Abstract

This chapter examines the difficulties the Holocaust posed and continues to raise for Jews, Jewish theology, and specifically Jewish ethics, identifying eight major commitments made by Jews and non-Jews that have since then inspired Jewish and global responses to human-made atrocities such as genocide and crimes against humanity. These are to survive; to perpetuate the memory of what happened; to survive as Jews; to set the moral bar high such that people are expected to be “upstanders,” not bystanders, in the face of evil; to recreate relationships with people of other faiths; to combat discrimination and genocide; to define and demand humane standards for medical research; and to learn how to attain both justice and reconciliation after genocidal atrocities.