There is no doubt that the Holocaust was the single defining moment of the 20th century as it served a paradigm for the most virulent kind of hatred and hence, the most unspeakable mass genocide that the world has ever witnessed in the  last few centuries.

Each year, dignitaries from most nations along with laymen and citizens alike place wreaths at Holocaust memorials as they speak of the hapless victims and the danger of the victimizer. From time immemorial, most of us have learned that those who forget the past are destined to relive it.  We are taught that those who choose to ignore the ubiquitous animus and the stinging vituperative that spews forth from miscreants that arise in each generation are creating a perilous fantasy for themselves and others.

And so, we hear very little or nothing at all about the new Hitlerian regime, better known in common parlance as the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Their pernicious intentions to annihilate Israel and the entire Western world have not changed since Rouhani’s election. We listen carefully and pay close attention to the fact that on a daily basis, the Iranian government remains obdurate about their nuclear program.  We listen as they engage in classic forms of  dissimulation are they profess that their nuclear objectives are expressly for peaceful purposes; for energy purposes, when in fact they have made it abundantly clear that their objective is to create an apocalyptic scene that would be the harbinger of the end of Western civilization as we know it.

Not a word is uttered in august political or religious bodies around about the upcoming “Second Holocaust” aimed at the total destruction of the Jewish people and nation and those who support them.  Sure, we hear many poignant jeremiads from those soulful and sincere individuals who truly care about eradicating the banality of evil from the four corners of the earth ,  but nary do we hear them stridently pipe up when it pertains to Iran.

Since the Geneva agreement, sanctions that had previously crippled Iran’s economy have now been eased on their way to being lifted completely. Thanks to the leadership of the United States; (a country that has consistently thrown their support behind Israel) and other European nations, we watch in abject horror as the centrifuges of uranium in Teheran keep spinning.

History has proven that it is infinitely easier to pay homage to dead Jews than it is to protect live Jews.  History has offered concrete proof that appeasing the enemy only emboldens those who detect fear in their negotiating partners.  Those who see the political comparisons between Nevel Chamberlain of Great Britain offering the Sudatenland to Hitler as a form of territorial compromise for peace and those who see President Obama reach out with an olive branch to Iran in the false hopes that they will cease and desist from their nuclear agenda and quietly become a peace loving member of the international community are remarkably astute individuals.

So, as we reflect on a world that sat in abject silence while millions of Jews were murdered so many years ago,  let us remember that we have no real human allies.

Despite protestations to the contrary, the world cares little about Jewish survival. It is up to Jews to coalesce, to bury their differences and to stand united. More to the point, it is long overdue for the Jew to realize that his only ally in his G-d; the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the G-d of Moses and Aaron; the G-d of David and Solomon. For the G-d that saved the Jew from Holocausts inspired by perennial haters since the dawn of time will be the same G-d who will save the Jewish people, if we merit it.

With this faith and sincere hope can we understand that while out hearts and minds inevitably find a deep connection to our forebears who died during the Holocaust, it is our task to learn profound and long lasting messages from that nightmarish period of Jewish history.  While the lessons to be learned are manifold, the most important lesson to be learned is that history can and will repeat itself. We must not be a party to such an egregious occurrence. It is up to us to stand up without fear and declare our faith in G-d.