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How do you think Jewish beliefs about life after death affect the way that the Shoah is remembered and contextualized?

Others are known for places like a hell and reward, some in more detail than others, not just Christians and Muslims but even Buddhism does for people guilty of particularly egregious crimes, others have reincarnation as a key belief, or attempting to escape from a cycle of rebirth through Enlightenment. The main word I’ve read about Judaism is Sheol, which is usually translated as grave.

I wonder how these beliefs in Judaism relate to the infamous Shoah, especially in what is believed to happen to those who orchestrated the murder, those who were murdered in it, those whose friends and family were victims and often were detained in camps themselves but survived, those who did nothing to help or otherwise allowed the crimes to happen even when they knew or should have known they were wrong and could have helped, and those who propagate the lies and ideologies which would lead to a repeat. Especially given that of those who didn’t die during the war or very soon after, very few among them are still alive in all of those categories.

One complication of course is that many were not very active in religion and would not have had interest or knowledge of what Judaism as a religion might say about these attitudes, and the Shoah itself changed some of those beliefs for many people from what they might have been before 1939 or before 1932.

submitted by /u/Awesomeuser90
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Source: Reditt

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