I am an atheist of Jewish decent with no connection to Judaism. I just read the Old Testament (Holman Christian Standard Bible translation), which I guess you call the Torah. I loved the book, it is my favorite book now. But now I have a question about what I read.

The second half of the Old Testament is mostly about the fall of Israel to Babylon. This was certainly a holocaust. When I compare it to the recent (WW2) holocaust, I see them as very similar. My question is why Jews view them so differently?

The reason for the first holocaust was that Israel had become corrupt. Israel had absorbed the false beliefs of the surrounding cultures, and had lost all moral integrity. As a result, Israel was punished. This was in fact a good thing because Israel needed to be purified. A corrupt culture should be destroyed and one can hope that the remnant will become good. The Bible says that both the righteous and the wicked were punished in this holocaust, and this is inevitable when there is such violence.

I see the recent holocaust as being more or less the same story. The Jews absorbed and participated in the Liberal culture of Europe. Liberalism is no better than worshipping Baal. The vast majority of the Jews in Europe had absorbed Liberalism, just as most Jews before the fall to Babylon worshipped Baal. The Wiemar Republic was a particularly liberal society which incorporated many Jews. The liberal Jews lost all morality and were/are basically corrupt. The Nazis played the same role that Babylon had played in the earlier holocaust.

The main difference between these two holocausts in my mind is that modern Jews have misunderstood the recent holocaust. They portray themselves as victims without accepting any responsibility for their participation in Liberalism. While I bring up the issue of why there is this difference mostly for curiosity, there is a practical point here. If Jews don't learn the right lesson, then history will repeat itself soon and there will be yet another holocaust. I would prefer that that be avoided.