Righteous Among the Nations

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Righteous among the Nations (Hebrew: חסידי אומות העולם‎, Chassidey Umot HaOlam), which may at times refer to the B'nei Noah or Noahides as well, is a term used in Judaism to refer to non-Jews who abide by the Seven Laws of Noah and thus are assured of meriting paradise.

In secular usage, the term is used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust in order to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.

[edit] Origin of the term

According to Judaism, most of the large set of laws and precepts contained in the written Torah, as well as the oral Torah, are only binding upon Jews, since they are regarded as having inherited the obligation from their ancestors, who volunteered for the duty.

In contrast to the 613 commandments enjoined upon Jews by Jewish tradition, non-Jews are expected to follow a relatively small number of ethical principles contained in the Noahide Laws. In the widest religious sense, any non-Jew who observes the seven Noahide Laws is accounted as "Righteous among Nations," who is assured of Divine reward and eternal salvation. In the Jewish Scriptures, for example, Job, the central figure in the Book of Job, who was non-Jewish, exemplifies such a person, as do Melchizedek and many others. According to the traditional Jewish Halakha, the seven divine obligations incumbent upon the non-Jew are, in summary:

  1. Recognize one and only one Deity over the entire universe, one Divine Source for all reality;
  2. Do not blaspheme against Him;
  3. Support the establishment of courts of justice in society, so that a bottom line of social morality is affirmed and endorsed;
  4. Repudiate murder;
  5. Repudiate robbery;
  6. Repudiate sexual immorality and sexually perverse behaviour that destroys family ties and sanctity (traditionally: incest, adultery, bestiality and homosexuality); and
  7. Repudiate consumption of live animals.

Other norms are considered by the Talmudic rabbis to follow from these Seven Noahide (or Noahite) Commandments, as well. These seven rules are considered to have been established at the time of Noah, in the Noahide Covenant that God made with all of humanity and which underlies all subsequent human societies. According to Rabbinic teachings, societies which too blatantly disregard this covenant will not endure, as the episode of Sodom and Gomorrah illustrated; in fact, every society is maintained in existence by God only for the sake of the righteous in their midst.

[edit] Bestowing of the title

Since 1963, a commission headed by a justice of the Supreme Court of Israel has been charged with the duty of awarding the honorary title "Righteous Among the Nations." The commission is guided in its work by certain criteria and meticulously studies all documentation, including evidence by survivors and other eyewitnesses. A person who is recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for helping Jews during the Holocaust is awarded a medal bearing his name, a certificate of honor, and the privilege of having his name added to those on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial. (The last is in lieu of a tree-planting, which was discontinued for lack of space.) The awards are distributed to the rescuers or their next-of-kin during ceremonies in Israel or in their countries of residence through the offices of Israel's diplomatic representatives. These ceremonies are attended by local government representatives and are given wide media coverage.

The Yad Vashem Law authorizes Yad Vashem

"To confer honorary citizenship upon the Righteous Among the Nations, and if they have passed away, the commemorative citizenship of the State of Israel, in recognition of their actions."

Anyone who has been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations is entitled to apply to Yad Vashem for the certificate. If the Righteous Among the Nations is no longer alive, their next of kin is entitled to request that commemorative citizenship be conferred on the Righteous Among the Nations who has died. To date, more than 21,700 people[1], including family members who shared in the rescue of Jews, have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, representing over 8,000 authenticated rescue stories. Yad Vashem's policy is to pursue the program for as long as petitions for this title are received and are supported by solid evidence that meets the criteria.

[edit] Benefits

  • A righteous gentile will receive a monthly cash benefit at the rate of the average wage. In addition, a convalescent grant of up to eight days at the rate paid to civil servants, will be paid to a righteous gentile and his/her spouse. Health services, free of charge, under the National Health Insurance Law will also be provided to the righteous gentile."[2]
  • "The Righteous Among the Nations who experience economic difficulties — wherever they reside — are aided financially by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, a New York-based philanthropic organization which was created for this purpose. The Anne Frank Fonds, based in Basel, Switzerland, looks after those in need of medication. The Righteous residing in Israel (some 35 people) automatically receive a generous state pension."[3]
  • "Israel is home for 44[4] surviving Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews and came to live here alone, or with their families, at the end of World War II. ATZUM is working to provide basic needs not met by the Israel social welfare (NII) package, including visits by Israeli "adoptive grandchildren", professional caretakers, and geriatric, dental, ophthalmic and auditory treatments and aids. We are working intensively with eleven Righteous Gentiles and have distributed $13,000 to them."[5]

[edit] Count by country

See List of Righteous Among the Nations by country for names of individual Righteous Gentiles.

