January 27th was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Perhaps in preparation for this important day, the BBC dedicated its The Big Questions Twitter account (#BBCTBQ) to this occasion in the following manner: “Our one big question this morning: Is the time coming to lay the Holocaust to rest?” If you have ever looked for an example of the zeitgeist, this title is quite indicative. But for all the dismay that such statements invoke, what really worries me is how we, Jews, treat our past. If titles such as American Jews Must Stop Obsessing Over the Holocaust can be casually attributed to prominent individuals such as Prof. Jacob Neusner, there is real cause for concern. I must admit that I, too, am not keen on dwelling over the past. But we cannot normalize the Holocaust because there is nothing normal about it. The Holocaust is a stark reminder that the acculturation (which is nothing more than euphemism for assimilation) that the majority of American Jews seek will not happen, not now, not ever, not in America, nor anywhere else. Six centuries ago we tried to assimilate in Spain, and we all know how this ended. Ninety years ago we tried to do it in Germany, and it became an even greater tragedy than Spain. Now we are trying to do it in the US. There is no reason to expect...
