the guest who posted on the "Megalgilim" concept of bad things happening when you aren't careful. I see the next few posts on the Holocaust. I don't know why folks tiptoe around it. Yes, it happened because we deserved it. I can say that with easy heart because both of my parents are Holocaust survivors and taught me to say that. Rebbetzin Jungreis, a survivor of Bergen Belsen and founder of Hineni Organization in Manhattan says the same things. So did many rabbis. ANY catastrophe has a cause. To blind ourselves to that makes for a horrible thing - the George Santayana one of "those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it".    The Jews did suffer horrific tragedies during the destruction of the Temple and banishment from Israel during the Roman reign, and we are given reasons for why G-d allowed such devastation to happen. No less should be done for the Holocaust era, otherwise the punishment is useless. That doesn't mean that the Nazis are absolved. There are many anti-semites who would love to kill us all. However, there are times where G-d allows them to succeed because of our faults. They, however, hated baselessly and are held accountable for being murderers.   Rebbetzin Jungreis pointed out one scary thing, which no one wants to readily admit. There is a clear balance in history between assimilation of the Jewish people and anti-semitism. As assimilation (the move away from tradition and heritage) increases so does the rate of anti-semitism in the world. Doubt it? Learn history. Use the Spanish Inquisition. The Holocaust. The Greek oppression. The Purim story. Not only that, there were predictions before the Holocaust that it would happen, from Rabbis such as the Mesech Chochma (who wrote his prediction about 200 years before the event) and the path of the Holocaust followed the trail of assimilation that had wreaked havoc on the Jewish community. Anti-Semitism, as much as it has hurt me by killing large numbers of my family, is a gift of G-d that doesn't allow the Jewish people to kill themselves out in their own suicide of trying to lose their identity.