Why words like Nazi and Genocide should be used cautiously
By:
OVER SHAVUOT, MYSHUL HOSTED RABBI MOSHE
Taragin and I was privileged to learn from this remarkable man. In his final speech, he spoke of the importance of vigilance around the words we use, cautioning around the flippant use of terms that have deep significance. One example, he gave was the word ‘rape’ – which has been used as a synonym for destroying some thing, while we know the brutal meaning of that word for those who have been vic tims of this violence, including those on October 7. Another example he shared was the word ‘Nazi’ – which has become a descriptive term for anyone ‘evil’, an in sult to the survivors of the Holocaust and the 6 million who died at the hands of Hitler’s soldiers.
I would add a third word, which is becoming a regular noun and adjective in recent times – the term ‘genocide’. In the painful months since October 7, our own government and many around the world have tried to describe the war in Gaza using this term. The SAJBD has worked tirelessly to respond to this offensive allegation, writing regularly in the media in response. We have stressed in our myriad of articles that the term genocide relates to what is defined by the UN Genocide Convention as “the in tent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethical, racial or religious group”. In the case of the Shoah, there was a de termined process by the Nazis to hunt down and kill every single Jew with the ultimate and explicit aim of rendering the world ‘Judenfrei – Jew Free’. Hitler moved country by country rounding up the Jews of each area to continue this process of annihilation.
While the fatalities and suffering caused by crime in South Africa are devastating it cannot be summarily described as genocide
I have worked for the SAJBD for nearly 20 years, and in this time I have organised Yorn HaShoah ceremonies, attended large number of Holocaust-related events, and most importantly, I have hosted numerous Holocaust survivors in my home and got to know them personally. Their firsthand testimonies and memories of their lives through the Sho ah are shattering and leave me resolute to never diminish their suffering in any way. This year, Romanian Holocaust survivor Lyonell Fliss spoke at our Yorn HaS hoah ceremony in Johannesburg. In the limited time he had at the event, he recounted the horror of the Iasi pogrom. Karen Milner and I joined him and his wife for tea at their home afterwards to learn about what he referred to as ‘that Sunday’. The Jewish community of Iasi were rounded up by Romanian and Ger man military and civilians and began the process of digging mass graves. Lyonell personally witnessed Jewish people be ing crammed into two death trains, one of which travelled slowly around while its occupants suffered cruel deaths.
Yes, there are terrible tragedies and in sufferable pain surrounding us. We must condemn these situations. But we must use the appropriate language and terminology. It is disrespectful to the memory of the Holocaust and other real genocides to use this painful term to make political points. Rabbi Taragin emphasised the seriousness of the misuse of these impor tant words, that if we hear them being abused we must leave the room. We as Jews know the impact of words. •
