I’m sure everyone noticed, as I did, that the Rav did not hug or touch the woman in question. She was the one who initiated the exchange. And he did not indicate that it was ok, or permissible, just that she was was “holier than him.”
As a child of survivors, what I personally find much more upsetting than the possibility that our children grow up forgetting the terrible events, or not having enough information, are the narratives that are not based in fact. I am not commenting on the story on Aish, but on others I have read or heard that survivors themselves were very skeptical of. Having gone through the events, they have commented that the stories are likely fabricated or embellished.
Two very upsetting examples of this genre of untrue holocaust memoirs are Herman Rosenblatt’s “Angel at the Fence” and Michel Defonseca’s memoir. When these are exposed, the repercussions are terrible.
While I’m not pointing a finger at the story cited above, I do want to point out two discrepancies that I noticed. As a child of survivors, who grew up among many others of the same background, I did not notice as a child that ‘everyone had a number.’ Many who spent time in concentration camps were not tattooed with a number; I know many survivors who don’t have one. Additionally, it’s unlikely the lady identified herself as a shaygetz. A woman would have identified herself as a shiksa. (Perhaps it was the uncle who made the comment and bestowed the kiss?)
As in all our endeavors, it is important that in our eagerness to preserve the memories of those we lost, we don’t lose sight of following the path of Emmes over the path of sensationalism.