We live in the shadow and shine of the two most cataclysmic Jewish events of the past two millennia - the nadir of the Holocaust and the apex of the establishment of the State of Israel. Furthermore, these two events occurred back to back, or as we read in the Hagaddah - "from darkness to great light"!

What does this say about our people - Am Yisrael?

Next week, as we celebrate Israel's 65th anniversary, we will read the double parshi'ot of Acharei Mot  and Kedoshim. Herein lies a lesson with profound bearing on the Jewish attitude towards the vagaries of life.

The deaths of Aaron's two sons could not have occurred at a more inopportune time. Rosh Chodesh Nissan was a day which had been planned as one of great celebration. The desert Temple, the Mishkan, which had been so long in the making, and towards which every Jewish man and woman had diligently contributed, was to be finally dedicated. And at the ceremony G-d was going to reward their efforts by causing His presence to become visibly manifest amongst them. One can but imagine the sense of expectation and euphoria which must have grasped the people that day.

And then... in the middle of everything - death. And of no less than Nadav and Avihu, the expected successors of Moshe and Aaron.

We would be forgiven for expecting a deep sense of melancholy, equal only to the preceding exhilaration, to have pervaded the mood of the people that day.

But no. The dedication continued. Aaron and his remaining sons continued their holy work in G-d's Temple. And G-d in turn continued to manifest His Presence within the holy edifice.

We may not fully grasp the reason for the deaths of those two spiritual giants.

But we can learn from the response to their deaths.

Acharei Mot - Kedoshim.

After death - holiness.

This is the Jewish way.

This past week we commemorated Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Memorial Day.

What is the most appropriate Jewish response to this unspeakable tragedy? What is the most significant memorial that we as Jews can make to the destruction of over a third of our people?

Acharei Mot - Kedoshim.

After the death and destruction of the Holocaust - more and greater holiness.

Holiness of the body and holiness of the spirit.

Holiness of the body - because every Jew by his or her existence brings holiness to the world. In his perverse way Hitler, yemach shemo v'zichro, understood this. Against the advice of his generals he pulled scarce resources from the front. He spared nothing in his effort to destroy every last Jew.

Holiness of the spirit - an increase in our connection to G-d through greater study and adherence to His Torah.

And we have achieved it.

We would have been forgiven for not achieving it. And I am sure that many of those who experienced that Great Night of human history did not in their wildest imaginings believe that the Jewish People would ever flourish again. But it has.

It was not for the Jewish people - stripped of everything they possessed, bereft of parents, spouses and children, and robbed of the most basic human dignity - to roll up in a ball and bemoan their fate. To remain a victim, a refugee - is not a Jewish trait.

What was the Jewish response? After death, holiness!

The establishment of the State of Israel in our Holy Land - whose 65th birthday we commemorate on Tuesday. 

And from small beginnings - Israel is today an economic powerhouse, an incubator of the world's most modern technology, a shining example of the infinite potential of the human being. In Hebrew, the word mashber  means crisis. It also means a birth-stool. Israel has  shown, as never before,  how these two meanings compliment each other.

After the Holocaust there were many who believed, perhaps understandably, that G-d is dead… Yet, in Israel today there are more young men and women studying in Yeshivot and Seminaries than at any time since the destruction of the Temple two thousand years ago. And outside Israel too, in all the countries of our Diaspora, from New York to Moscow, from Toronto to Johannesburg, and even here in Sydney, there are Yeshivot, dayschools, shiurim. The thirst for Jewish learning, and interest in Jewish practice, is unprecedented.

After death - holiness.

This is the Jewish way.

When the Austrio-Hungarian emperor Franz-Yosef asked his courtiers to prove the existence of G-d, they had a hard time of finding an argument which could satisfy him. Finally one said - Your Majesty, the Jews! Franz Yosef needed no further convincing.

Hitler wanted to kill the Jews as a means of killing G-d. By remaining alive as Jews, by re-establishing the Jewish State, and by becoming better Jews, the Jews saved G-d. And in so doing they responded to death - with holiness.

Our Father in heaven must be so proud of us, His children. One can imagine the tears of joy, the nachas, as He reviews our achievements in the face of such great destruction. G-d must kvell as He thinks of how well He did to choose us. He knows that no other people would have responded in the same way. And He knows that no other people through their mere existence would have testified to His.

"Who is like Your people Israel! - The nation which causes your Unity to be manifest on earth!"

Rabbi Benzion Milecki OAM
Shabbat  Tazria-Metzora April 12, 2013