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WHY THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE HOLDS A LESSON FOR JEWS (COMMENTARY)
Washington Post
April 15 2015
By Jeffrey Salkinâ~@~I|â~@~IReligion News Service April 15 at 12:22 PM
This month is the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
That's right: genocide. That's exactly what Pope Francis said recently
-- much to the chagrin of the Turkish government, which recalled its
ambassador to the Vatican.
Worse: Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said calling the
wholesale slaughter of Armenians "genocide" is tantamount to
"Islamophobia," which wins this week's prize for "the most
irresponsible playing of the Islamophobia charge."
Why should Jews be talking about this? Because when we look at the
Armenians, it is as if we are looking in the mirror.
Here's how it happened. In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire,
the Armenians were seen as a foreign element in Turkish society --
and, in this sense, they occupied the same place as the Jews of the
Ottoman Empire.
Like the Jews, the Armenian Christians challenged the traditional
hierarchy of Ottoman society.
Like the Jews, they became better-educated, wealthier and more urban.
Like "the Jewish problem" that would be frequently discussed in
Germany, Turks talked about "the Armenian question."
The Turkish army killed a million and a half Armenians. Sometimes,
Turkish soldiers would forcibly convert Armenian children and young
women to Islam. The Turks delved into the records of the Spanish
Inquisition and revived its torture methods. So many Armenian bodies
were dumped into the Euphrates that the mighty river changed its
course for a hundred yards.
In America, the newspaper headlines screamed of systematic race
extermination. Parents cajoled their children to be frugal with their
food, "for there are starving children in Armenia."
In 1915 alone, The New York Times published 145 articles about the
Armenian genocide. Americans raised $100 million in aid for the
Armenians. Activists, politicians, religious leaders, diplomats,
intellectuals and ordinary citizens called for intervention, but
nothing happened.
The Armenians call their genocide Meds Yeghern ("the Great
Catastrophe"). It was to become the model of all genocides and ethnic
cleansing. It served the Nazis as a model -- not only the act of
genocide, but also the passive amnesia.
"Who talks about the Armenians anymore?" Hitler quipped.
In 1915, in the small town of Kourd Belen, the Turks ordered 800
Armenian families to abandon their homes. The priest was Khoren
Hampartsoomian, age 85. As he led his people from the village,
neighboring Turks taunted the priest: "Good luck, old man. Whom are
you going to bury today?"
The old priest replied: "God. God is dead and we are rushing to
his funeral."
After the Shoah, Jews cried aloud to God: "O God, how could You do
this to us, the children of Your covenant?"
After the genocide, Armenian theologians cried: "O God, how could
this have happened to us -- for we were the first people to adopt
Christianity as a state religion?"
Some Armenian Christians referred to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah
and asked: "Were there not even 50 Armenians who could have been
saved?"
After the Shoah, Jews cried: "We must have sinned. God has used the
Nazis as a club against us." Armenians cried: "God used the Turks as
a club against us."
Is it chutzpah to speak of this, as Jews mark Holocaust Remembrance
Day, and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camps?
Some Jews have wanted to hoard the concept of genocide: "What happened
to the Turks wasn't as bad as the Holocaust!'" True, but that's an
extremely high and ghastly bar to set. No genocide has approached
the scale of the Shoah. And not all genocides are created equal.
Moreover, the very nature of the Armenian catastrophe was different.
Jews were killed wherever they lived in Europe; by contrast, Armenians
outside of Armenia were relatively safe.
Anti-Semitism is a deep, pervasive moral illness; by contrast, there
is no such thing as "anti-Armenianism" in the collective psyche of
the world.
But, if Jews do not allow the world to compare the Holocaust to other
genocides, then its relevance to the world will wither.
And when that happens, Jews would be inflicted by moral laryngitis,
losing their ability to speak truth to the world.
(Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth
Am of Bayonne, N.J., and the author of numerous books on Jewish
spirituality and ethics, published by Jewish Lights Publishing and
Jewish Publication Society.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/why-the-armenian-genocide-holds-a-lesson-for-jews-commentary/2015/04/15/93cbb536-e38b-11e4-ae0f-f8c46aa8c3a4_story.html
Washington Post
April 15 2015
By Jeffrey Salkinâ~@~I|â~@~IReligion News Service April 15 at 12:22 PM
This month is the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
That's right: genocide. That's exactly what Pope Francis said recently
-- much to the chagrin of the Turkish government, which recalled its
ambassador to the Vatican.
Worse: Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said calling the
wholesale slaughter of Armenians "genocide" is tantamount to
"Islamophobia," which wins this week's prize for "the most
irresponsible playing of the Islamophobia charge."
Why should Jews be talking about this? Because when we look at the
Armenians, it is as if we are looking in the mirror.
Here's how it happened. In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire,
the Armenians were seen as a foreign element in Turkish society --
and, in this sense, they occupied the same place as the Jews of the
Ottoman Empire.
Like the Jews, the Armenian Christians challenged the traditional
hierarchy of Ottoman society.
Like the Jews, they became better-educated, wealthier and more urban.
Like "the Jewish problem" that would be frequently discussed in
Germany, Turks talked about "the Armenian question."
The Turkish army killed a million and a half Armenians. Sometimes,
Turkish soldiers would forcibly convert Armenian children and young
women to Islam. The Turks delved into the records of the Spanish
Inquisition and revived its torture methods. So many Armenian bodies
were dumped into the Euphrates that the mighty river changed its
course for a hundred yards.
In America, the newspaper headlines screamed of systematic race
extermination. Parents cajoled their children to be frugal with their
food, "for there are starving children in Armenia."
In 1915 alone, The New York Times published 145 articles about the
Armenian genocide. Americans raised $100 million in aid for the
Armenians. Activists, politicians, religious leaders, diplomats,
intellectuals and ordinary citizens called for intervention, but
nothing happened.
The Armenians call their genocide Meds Yeghern ("the Great
Catastrophe"). It was to become the model of all genocides and ethnic
cleansing. It served the Nazis as a model -- not only the act of
genocide, but also the passive amnesia.
"Who talks about the Armenians anymore?" Hitler quipped.
In 1915, in the small town of Kourd Belen, the Turks ordered 800
Armenian families to abandon their homes. The priest was Khoren
Hampartsoomian, age 85. As he led his people from the village,
neighboring Turks taunted the priest: "Good luck, old man. Whom are
you going to bury today?"
The old priest replied: "God. God is dead and we are rushing to
his funeral."
After the Shoah, Jews cried aloud to God: "O God, how could You do
this to us, the children of Your covenant?"
After the genocide, Armenian theologians cried: "O God, how could
this have happened to us -- for we were the first people to adopt
Christianity as a state religion?"
Some Armenian Christians referred to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah
and asked: "Were there not even 50 Armenians who could have been
saved?"
After the Shoah, Jews cried: "We must have sinned. God has used the
Nazis as a club against us." Armenians cried: "God used the Turks as
a club against us."
Is it chutzpah to speak of this, as Jews mark Holocaust Remembrance
Day, and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camps?
Some Jews have wanted to hoard the concept of genocide: "What happened
to the Turks wasn't as bad as the Holocaust!'" True, but that's an
extremely high and ghastly bar to set. No genocide has approached
the scale of the Shoah. And not all genocides are created equal.
Moreover, the very nature of the Armenian catastrophe was different.
Jews were killed wherever they lived in Europe; by contrast, Armenians
outside of Armenia were relatively safe.
Anti-Semitism is a deep, pervasive moral illness; by contrast, there
is no such thing as "anti-Armenianism" in the collective psyche of
the world.
But, if Jews do not allow the world to compare the Holocaust to other
genocides, then its relevance to the world will wither.
And when that happens, Jews would be inflicted by moral laryngitis,
losing their ability to speak truth to the world.
(Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth
Am of Bayonne, N.J., and the author of numerous books on Jewish
spirituality and ethics, published by Jewish Lights Publishing and
Jewish Publication Society.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/why-the-armenian-genocide-holds-a-lesson-for-jews-commentary/2015/04/15/93cbb536-e38b-11e4-ae0f-f8c46aa8c3a4_story.html