Where was God in the Holocaust?

There is no easy answer, and we won't give a glib one. The Scriptures don't hide suffering; they cry out to God in it (Psalm 22, Lamentations). Some survivors' children found in Yeshua a God who suffers with his people.

Six million Jews were murdered. Any answer that sounds tidy is an insult to them. The Bible itself gives voice to the question: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:2), "How long, O LORD?" (Psalm 13).

Many Jewish believers who are children or grandchildren of survivors have wrestled with this. Some found that the cross, God himself entering into suffering, was the only place they could bring it. You can hear some of them in their own words here.

We also acknowledge that the Nazis twisted Christian language, and many churches failed terribly. That failure is part of the history that misled Jews about Jesus.

In the Scriptures

²אֵלִ֣י אֵ֭לִי לָמָ֣ה עֲזַבְתָּ֑נִי רָח֥וֹק מִֽ֝ישׁוּעָתִ֗י דִּבְרֵ֥י שַׁאֲגָתִֽי׃

²My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me, and art far from my help at the words of my cry?
Psalms 22:2 (Hebrew & JPS 1917) · English Bibles: Psalms 22:1

³¹כִּ֣י לֹ֥א יִזְנַ֛ח לְעוֹלָ֖ם אֲדֹנָֽי׃ ³²כִּ֣י אִם־הוֹגָ֔ה וְרִחַ֖ם כְּרֹ֥ב חסדו [חֲסָדָֽיו]׃ ³³כִּ֣י לֹ֤א עִנָּה֙ מִלִּבּ֔וֹ וַיַּגֶּ֖ה בְנֵי־אִֽישׁ׃

³¹For the Lord will not cast off For ever. ³²For though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. ³³For He doth not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.
Lamentations 3:31-33 (Hebrew & JPS 1917)

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