Count of the Righteous Among the Nations by country
Country of origin Count of Righteous
Among the Nations		 Notes
Flag of Poland Poland 6,010 In German-occupied Poland, all household members were punished by death if a hidden Jew was found in their house. This was the most severe legislation in occupied Europe.
Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands 4,767 Includes two persons originally from Indonesia residing in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, people hiding Jews would usually be punished by either being sent to concentration camps themselves or even by being shot (usually after a "trial"). Several hundreds of communist resistance workers never received recognition for saving Jews, because they acted as intermediates in bringing Jews, especially children, to hiding places and their names remained unknown (many of them died in concentration camps).
Flag of France France 2,740 In January, 2007, French President Jacques Chirac and other dignitaries honored France's Righteous Among the Nations in a ceremony at the Panthéon, Paris. The Legion of Honor was awarded to 160 French Righteous Among the Nations for their efforts saving French Jews during World War II. [6]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine 2,185
Flag of Belgium Belgium 1,443
Flag of Lithuania Lithuania 693
Flag of Hungary Hungary 685
Flag of Belarus Belarus 576
Flag of Slovakia Slovakia 465
Flag of Germany Germany 443 This includes Oskar Schindler, perhaps the most famous of the Righteous Among the Nations.
Flag of Italy Italy 417 This includes Pope John XXIII.
Flag of Greece Greece 271
Flag of Serbia Serbia 124
Flag of Russia Russia 124
Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic 118
Flag of Croatia Croatia 106 See Croatian Righteous Among the Nations
Flag of Latvia Latvia 103
Flag of Austria Austria 85
Flag of Moldova Moldova 73
Flag of Albania Albania 63
Flag of Romania Romania 53
Flag of Norway Norway 41 See Jewish orphanage in Oslo for the successful rescue of 14 Jewish children
Flag of Switzerland Switzerland 38
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia 35 Bosnia only; the source does not count Herzegovina
Flag of Denmark Denmark 21 As per their request, members of the Danish Underground who participated in the rescue of the Danish Jews are listed as one group.
Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria 17 Dimitar Peshev
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom 13 This list includes Frank Foley but excludes Nicholas Winton
Flag of the Republic of Macedonia Republic of Macedonia 10
Flag of Armenia Armenia 10
Flag of Sweden Sweden 9 Including Raoul Wallenberg credited by Yad Vashem with saving 15,000 Jews.
Flag of Slovenia Slovenia 6
Flag of Spain Spain 3
Flag of Estonia Estonia 3
Flag of the United States United States 3 Varian Fry
Flag of Turkey Turkey 3 Necdet Kent, Selahattin Ulkumen (managed to save 50 Jews; all had some Turkish connection), Namık Kemal Yolga
Flag of the Republic of China Republic of China 2
Flag of Brazil Brazil 2
Flag of Chile Chile 1
Flag of Japan Japan 1 Chiune Sugihara (provided approximately 3,400 transit visas to Jews in need[1])
Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg 1 Victor Bodson (former Justice Minister and Chairman of the Luxembourg House of Representatives; saved approximately 100 Jews)
Flag of Portugal Portugal 1 Aristides de Sousa Mendes (issued thousands of visas in order to allow 30,000 people to escape the Nazis)
Flag of Georgia (country) Georgia 1
Total 21,758 As of April 19, 2007[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust: Genocide and Moral Obligation, David Gushee, ISBN 1-55778-821-9, Paragon House Publishers
  • The Heart Has Reasons: Holocaust Rescuers and Their Stories of Courage,Klempner, Mark, ISBN 0-8298-1699-2, The Pilgrim Press
  • To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue, Land-Weber, Ellen, ISBN 0-252-02515-6, University of Illinois Press
  • The Seven Laws of Noah, Lichtenstein, Aaron, New York: The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press, 1981.
  • The Image of the Non-Jew in Judaism, Novak, David, ISBN 0-88946-975-X, New York and Toronto: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1983.
  • The Path of the Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, Paldiel, Mordecai, ISBN 0-88125-376-6, KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
  • Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands, Robert Satloff, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, (PublicAffairs, 2006) ISBN 1586483994
  • When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland, Tec, Nechama, ISBN 0-19-505194-7, Oxford University Press
  • Zegota: The Council to Aid Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-1945, Tomaszewski, Irene & Werblowski, Tecia, ISBN 1-896881-15-7, Price-Patterson
  • Tolerance in Judaism: The Medieval and Modern Sources, Zuesse, Evan M., In: The Encyclopaedia of Judaism, edited by J. Neusner, A. Avery-Peck, and W.S. Green, Second Edition, ISBN 90-04-14787-X, Leiden: Brill, 2005, Vol. IV: 2688-2713
  • When Courage Was Stronger Than Fear: Remarkable Stories of Christians Who Saved Jews from the Holocaust by Peter Hellman. 2nd edition, ISBN 1-56924-663-7, Marlowe & Companym, 1999
  1. ^ "First Arab Nominated for Holocaust Honor", Associated Press, 2007-01-30. Retrieved on 2007-02-01. 
  2. ^ Righteous Gentiles, National Insurance Institute of Israel
  3. ^ The "Righteous Among the Nations", Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  4. ^ As of 2007
  5. ^ Righteous Among the Nations, AZTUM
  6. ^ Jacques Chirac Honors French World War II Saviors, European Jewish Congress, April 11, 2007.
  7. ^ The Righteous Among the Nations, Yad Vashem

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteous_Among_the_Nations"
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