The Auschwitz Torah and the Iron Triangle

As you know I'm an atheist. I'm not moved by holy anythings. I believe that the only heavens and hells are the ones we make for ourselves right here on earth.

But I still find the story of the Auschwitz Torah awesome and inspiring.

It is the story of a sexton in the synagogue in the Polish city of Oswiecim who buried most of the sacred scroll before the Germans stormed in and later renamed the city Auschwitz. It is the story of Jewish prisoners who sneaked the rest of it — four carefully chosen panels — into the concentration camp.

It is the story of a Polish Catholic priest to whom they entrusted the four panels before their deaths. It is the story of a Maryland rabbi who went looking for it with a metal detector. And it is the story of how a hunch by the rabbi’s 13-year-old son helped lead him to it.

“This really is an opportunity to look up to the heavens and say, he who laughs last, laughs best,” Rabbi Youlus said. “The Nazis really thought they had wiped Jews off the face of the earth, and Judaism. Here we are taking the ultimate symbol of hope and of Judaism and rededicating it and using it in a synagogue. And we’ll take it to Auschwitz. You can’t beat that.”

What a great slap in the face of the Nazis who tried to wipe out a people not just by killing them... but by trying to kill their culture and history. What a great story of courage and civilization in the face of bestial horror. What a great way to remember all those millions of Jews the Nazis murdered at Auschwitz.

Which is why I find the idea of this memorial also extremely moving.












A monument will be erected in Tel Aviv honoring gays and lesbians persecuted during the Holocaust.

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said that the design for the monument to LGBT victims will feature an iron triangle and bear the names of those victims who have been identified.

Sadly, a lot of people don't know what the Nazis did to gay people.

So I'm glad and grateful to see that suffering remembered anywhere..... by anyone.

But when it comes from those who suffered the most at the hands of the Nazi mass murderers. Those who like us continue to be attacked by Holocaust deniers and other fascist scum.

It's REALLY special.

Shalom. Peace. Resistance. Never again...