Elie Wiesel – never too late . . . (2024)

On July 2,2016 the name “Elie Wiesel” appeared on international media for 15-seconds with flashing images of this person at various ages of his 87-years. Apparently he was someone significant enough for the world to take notice, so I wondered why had I missed hearing about him before, when I have been much into great figures of Jewry for every conceivable achievement, great or small, notorious or meritorious, past and present.

Elie Wiesel, dubbed“the conscience of the world” among other titles—pardon my ignorance indeed, my loss as I soon realized. So when my own coffee mug sitting right on my bookshelf had his name on it which I never noticed before (look at 2nd book on mug), I figured hey, this is a sign that I must post an article about this man!

So I fast caught up with Elie Wiesel by reading as many articles about him as were available on the internet. (Thank YHWH for granting me a long enough life to marvel at instant FYI at the click of computer keys right on my bed in the middle of the night. I belong to a generation that would have had to wait for the public library to open, IF what I needed was even available!)

I did this on a day declared as ‘non-working holiday’, intended to give due consideration for Islamic faithful to celebrate the end of their feast Ramadan. How ironic, you might think,to research a Jew who survived the holocaust on a day I should have spent reading up on the religion of Islam. . . but then I had already done thathomework. I spent the previous monthreading the Koran from beginning to end in an attempt to understand religious extremists.

• Why do terrorists/Jihadists shouting “God is great” in Arabic have no regard for life that only God can give to the only creature He made in His image?
• Why, “in God’s Name,” destroy human life,whether the suicide bomber’s along with other innocent bystanders who happen to be around when theydecide to make a hit?

Such horrific happenings are becoming too frequent, too common, occurring anytime, anywhere, victimizing non-Muslims but significantly, hordes more among their own ethnic and religious kin.

But before I lose focus on who inspired this post, let’s get back to Elie Wiesel. I just can’t resist comparing the destructive course chosen by a minority of Islamists to the choice made by one Jewish victim of millennia-long anti-semitism that continues, yesdespitethe horrific lessons of the Holocaust. And, just as Elie Wiesel himself had questioned in his play “The Trial of God”, I wonder why God does not intervene and eliminate all destructive evildoing from the face of the earth. You will have to read the play to get the answer.

There ismuch to read about Elie Wiesel from google listing, but here are my picks for quick information:

• http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.575072

• Why Elie Wiesel Never Caught on in Israel – Culture – Haaretz

  www.haaretz.com › Israel News › Culture

• The Essential Elie Wiesel Reading List: 8 Must-read Works by – Haaretz

  www.haaretz.com › Jewish World › Jewish World Features

We never really know people from what other people write about them, so the next recourse is to look at the list of books/articles/publications attributed to Elie Wiesel. I picked out three that will eventually land in our MUST READ category:

• Messengers of God: A True Story about the Angelic Presence and the Return to
  • [like you, I thought the last part of the title was cut but guess what, that IS the complete title; now wouldn’t that intrigue you enough to get a copy? I did for that very reason.]
• Wise Men and Their Tales: Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Masters
  • [I figured I needed to hear a secular voice discussing Rabbinic commentary on the lives of a wide range of biblical figures]
  • The Trial of God
    • [A very interesting play putting God on trial for the evil and suffering of humanity]

From among many EW quotables:

“I write to understand

as much as to be understood.”

Elie Wiesel Quotes on God, the Holocaust and Humanity [read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.728537]

1. It seemed as impossible to conceive of Auschwitz with God as to conceive of Auschwitz without God. Therefore, everything had to be reassessed because everything had changed.

(The Nobel Peace Prize speech, 1986)

2. For us, forgetting was never an option. Remembering is a noble and necessary act.

(The Nobel Peace Prize speech, 1986)

3. Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.

(Interview with U.S. media, 1986)

4. I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

(The Nobel Peace Prize speech, 1986)

5. Waking among the dead, one wondered if one was still alive. And yet real despair only seized us later. Afterwards. As we emerged from the nightmare and began to search for meaning.

(The Nobel Peace Prize speech, 1986)

6. No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night.

(The Nobel Peace Prize speech, 1986)

7. I rarely speak about God. To God yes. I protest against Him. I shout at Him. But open discourse about the qualities of God, about the problems that God imposes, theodicy, no. And yet He is there, in silence, in filigree.

(Interview to the Paris Review, 1984)

8. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.

The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it’s indifference.

The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.

And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.

(Interview with U.S. media, 1986)

9. No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.

(Interview to Parade Magazine, 1992)

10. When a Jew visitsJerusalemfor the first time, it is not the first time; it is a homecoming.

(Interview to Israeli media, 2010)

“To forget

the dead

would be

akin to

killing them

a second

time” . . . .

And so, dear Elie Wiesel, this is one Gentile website’s humble tribute to you,

• unfortunately at a time you have already left the generation—
  • that survived two world wars
  • and witnessedand continue to experience atrocities and evil
  • perpetrated by the “I” of man that chooses to go against
  • the “I” made in the image of God,
  • both albeit contrasting capabilities in each individual,
  • proof of ‘free will’,
  • a precious gift from God.

The totality of your life andlegacy —personal choices realized in deeds and expressed in words— testify to those of us who never knew you, nor heard of you until you passed on.

To your life,

Elie Wiesel,

this Shabbat’s

glass of wine

is dedicated.

L’chaim!