Righteous Among the Nations

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Righteous Among the Nations (Hebrew: חסידי אומות העולם, Hasidei Umot HaOlam), in contemporary usage, is a term often used to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust in order to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.

Contents

[edit] Origin of the term

Righteous gentiles or "Righteous Among the Nations" is a term used in Jewish philosophy in reference to non-Jews who are good and upright people and who are assured of meriting the World-to-Come. By Jewish tradition, most of the large set of laws and precepts contained in the written Torah, as well as the oral law, are only required of Jews, since they are regarded as having inherited the obligation from their ancestors, who volunteered for the duty.

In contrast to the 613 commandments enjoined upon Jews by Jewish tradition, non-Jews have to follow less detailed ethical principles contained in the Noahide Laws. In the widest sense, any non-Jew who observes the Seven Noachide Commandments is accounted a "Righteous Gentile," who is assured of Divine reward. In the Jewish Scriptures, for example, Job, the central figure in the Book of Job, who was a gentile, exemplifies such a person, as does Melchizedek and many others. According to the traditional Jewish Halakha, the seven categories of divine obligations incumbent upon the non-Jew are:

  1. Recognize one and only one Deity over the entire universe, one Divine Source for all reality;
  2. Do not blaspheme against Him ;
  3. Support the establishment of courts of justice in society, so that a bottom line of social morality is affirmed and endorsed;
  4. Repudiate murder;
  5. Repudiate robbery;
  6. Repudiate sexual immorality and sexually perverse behaviour that destroys family ties and sanctity (traditionally: incest, adultery, bestiality, and homosexuality); and
  7. Repudiate consumption of live animals.

Other norms are considered by the Talmudic rabbis to follow from these Seven Noahide (or Noahite) Commandments, but these basic Seven were established at the time of Noah, in a Noahide Covenant that God made with all of humanity and which underlies all subsequent human societies. According to Rabbinic teachings, societies which too blatantly disregard this covenant will not endure, as the episode of Sodom and Gomorrah illustrated; in fact, every society is maintained in existence by God only for the sake of the righteous in their midst.

[edit] Bestowing of the title

Since 1963, a commission headed by a Supreme Court of Israel justice has been charged with the duty of awarding the honorary title "Righteous Among the Nations." The commission is guided in its work by certain criteria and meticulously studies all documentation, including evidence by survivors and other eyewitnesses. A person who is recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for helping Jews during the holocaust is awarded a medal bearing their name, a certificate of honor, and the privilege of their name being added to those on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial. (The last is in lieu of a tree-planting, which was discontinued for lack of space.) The awards are distributed to the rescuers or their next of kin during ceremonies in Israel or in their countries of residence through the offices of Israel's diplomatic representatives. These ceremonies are attended by local government representatives and are given wide media coverage.

The Yad Vashem Law authorizes Yad Vashem

"To confer honorary citizenship upon the Righteous Among the Nations, and if they have passed away, the commemorative citizenship of the State of Israel, in recognition of their actions."

Anyone who has been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations is entitled to apply to Yad Vashem for the certificate. If the Righteous Among the Nations is no longer alive, their next of kin is entitled to request that commemorative citizenship be conferred on the Righteous Among the Nations who has died. To date, more than 21,300 people, including family members who shared in the rescue of Jews, have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, representing over 8,000 authenticated rescue stories. Yad Vashem's policy is to pursue the program for as long as petitions for this title are received and are supported by solid evidence that meets the criteria.

[edit] Benefits

  • A righteous gentile will receive a monthly cash benefit at the rate of the average wage. In addition, a convalescent grant of up to eight days at the rate paid to civil servants, will be paid to a righteous gentile and his/her spouse. Health services, free of charge, under the National Health Insurance Law will also be provided to the righteous gentile." [1]
  • "The Righteous Among the Nations who experience economic difficulties - wherever they reside - are aided financially by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, a New York-based philanthropic organization which was created for this purpose. The Anne Frank Fonds, based in Basle, Switzerland, looks after those in need of medication. The Righteous residing in Israel (some 35 people) automatically receive a generous state pension." [2]
  • "Israel is home for 57 surviving Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews and came to live here alone, or with their families, at the end of World War II. ATZUM is working to provide basic needs not met by the Israel social welfare (NII) package, including visits by Israeli "adoptive grandchildren", professional caretakers, and geriatric, dental, ophthalmic and auditory treatments and aids. We are working intensively with eleven Righteous Gentiles and have distributed $13,000 to them." [3]

[edit] Count per country and ethnic origin

See List of Righteous Among the Nations by country for their names.

Count of the Righteous Among the Nations per country and ethnic origin
Country of origin Count of Righteous Among the Nations Notes
Poland 5,941 In Nazi-occupied Poland, all household members were punished by death if a hidden Jew was found in their house. This was the most severe legislation in occupied Europe.
Netherlands 4,726 Includes two persons originally from Indonesia residing in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, people hiding Jews would usually be punished by either be send to concentration camps themselves or even by being shot (usually after a "trial").
France 2,646
Ukraine 2,139
Belgium 1,414
Hungary 671
Lithuania 630
Belarus 564
Slovakia 460
Germany 427
Italy 391
Greece 265
Serbia 121
Russia 120
Czech Republic 115
Croatia 105 See Croatian Righteous Among the Nations
Latvia 100
Austria 85
Moldova 71
Albania 63
Romania 52
Switzerland 38
Bosnia and Herzegovina 34 (the source does not count Herzegovina)
Norway 26
Denmark 21 As per their request, members of the Danish Underground who participated in the rescue of the Danish Jews are listed as one group.
Bulgaria 17
United Kingdom 13
Sweden 10
Republic of Macedonia 10
Armenia 10
Slovenia 6
China 3
Spain 3
Estonia 3
USA 2
Brazil 2
Finland 1[verification needed]
Chile 1
Japan 1
Luxembourg 1
Portugal 1
Turkey 1
Georgia 1
Total 21,311 As of January 1, 2006. (Source: [4])

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust: Genocide and Moral Obligation, Gushee, David P., ISBN 1-55778-821-9, Paragon House Publishers
  • The Heart Has Reasons: Holocaust Rescuers and Their Stories of Courage,Klempner, Mark, ISBN 0-8298-1699-2, The Pilgrim Press
  • To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue, Land-Weber, Ellen, ISBN 0-252-02515-6, University of Illinois Press
  • The Seven Laws of Noah, Lichtenstein, Aaron, New York: The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press, 1981.
  • The Image of the Non-Jew in Judaism, Novak, David, ISBN 0-88946-975-X, New York and Toronto: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1983.
  • The Path of the Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, Paldiel, Mordecai, ISBN 0-88125-376-6, KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
  • When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland, Tec, Nechama, ISBN 0-19-505194-7, Oxford University Press
  • Zegota: The Council to Aid Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-1945, Tomaszewski, Irene & Werblowski, Tecia, ISBN 1-896881-15-7, Price-Patterson
  • Tolerance in Judaism: The Medieval and Modern Sources, Zuesse, Evan M., In: The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, edited by J. Neusner, A. Avery-Peck, and W.S. Green, Second Edition, ISBN 90-04-14787-X, Leiden: Brill, 2005, Vol. IV: 2688-2713
  • When Courage Was Stronger Than Fear: Remarkable Stories of Christians Who Saved Jews from the Holocaust by Peter Hellman. 2nd edition, ISBN 1569246637, Marlowe & Companym, 1999

[edit] External links

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