Ritual Existence and the Preservation of Self-Identity in the Concentration Camps: Time, Body, and Objects

Much research has been conducted on the cultural, psychological, religious, and spiritual aspects of Jewish observance during the Holocaust. These studies indicate that despite very difficult conditions, in a state of continuous danger and under subhuman conditions, some Jews struggled to preserve and maintain various forms of religious life, including rituals. This essay will argue that the effort to observe rituals in the concentration camps not only expressed religious faith but also offered a means of self-preservation, a way for some to break, even if only momentarily, from the liminal situation that characterized the camps. Ritual observance could contribute to preserving some form of human existence or identity under unending horrendous and inhuman circumstances.

While extensive testimony exists regarding efforts to observe religious commandments in the ghettos and concentration camps, we have far less evidence on the persistence of faith. According to Mendel Piekarz (2003, p. 24), this lack derives from the fact that faith is primarily an inward attitude or stance. Further, some testimonies explicitly state that the question of faith did not arise. For example, when Ilana Rosen asked, “How do religious people such as you relate to the Holocaust?” Shalom Farkash—born in Munkács to a Hasidic family, all of whom were deported to Auschwitz—replied: “I want to tell you something. During the Holocaust, I divested from faith, I simply didn't think about it. I didn't think. Afterwards, I even thought about going somewhere where they