The 614th Mitzvah?

"Jews are forbidden to hand Hitler posthumous victories, they are commanded to survive as Jews, lest the Jewish People perish." This is the so called "614th mitzvah" that is written by Rabbi Emil Fackenheim. I believe that he is saying that, after being through the Holocaust, we the Jewish people beat Hitler because we survived and we cannot hand him any victories after he is dead. We are still here and Hitler is not. This "new mitzvah" is here for us to remember that we survived and now we need to thrive.

The first way that we should remember to not only survive but thrive is, we need to remember who we are, where we came from, and what our people went through by sharing stories. Every year I go to services for יום השואה. After services I believe we truly follow this 614th mitzvah. There are many Holocaust survivors that come and after services they tell all of the kids, and the parents who want to hear, their stories. I know that I will also tell my stories from being in Poland and seeing places first hand. We say never forget and by having services for יום השואה, telling stories that you experienced, and hearing survivors stories so we can pass them on first hand is how we strive to fulfill the 614th mitzvah.

I believe that another part of fulfilling this mitzvah is By educating and teaching the future generations. We do this is by sending kids to Hebrew/Sunday School. Personally, I went to Sunday School starting in Kindergarden through first grade. They teach us the basics of the תנ''ך, Israel History, holidays, and Hebrew. Then, starting in second grade it becomes Hebrew School. I started to go three times a week and everything was taught more in depth. I went up until seventh grade. Then eighth grade I started Hebrew High and being a teachers assistant. Teaching the new generations about everything Jewish is a very prevalent part of this "614th mitzvah".

The third and final part of this mitzvah is, I believe all of the Jewish people need to go to both Poland and Israel (and maybe even make aliyah). Jews need to go to Poland, even if they had no family in the שואה. They need to know how important it is to stay Jewish and survive as a Jew. Poland is a tool to educate the Jewish people on why we need to stay Jewish. People have had so much hate for us and we cannot afford to loose anyone. I also believe it is SO important to go to Israel. Israel, I believe, is one of the biggest (excuse my French) "fuck you"s to Hitler the Jewish people could do. The whole fact that we have a Jewish state is amazing. Hitler wanted to completely wipe out all of the Jews and have little museums commemorating the race he wiped out. Instead he is dead and the Jewish people decided not to only survive, but thrive. We created a WHOLE COUNTRY for Jewish people. That is what I call thriving. I believe that every Jew needs to go to Israel at least once in their lifetime. It supports a Jewish economy and I also think it is important to see where our ancestors came from. Also, I believe the Jewish people need to make aliyah. It is important to live in the Jewish country. It supports everything that Hitler was fighting to destroy. Making these special trips to important places in our history is imperative for executing the 614th mitzvah