Those of us that stopped believing in our silly little tribes recognize that free speech is only free if objectionable speech is allowed.

Timothy doesn't seem to understand what the holocaust means to the Jewish community and the harm that holocaust denial causes to the community. And yet had Timothy been in Nazi-controlled territory in the 1940s, he would not have been spared. And he would not have been redeemed.

Personally, I agree with what petophile said… I'm in my twenties and my Jewish identity is extremely important to me. My family heritage, including the holocaust, is important to me.

My Dad's side of the family is small because many of my ancestors were murdered. Like many Jewish families, my parents have a shoebox of photographs of relatives in the attic. Nobody knows who they are, but we know they were relatives.

My Great Uncle Siegfried was the director of the Israelitisches Blindeninstitut-Vienna's institute for blind Jewish children. Towards the beginning of Nazi rule, my Great Uncle was able to get the children in his care to safety in Palestine and the United States, before emigrating to the United States himself. He did not abandon his fellow Jews, however-among the Leo Baeck Institute's collections is a series of letters between my Great Uncle and the International Red Cross where he tells them what he knows of the concentration camps.

My grandfather, a lawyer in Vienna and a Lieutenant in the Kaiser's army in World War I, fled Austria during World War II after being held by the SS. In a cruel fit of irony, his wife and one of his daughters escaped to London, only to be killed during the Blitz. My grandfather made his way across Europe and eventually got to the United States. Not speaking very good English, he never practiced law again. Instead, he worked a series of jobs, ranging from a cook to a part-owner/operator of the Star Hotel in the Catskills. He met another Austrian Jew, remarried, and had my Dad. He died before I was born. And yet today, I follow in his footsteps as a Jewish lawyer. His law license, in German, hangs in my apartment, near my own.

The holocaust happened. It MATTERS that it happened. And if we allow people to forget, or allow holocaust deniers to muddy the waters with disinformation, lies, and hatred, it only serves to further the Nazi's aims of destroying the Jewish people and culture.

Timothy will need to make a choice-he is part of the Jewish community or he isn't. To think that you can claim a Jewish identity but be unaffected by the holocaust is not only folly, it's wicked.

my grandparents survived the holocaust in Poland. my grandfather was a prisoner of war. he died a few years ago at the age of 92. my grandmother has only recently begun to tell her own stories. I was bat mitzvah-ed and I went through confirmation and post-confirmation. I attended NFTY youth groups and camps. I'm in my twenties now, and I consider the Jewish part of my identity to be one of the most important parts. and I tell anyone who is willing to listen about how my grandparents survived.
how does this affect me?
my grandfather was the only one of his family (parents and 7 siblings) to survive.
my grandmother lost her parents and one of her two brothers in the Majdanek concentration camp.
my family is incredibly small because most of them were murdered.
but we are proud, and we are resilient, and we make sure to live every day to its fullest because we ought not to have made it, but we did.
so Brian, not all Jewish youth are disconnected.

For anyone interested in the subject head over to Prof. Lipstadt's blog:
http://lipstadt.blogspot.com/

Or go read 'Holocaust Denial on Trial':
http://www.hdot.org/

That is all.

Start by looking at home. No sense of Jewish Identity from Mom and Dad.

Then look at the Temple, where they may see a rabbi or associate rabbi, whose job ought to be teaching children of all ages, doing nothing. Or nothing more than leading Shabbat and Holiday services. And then driving away from the Temple.

Then look at the religious schools, particularly in the Conservative and Reform congregations (I grew in a conservative congregation and have participated most recently in a Reform congregation), where at most the children are for 2 or 3 hours a week. Many of our Conservative and Reform youth cannot read and certainly cannot understand the Hebrew prayers in our day to day liturgy.

There's culpability all around. But the bottom line lies with the parents and what our children learn in the home, as to what's important. And I can personally say I've not done a particularly good job. But I also see I'm not alone.