff
Have you ever received a noncommittal response or been rebuffed when talking about the Holocaust, antisemitism, or the need to reach Jewish people with the gospel? How did you respond?
Documentaries can be a valuable way to educate ourselves and others about the Holocaust. Frontline (PBS) offers four Holocaust documentaries on their website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/four-documentaries-about-the-holocaust/.
This January 27, one way to show support for the Jewish community is by attending a Holocaust memorial. Is there one being held in or within traveling distance of your area? As we join our Jewish friends in grieving the darkness of the past as well as the atrocities endured in the present, we can show God’s love by standing with them today against those who seek them harm.
Endnotes:
[1] For more information on Holocaust memorial days, see https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/all-the-holocaust-memorial-days-explained/.
[2] See https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/estimated-number-of-jews-killed-in-the-final-solution.
[3] Deuteronomy 7:6–8; 14:2; Psalm 33:12; 135:4; Romans 9:1–3.
[4] Psalm 2:1–12; Isaiah 49:1–10; 51:13–53:12; John 3:16–17; Romans 10:1–13.
[5] See this article from The Jerusalem Post: https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-823396.
[6] See this report on the increase of antisemitism globally: https://www.dw.com/en/antisemitism-rising-dramatically-across-the-world-report-finds/a-69000456.
[7] Jeremiah 31:31–34; Romans 9–11.
[8] Exodus 13:3; 32:13; Deuteronomy 16:3; Joshua 1:13; Psalm 77:11.
[9] Isaiah 40:1–10; John 3:16; 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 1:16; 10:1–17; 1 Timothy 2:5–6.
[10] John 10:1–16.