They Have a Place in the World to Come: 10 Points on the Righteous Among the Nations

1. The first mention of the term "Righteous Among the Nations" is found in the words of the sages with the phrase: "Righteous of the Nations" - "There are righteous among the nations who have a portion in the World to Come," but it is not specified by virtue of what the righteous of the nations will merit the World to Come.

2. The Midrash in Yalkut Shimoni interprets the verse from Psalms: "Your priests will be clothed in righteousness and your pious ones will sing," as follows: "Your priests, these are the righteous of the world who are priests to Hashem, such as Antoninus and his friends." Antoninus was a Roman emperor, and in the Talmud and Midrashim, stories are told of his close friendship with Rabbi Judah the Prince.

3. Maimonides coined the phrase "Righteous Among the Nations": "Thus, the righteous of the world have a portion in the World to Come." According to Maimonides, the Righteous Among the Nations are those who have taken upon themselves to observe the Seven Noahide Laws: "Anyone who accepts and carefully observes the seven mitzvot is regarded as one of the righteous among the nations, and they have a portion in the World to Come. It is provided they accept these and perform them because Hashem commanded them in the Torah and informed us through Moses our teacher that Noah's descendants were previously commanded regarding them." The Seven Noahide Laws include prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, forbidden sexual relations, theft, eating flesh torn from a living animal, and establishing courts of law. These are the commandments non-Jews are obligated to observe if they wish to draw near to the Jewish faith without converting.

4. Another reference to the concept is found in the writings of Rabbi Menashe ben Israel in his book "Nishmat Chaim" on the topic of reincarnation. According to him, while the reincarnation of a Jewish soul in a non-Jew is a punishment and suffering, the reincarnation of a Jewish soul in a non-Jew who is righteous among the nations is not a punishment.

5. In our time, the term is used to describe a non-Jew who risked their life to save Jews in Europe during the Holocaust. It should be noted, however, that this term was coined by "Yad Vashem," and it is unknown what their exact portion in the World to Come is.

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6. The "Righteous Among the Nations" protected our people with true self-sacrifice. The Jewish people have long honored those who saved them, even before they became a nation. During the plagues of Egypt, Aaron struck the Nile and the ground, not Moses, because both the river and the land had assisted and protected Moses. A people who are grateful even to inanimate objects will certainly show gratitude to those who protected them during years of horror and rage.

7. It is impossible to know the exact number of all the Righteous Among the Nations. This is because some were caught by the Germans and executed, like the brave Dutchman, Joop Westerweel, an anti-Nazi Dutch resistance member who worked with Jewish pioneering youth movements in Holland and smuggled Jewish children and youth from Holland to Spain; or like the Italian, Edoardo Focherini, an editor of a newspaper in Bologna, who smuggled Jews from Italy to neutral Switzerland, was arrested by the Gestapo, sent to a concentration camp in Bolzano, and executed, leaving behind a widow and seven children. There were cases of unknown individuals who were not affiliated with any organization, who hid Jews in their homes, were caught by the Germans, executed along with those they hid, and there is no precise information to confirm what they did.

8. We do not know precisely how many Holocaust survivors owe their survival to the help of non-Jews under Nazi rule. It is not easy to locate all of them, especially today when many have passed away. Undoubtedly, there were Jews who received help but, unfortunately, perished in the Holocaust and could not be saved. There are rescuers who, even after the war, wished to remain anonymous.

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9. It is important to remember that there were notable rescues that were not recognized because no one brought them to the attention of "Yad Vashem." Dealing with painful memories is an extremely difficult experience for survivors – some never approached Yad Vashem to ensure their rescuers were recognized, others died before the request was submitted, or they had not heard about the program.

10. So far, "Yad Vashem" has recognized twenty-one thousand non-Jewish individuals who risked their lives, security, and socio-economic status for the sake of saving Jews.

This number is impressive in its scarcity and smallness relative to the population of Europe, which numbered about 500 million during World War II. An example of the rescuers being so few is found in Poland. At the beginning of World War II, Poland had a population of about 33 million people, and the Jewish population was about 3,250,000, but only 5,941 people in Poland were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. This meager number, in relative terms, further highlights the moral value of the Righteous Among the Nations, who were like one out of a city and two from a family among millions of people. All the rest, if they were not enemies, remained indifferent to the fate of Jews pursued for their lives.