Chattahoochee River
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
A Fate Unknown
It is truly inspiring how much optimism the Jewish people show throughout the whole ordeal. I can't imagine what it would be like to be uprooted from my home, forced to move into a ghetto, and then later loaded into train cars one by one like cattle, headed for a completely unknown destination. It must have taken an incredible amount of strength to maintain their hope for a brighter tomorrow. The hardest part about reading this, about their journey and beliefs as to what is to come, is knowing where they are heading and the feat that lies ahead of them. If only their optimism could remain unbroken and their hope unshaken.
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Mikaela, it truly is inspiring the optimism of the Jewish people despite the hardships they've already had to endure. I believe that maybe they had so much optimism because they hadn't gone through extremely difficult hardships. I'm not saying that being evicted from their homes wasn't hard on them, simply that they hadn't experienced the things Moishe did. Since when he came back and everyone ignored his warnings, he stopped talking about God, he had lost faith. Not to mention, some families got to stay together and therefore went through the hardships as one. Moishe was alone, suffering alone is hard on anyone.
ReplyDeleteYou're right Yoaly. They still had their faith in God and their families beside them to help them through the turmoil. I never really thought of that as being a factor, but I can see that now. I guess it was much more difficult on Moishe due to him being alone and witnessing such inhumane events.
DeleteIt seems our first reaction was to condemn them for their optimism because we know where it will lead them. Mikaela, I like how you point out their optimism in face of their trials. It shows their strength and maybe we shouldn't be so quick to condemn them but instead admire their optimism in light of the fact that in the same situation we do not know how we would have reacted.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you, Michaela and Yoaly, because as admirable as the Jews faith was, no one could fully comprehend the gratitude of danger the way Moishe could. And largely, that came from the fact that he endured it alone. I'd also like to offer another perspective. Perhaps, the fact that Moishe endured the pain alone somehow made it...more bearable, and I only use that term for lack of a better one. As far as we're aware, Moishe didn't have any family or loved ones that he had to worry about because he lived alone as a homeless man. But the rest of the people in the town, did have family members who'd they'd be separated from before being led off to suffer. I think Moishe recognized this, and he came back to warn them. To me, his decision to return demonstrated complete selflessness because even though he knew that the Germans would return, and that he'd have to endure that long trial again, he was more concerned with warning everyone else who not only had themselves to worry about, but also their families.
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