London, Friday, April 9, 1999

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Mill Hill minister slams "Holocaust obsession"

JC REPORTER

MILL HILL minister Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet criticised what he called "the Holocaust-obsessed" generation in a Passover sermon, suggesting that money would be better spent on Jewish education.

He said for many the Holocaust had become "a fixation", central to their whole Jewish identity.

"But how can such a devastating experience infuse enthusiasm and vitality?

"We must temper our obsession with the past and concentrate more on the present," he declared. "Over a billion dollars has been spent on Holocaust museums while the living are quietly exiting the stage of Jewish history."

He continued: "It has become all the rage to take trips to concentration camps, as though standing in the valley of the shadow of death will inject inspiration to pursue a course of religious consciousness."

The Holocaust posed huge questions, "but the answers won't be found in the blood-soaked soil of Auschwitz or Belsen.

"We would do better spending the money on an educational scheme, or sponsoring a young person to spend time in Israel."