Shoah means “whirlwind”, or in some languages, “tornado.”
My grandmother’s maiden name was Radon. Her family came from
Czechoslovakia. But many of this family were moved to Poland, where the European countries said that Jews could live.
Her parents were able to come to America from Lublin Poland in the 1880s, during the pogroms which expelled the Jews from that part of the world. When the second world war began, she and her husband, my grandfather, were safe in America, and already had three boys – one of whom was my father. But the vast majority of the Radon family was still in Eastern Europe.
The deportations in Eastern Europe were typically savage, and habitually began with Jews being murdered in their homes, in the streets and in local cemeteries.
Such was the fate that befell the Jews of Lublin – the victims of the first deportation carried out by Germans in the Generalgouvernement (central Poland under German administration).
In March-April 1941, some 40,000 Jews were confined in a ghetto established in Lublin's old city quarter. In early 1942, a few short weeks before the deportation,
German brutality towards the 40,000 Jews in the city's ghetto escalated, with many being shot. But nothing prepared the Jews of Lublin for the events of 17 March 1942, the day the mass deportations began. At 5 am, the Germans and their Ukrainian collaborators woke the Jews, and ordered them to leave their homes within a matter of minutes. The deportees were led to the collection point, in this case the venerable "Maharshal" Synagogue, which had stood in Lublin for 375 years. Those who tarried in their departure, or tried to evade the deportation, were dragged forcibly, beaten or shot. A few craftsmen were returned to the ghetto, while the rest of the Jews were marched 3 km from the synagogue to the freight train station, from where they were deported to the Bełżec extermination camp.
The element of surprise, the shouting of the Germans and Ukrainians, the wailing of the deportees, and the beatings and shootings, combined to terrorize the Jews into submission. In addition to those shot leaving their homes, others were murdered on their way to the synagogue and during the march to the train station.
By 14 April 1942, approximately 30,000 Lublin Jews had been deported to their deaths in Bełżec and thousands killed in their homes and in the streets; thousands more were executed soon after in the nearby woods.
The format for deporting the Jews of Central Europe was usually similar to that in the west and south, and was based upon deception; the transports were misleadingly referred to as "labor recruitment." While the Germans directed the deportations, in practice they entrusted significant elements of their implementation to local police forces and their auxiliaries. Unlike the Jews of Eastern Europe, the Jews of Central, Western and Southern Europe were concentrated prior to their deportation mainly in transit camps, from which the deportations left for the extermination camps.
Once we have become a believer, we are called to a lifestyle that is fundamentally different from the other peoples of the earth. This is true regardless of our national heritage. As believers, we are members of the same family.
As our light shines, it forms a greater contrast with the deepening darkness around us. The evil one hates us.
In the days of our fathers and grandfathers, evil stalked the land.
Hitler and his minions herded us into ghettos, camps, and gas chambers.
The testimony of their lives is what set them apart, and their holy light was hated by the darkness.
I have known survivors.
Eliezer Urbach
Abraham – on the plane
Shimon Segali – tour guide in Israel
How do you deal with the coming whirlwind [shoah] of hate and evil?
It has already begun. The daily news details its beginnings.
Yeshua tells us in Revelation to prevail to the end.
Rev 2:1-3:13
2:1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
…
7'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.'
8 "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
…
10'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days.
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.'
12 "And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
…
17'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.'
18 "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
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26'And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; 27 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
Revelation 3
3:1 "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:
…
5'He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels. 6'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. '
7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
…
10'Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth. 11'I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have,
in order that no one take your crown. 12'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.
13'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
What does “prevailing” and “overcoming” look like?
The lie of Satan is that if we are just clever enough, we will be able to escape the days of evil.
In the camps, “Arbeit Macht Frei” on the gates. It was a lie.
The only true freedom is that which is provided by the blood of the Lamb.
There is even now a temptation to deny Yeshua or to put away His commandments to preserve your dignity, your job, or your friends.
The darkness of evil can make you believe that G-d doesn’t exist.
Let trouble drive you INTO the arms of a loving G-d, not away from Him.
TODAY - we must continue the process of exercising our faith so that it will grow stronger as trials come.
Matt 16:24-27
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 "For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. 26 "For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds.
Yeshua said the same thing in a different way to John on Patmos.
Rev 14:9-12
9 And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
11 "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." 12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
The commandments sanctify us, and set us apart. They make us more visible. We become G-d’s light. Evil hates light. So, evil hates us who bring light.
Our testimony of Yeshua makes us even more unique among all peoples.
They go hand-in-hand.
TODAY - Be light in a dark world.
Do not be arrogant, mixing the holy and the common.
Do not disregard the commandments of G-d.
The G-d we serve is holy. We should likewise be holy.
Are you already facing trouble, attacks from the evil one, persecutions? Are you already living within the whirlwind? If not, pray for those of us who are.
