The question almost every Jew asks is
“Why did G-d allow
the Holocaust in World War II?”
The answer to this question
is found very simply in the Torah,
in Numbers chapters 13 and 14.
In these chapters the Scriptures
chronicles that greatest sin that
Israel committed in the wilderness
after they had been brought out
of the Land of Egypt by HASHEM.
It was the sin of HATRED WITHOUT A CAUSE,
UNBELIEF, AND DESPISING THE
LAND OF ISRAEL.
It has been shown that this
was a greater sin than
the sin of IDOLATRY which
Israel committed at Mount Sinai
with the molten calf עגל המסכה .
The sin of Hatred without a Cause,
Unbelief, and Despising the Land
was committed at
Kadesh-barnea קדש ברנע when
Israel believed the evil report דבת הארץ
of the ten spies.
It resulted in the terrible judgment
that ALL Israel, even Moses and Aaron,
from twenty years and older,
would die in the wilderness.
This was the first holocaust שואה .
The sin of HATRED WITHOUT A CAUSE,
UNBELIEF was responsible also for
the destruction of the Second Temple
in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the great
Diaspora הגולה that occurred as a
result of the destruction.
Psalm 106:26-27 links the
this sin in the wilderness with
the Diaspora הגולה .
“Therefore he lifted up his hand
against them, to overthrow them
in the wilderness:
To overthrow their seed also
among the nations,
and to scatter them
in the lands.”
וישא ידו להם
להפיל אותם במדבר:
ולהפיל זרעם בגוים
ולזרותם בארצות:
HATRED WITHOUT A CAUSE,
UNBELIEF, AND DESPISING
THE LAND OF ISRAEL,
was also the sin responsible
for the Holocaust השואה .
The Scripture ties it together
even using the word “Nazi”
two times.
Numbers 14:11.
“And HASHEM said to Moses,
How long will this people
provoke me?
And how long will it be before
they believe me,
for all the signs which
I have showed among them?”
ויאמר יהוה אל משה
עד אנה
ינאצני
העם הזה
ועד אנה לו יאמינו בי
בכל האתות
אשר עשיתי בקרבו :
Numbers 14:23
“Surely they shall not see
the land which I sware
to their fathers,
neither shall any of them that
provoked me see it.”
אם יראו את הארץ
אשר נשבעתי לאבתם
וכל מנאצי לא יראוה:
The word “provoke” used here
in both passages comes from
the Hebrew root “na’ats” נ א ץ .
It is the root from which the Germans
derived their name “nazi”.
The Germans used this word because
they were provoking or “nettling”
HASHEM to his face by
attempting to destroy the holy seed,
the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.