Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to examine Etty Hillesum's wartime reflections on the divine-human relation as a species of “mad midrash.” According to the modern Jewish philosopher Emil Fackenheim, mad midrash entails an inventive, theological narrative that responds to the inconceivable bond that joins the world, the divine and “the anti-world” that is Auschwitz. It is “mad” because the relation strikes as impossible, yet relation there is. In answer to such aberration, mad midrash as mad dares to voice, protest against and partially mend an unthinkable history that is the Holocaust. Hillesum's mad midrash, the author claims, involves a depiction of God without recourse and a human(e) existence that bears witness “that God lived, even in these times.” These creative theological stories express, protest and restore, in some measure, the unimaginable history that is the Holocaust. To flesh this out, the author explores the character of the diary as such; as that which proliferates in times of historical turmoil, including the Holocaust; and finally, as a type of mad midrash.

Keywords:“ mad midrash”, Auschwitz, Shoah, God, wartime diary writing, Emil Fackenheim, trauma