Auschwitz – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should visit the Yad VaShem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem in order to overcome his Shoah-denial, Rabbi Yisrael Lau said Tuesday during an emotional speech in Auschwitz.
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The speech followed the traditional March of the Living, which saw 7,500 Jewish and non-Jewish teenagers walking along the train tracks that led Jews to their death during World War II.
In his speech, Rabbi Lau slammed Iran’s leader for his hatred towards the Jewish people
Come to Yad Vashem, we will present you with all the documents, archives, and memories,” he said. “We will present you with all the testimonials so that you are convinced there really was a Holocaust.”
Shoah deniers do not wish to know the truth, the rabbi added, and therefore they proceed to spread lies.
Rabbi Lau also criticized the lack of international response to the extermination of the Jews during the war. “They did almost nothing in order to put an end to the killing,” he said, adding that American presidents chose not to address the Shoah in real time.
“The world’s silence is a lesson for humanity,” he said. “Next time we must not remain silent.”
Turning his attention to present-day developments, Rabbi Lau said the world must take “all those mad, crazy people seriously.” He also stressed the importance of maintaining the Jewish tradition, saying that abandoning the faith would make the Nazis triumphant.
rabbi lau is a gadol who witnessed it firsthand
They were absent in the 1940’s as well. Show me documentation of marches and demonstrations then in the frum community. How many were told not to go to eretz yisroel in 1939 -42 as an escape? Where were they when SSSJ demonstrated for Soviet Jewry? Oh sorry – not allowed to mention this.
Who is this rabbi?
Yasher koiach to an odom gadoil who himself was snatched from the jaws of the Churban and is not afraid to tell the truth in public.
As for escaping to E”Y, the whole debate is moot. E”Y was closed off to Jewish immigration during the period in question.
There was only one president in the White House throughout the Holocaust. His name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He should have spelled that out in his speech instead of vague references to “presidents”.
There’s a gemoro that asks, where did you grow up, in a forest? I truly can’t imagine anyone not knowing who Rabbi Lau is and where he came from. His father was the Rov of Pietrekov, a very prominent city in Poland. He survived the Nazi camps at 7 years old with his older brother. Rabbi Lau as a survivor has the automatic status of an Ish Kodosh.
with all due respect, Rabbi Lau should learn a little history instead of merely parroting zionist revisionist history. In fact, FDR was lobbied heavily by the leading American Zionist spokesman (and chief reform “rabbi” ) Stephen Wise to NOT do more. BTW, there WERE marches on Washington, all by orthodox rabbis, including one famous incident where they chained themselves to the Whitehouse gate. Incidently, FDR refused to meet with them due to the urging of Wise (who didn’t like the idea of these “foriegn looking” men representing Jews)
“Rabbi Lau also criticized the lack of international response to the extermination of the Jews during the war. “They did almost nothing in order to put an end to the killing,” he said, adding that American presidents chose not to address the Shoah in real time.”
Perhaps he ought to study a little about how his own country (or pre-country) responded.
“The world’s silence is a lesson for humanity,” he said. “Next time we must not remain silent.”
After all, Rabbi Lau is out there right now campaigning for those in Darfur. Please.
Response to 9 Rabbi lau is right when he says presidents harry s truman took over after roosevelt died the war was still on
rabbi lau,
if not for the americans who sacrificed over 1 million of its young men fighting the germans,you and I and millions of other jews would be lamp shades or soap bars by now,
so let’s have a little HAKORES HATOV,and stop making a chilul hashem
#22 . The soviets did the lions share in defeating Hitler, the Brits come in second. By the time the US forces reached the Rhine, the Soviets liberated the death camps.
It bothers me when a gadol such as Rav Lau shows himself so naive as to invite Achmedinejad to Yad Vashem as if seeing documents will move him to repentance. The Iranian President is not an ignorant man. He knows the truth. It simply suits his political purose to use populist and emotional rhetoric speech in public. We’ve recently seen new expressions of hate in statements such as “hitler (YS) was right,” “back to the ovens” etc. The President of Iran is so filled with hate and his agenda of World domination, that all that would be accomplished by begging him to look at the evidence ( which he already knows exists) would be for him to promote those hateful words and use them as serious rallying cries. With all due respect to R. Lau, Hashem has told us there is a time for war and the bearing of arms. This is that time.
If not the Japanese invading pearl harbor the americans wood not border Jewish blood flooding eu.
I guess you should all read the book by proffeser henry morse called while 6 million died or books about harav hakodosh mb weissmandel