In his 'Ask the Rabbi' column in The Jewish Weekly, Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, the Rabbi of Mill Hill United Synagogue, described the memorial prayer recital for those killed in Gaza outside Westminster as “Kapo’ism", causing fury.
He writes below about the firestorm it caused.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, has called me an antisemite.
If, as she maintains, using the term kapo is considered “downright offensive”, then, I would think, so is calling a fellow Jew an antisemite.
She might be the first to protest this, insisting that she never called me an antisemite.
She said: “The use of the term kapo in describing another Jew would be interpreted as antisemitic.”
Like her, I never called other Jews kapos. I insisted that reciting kaddish for dead terrorists is “kapo’ism”.
There is a difference and that difference lies as much in the distinction Marks-Woldman would make about her choice language in criticising me.
She disingenuously begins her comments by suggesting that my criticism was launched at “Jews who had said kaddish for Palestinians killed on the Gaza border”.
It’s a clever tactic by which to portray me as an extremist. But they weren’t just Palestinians. They were terrorists who were trying to breach the border in order to “cut out Jewish hearts”.
She then proceeds to give a history lesson on kapos, describing them as evil criminals, cruel Nazi henchmen, adding: “Some of them were Jewish”.
The inference is that most were not Jewish and were as bad as the Nazis themselves. Thus, making any connection between Jews and kapos is tantamount to calling Jews “Nazis”.
Here we get to the crux of the matter. Most people make an emotional connection between the term kapo and Nazi – precisely because of the likes of Marks-Woldman, who portray them in such a light. I don’t see them as negatively as she does.
First, most – not some – were Jewish. Second, as I wrote, they were under extreme duress for fear of their own lives and that of their loved ones. To reiterate, “what they did was fundamentally flawed but who am I to judge them?”
The term kapo’ism was used only in the context of Jews emboldening the enemy against their own.
I have never used the term kapo anymore than Marks-Woldman has used the term antisemite to describe another Jew.
Frankly, I never used the term “kapo’ism” before either. But then, I’d never come across Jews reciting kaddish for dead terrorists before.
Kaddish is the single most sacred prayer in Jewish liturgy. It is an elaborate praise of God reflecting the essence of the soul, as extension of the Divine, within man. The intention of the prayer is to consider the enormity of the loss endured and exalt the soul.
Furthermore, the requirement that the kaddish should be recited only in a quorum of ten men signifies the uniqueness of the prayer in sanctifying God’s name in keeping with the commandment of Kiddush Hashem - “and I shall be sanctified amidst the children of Israel”.
Mysticism explains that reciting this extraordinary prayer for the sake of a loved one brings them indescribable comfort.
I remember as a child watching my grandfather each year, overcome with emotion, reciting the kaddish for his parents and other family members brutally murdered by the Nazis, before his very eyes.
Until this day, it is always an emotional scene to observe Holocaust survivors recite the sacred kaddish in memory of their loved ones.
Granted, “kapo’ism” is a harsh term and I apologise for any unintended offence caused. How would you react? What term would you use to describe such an action?
Does that not embolden the enemy, and the many who support Hamas? Does it not by extension justify the killing of fellow Jews?
It’s easy to pounce on a word thus deflecting from the gravity of the real offence caused. Too many Jews have been killed by terrorists over the years.
To use Marks-Woldman’s own words: “We owe it to them, to learn from their experiences and strive to treat each other with respect, dignity and kindness today.”
