By Sanford Goodkin

Sixty years ago, what did the world know and what did they care? The  Holocaust was the introduction of numbers into pain, six million individuals who formed a collective memory of mourning and the sigh of "why" that can never be answered.

Reflective Jews ask "why do they hate us so; why each generation, why"

The search for illumination is like the revolving of Earth, each sun-up and each sun-down we search for answers.

Is it what Torah teaches us about God that He wants us to forgive each other but never forgives us? Is that a special wisdom and value system that makes God the punisher forever? There appears to be no logic for that, but is God logical, does He have to act logically the way we evaluate the actions or is His value-system so holy that mere humans can't comprehend it or act 
according to it? No, I reject that.

I believe that He demands us to pursue justice and to deal with each other ethically and with kindness. The fault therefore is in our failure to abide with this behavior. Yes, some of us do, but some of us simply do not as we are motivated by greed, selfishness and holier-than-thou antics. 

My quarrel has always been with Wall Street which nurtures capitalism that has bounced out of control, posing as free enterprise, which it isn't, and engaging in the construction of giantism rather than nourishing the small to become successful and grow without the necessity of going public or being merged or acquired by a giant. What is happening in the business world is what's called "consolidation", which is another word for getting bigger than any other, encouraged by investment bankers who are drenched in capital, who will do anything for a fee or commission.

My quarrel isn't with capitalism; my interest is in the Jews whose names appear as potential criminals, indicted unethical warriors, and immoral or amoral people who give tyrants and God the reasons for "why?

"We are given choice, a brilliant option to prove that we are listening, that we care 
about right and wrong, that we are sensitive to the plight of the poor and deprived, and that we won't take our sweet time in finding solutions to their needs. The greedy ones' actions and names give substance to potential Jew-haters, or our own young, or to any observer-including our God-and haunt every generation until there is only a remnant left once again, and we are 
left to ponder our "whys?"

But this time, when the Holocaust occurred, the Jews were struck with a different form of Noah's flood, or Roman conquest; there was no Moses and there wasn't even our God to protect us.

I cite the immoral businessmen as examples of what we must not be, not motivate our children to become, not give anyone a reason to hate us with intense envy or religiously inspired narrow mindedness. I do not believe it gives God justification to destroy so many of us and I am not wise enough to know the answer to "why?" 

I do believe that Jews have a special choice of choosing good over evil, and thus choosing life over greed. Just as ancient words tell us that if we save one life it's like saving the world, I believe 
that each good deed helps save us from God's or mortal's wrath. Holiness is an individual's daily behavior. And that's the truth!