The Holocaust and Antisemitism in Homiletic: Exploring Rabbinic Sermons from 1933 to 1945

With all the abundant scholarly literature analyzing almost every aspect of the Holocaust, there is one category of texts that has been entirely overlooked as a historical source: the rabbinic sermons delivered between 1933 and 1945. My most recent book includes passages from clearly dated sermons presented in chronological order, including 135 different rabbis from 14 different countries. My presentation will focus on American texts raising issues such as the following: How prevalent were the themes of Nazism and the persecution of European Jewry on these sermons? What were American rabbis saying about the proper US role between September 1939 and December 1941 when Europe was engulfed in war? Do the preachers perceive and present the events in a classical models, or as unprecedented, breaking the molds of the tradional catergories?