What Is the Charedi View on the Holocaust?
The Holocaust—השואה—is one of the most unfathomable and devastating tragedies in all of Jewish history. Six million of our brothers and sisters were murdered, among them towering Torah giants, entire Chassidic dynasties, yeshivos, kehillos, children and elders. The scope of the destruction is beyond human comprehension, and it left a gaping wound in the heart of Klal Yisrael that has yet to heal.
So how does the Charedi world, with its deep-rooted emunah and fidelity to Torah tradition, process such horror? What is the Torah hashkafah toward an event so shattering?
The short answer is: with humility, broken-heartedness, and a deep refusal to offer simplistic explanations.
“Hester Panim”: A Time of Divine Concealment
The Torah already warned us of a time when Hashem would hide His face from us:
“והסתרתי פני מהם ביום ההוא…”“And I will surely hide My face on that day…” (Devarim 31:18)
Charedi Gedolim, including the Chazon Ish zt”l, understood the Holocaust through this lens of hester panim—a period when Hashem concealed His presence, and the normal rules of hashgachah (Divine providence) seemed hidden or suspended. The Chazon Ish emphasized that such moments are not for calculating reasons but for strengthening emunah and recommitting to Torah under the heaviest clouds of suffering.¹
“We Must Accept, Even Without Understanding”
One of the most heartbreaking voices from within the inferno itself was that of Rav Elchonon Wasserman zt”l, Rosh Yeshiva of Baranovich and talmid muvhak of the Chofetz Chaim. He was murdered in 1941 by Lithuanian collaborators. Before his death, he addressed his students:
“We are under judgment. We must accept with love, even though we do not understand.”¹
He taught that tragedies of such magnitude are beyond the scope of the human mind. Our task is not to give reasons, but to hold fast to our emunah and bitachon even in the darkest night.
Similarly, the Brisker Rav zt”l, Rav Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik, was adamantly opposed to assigning specific sins or causes to the Holocaust. He believed that doing so trivializes the event and veers dangerously into arrogance. Instead, the proper response is teshuvah and yiras Shamayim—not declarations of why Hashem did what He did.
The Chofetz Chaim’s Foresight
The legendary Chofetz Chaim zt”l, Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan, foresaw the impending catastrophe decades before it arrived. He is quoted as saying:
“A great fire will come from the North and consume the world.”
He spoke with trembling about an upcoming war that would sweep across Europe, and he urged his students to prepare spiritually. He often remarked that only Torah would protect Klal Yisrael in the storm that was coming.
Before the Flames: The Age of Enlightenment and Secularism
It is impossible to understand the Holocaust without appreciating the massive spiritual decline that preceded it. The 18th and 19th centuries brought the rise of the Haskalah—the Jewish Enlightenment—which encouraged assimilation, secularism, and the abandonment of Torah observance in the name of “progress” and European culture.
This movement devastated large segments of European Jewry. Yeshivos emptied, Shabbos observance plummeted, and in some cities, entire communities converted or cut ties with Torah Judaism.
Rav Avigdor Miller zt”l spoke often and forcefully about this period:
“The true cause of the Holocaust was the spiritual Holocaust that preceded it. When Jews in Berlin decided that they were German citizens of the Mosaic persuasion, they cut themselves off from Hashem—and Hashem withdrew His protection.”⁷
Rav Miller never minimized the tragedy—but he was emphatic that turning away from Hashem and Torah had dire consequences. He quoted the Chumash itself: “And I will become angry against them on that day, and I will abandon them, and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed.” (Devarim 31:17)
This, too, was hester panim—not punishment in the simplistic sense, but a terrifying withdrawal of Divine protection when Klal Yisrael stops acting as Klal Yisrael.
The Nuremberg Laws: A Chilling Mirror of Torah Separation
One of the most haunting ironies of the Holocaust is the nature of the Nuremberg Laws, enacted in Nazi Germany in 1935. These laws stripped Jews of citizenship and implemented racial segregation—including prohibiting Jews from marrying or socializing with non-Jews.
To Charedi thinkers, this was not merely political anti-Semitism. It carried a terrifying spiritual echo. The Torah had already long forbidden intermarriage and warned against blending into the nations. Jews are commanded to remain separate—not out of hatred, but to preserve holiness.
And yet, when Jews chose to abandon these laws of Hashem—socializing, marrying, and assimilating into gentile society—it was as if Hashem sent a cruel decree to enforce separation by force. Charedi leaders have noted: If you will not keep My laws of holiness, I will bring someone who will force them upon you.
This interpretation does not justify the horror. But it highlights a painful spiritual truth: assimilation was not the path to safety. It was, tragically, a path that led to destruction.
The Holocaust as a Churban—Not a Geulah
Many Charedi Gedolim have warned against viewing the Holocaust as a “birth pang” of the State of Israel. They utterly reject any theology that presents the founding of a secular state as a comfort, justification, or spiritual redemption in the aftermath of the Shoah.
Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l, the Satmar Rebbe zt”l, Rav Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik zt”l, the Gerrer Rebbe (Imrei Emes) zt”l, and Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel zt”l all spoke passionately against the idea that the State of Israel was a redemptive response to the Holocaust.
The Satmar Rebbe, in his Vayoel Moshe, wrote extensively that the Holocaust was a tragic result of violating the Three Oaths described in Kesubos 111a, including the prohibition on “forcing the end” of exile through human-led nationalism. He saw the Zionist project as rebellion against Hashem’s timing for redemption.³
Even those who disagreed with the Satmar Rebbe’s halachic conclusions—like the Chazon Ish zt”l and Rav Shach zt”l—shared his horror at assigning spiritual redemption to a secular movement. Rav Yitzchak Hutner zt”l, in his Pachad Yitzchak, called this idea a hashkafic distortion that robs the Jewish people of a true understanding of galus and geulah.⁵
The True Charedi Response: Rebuilding Through Torah
Despite the overwhelming pain, the Charedi world did not turn to political solutions. It turned to Torah.
In the decades following the Holocaust, Torah Judaism experienced what can only be described as a supernatural revival. In Eretz Yisrael, America, and beyond, Chassidic courts were reestablished, yeshivos were built anew, and kollelim began to thrive. Entire communities—Bnei Brak, Yerushalayim, Lakewood, Monsey, Gateshead—were transformed into fortresses of Torah learning.
Rav Shach zt”l said many times: “Our revenge against Hitler is not with guns, but with Gemaras. With the cries of children learning Torah.”⁴
Conclusion: Mourning with Emunah, Rebuilding with Strength
The Charedi world does not have slogans. It has tears. And Torah. And a mesorah that tells us to cling to Hashem even when His ways seem hidden.
We do not know why the Holocaust happened. We do not pretend to.
But we do know what our response must be: more Torah, more chesed, more ahavas Yisrael, and more bitachon.
We remember. We cry. We rebuild.
And we teach our children that even in the deepest darkness, the fire of Torah will never be extinguished.
Footnotes & Sources
- Kovetz Maamarim, Rav Elchonon Wasserman – final writings before his murder.
- Meshech Chochmah, Vayikra 26:44 – Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk’s prophetic warning about Berlin.
- Vayoel Moshe, Satmar Rebbe – analysis of the Three Oaths and the Holocaust.
- Michtavim uMaamarim, Rav Shach – statements about post-Holocaust rebuilding.
- Pachad Yitzchak, Rav Yitzchak Hutner – essays addressing galus and redemption.
- Igros Chazon Ish – letters on hester panim and the proper response to suffering.
- Rejoice O Youth, Rav Avigdor Miller, and various recorded shiurim – comments on pre-Holocaust secularism and spiritual decline.