"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." - Elie Wiesel
This week, the Jewish people lost one of our greatest and most influential voices, and one of our most beautiful souls, Elie Wiesel. Before you continue reading my words, I ask that you read Wiesel's obituary that was published this week in the Forward (click here).
When Wiesel won the Nobel prize for peace, the citation said, "Wiesel is a messenger to mankind. His message is one of peace, atonement and human dignity. His belief that the forces fighting evil in the world can be victorious is a hard-won belief." Wiesel was the Jewish people's gift to the world. Wiesel once said in an interview, "If I survived, it must be for some reason. I must do something with my life. It is too serious to play games with anymore, because in my place, someone else could have been saved. And so I speak for that person. On the other hand, I know I cannot." On a personal level, as a grandson of four Holocaust survivors, a descendent of a destroyed civilization, Wiesel was our eloquent spokesperson. He gave voice not just to the murdered, but also to the survivors who for so many years either would not be heard or could not speak. Whenever my non-Jewish friends asked me to explain the Holocaust, I told them to read Wiesel's first book, Night, a memoir of his experiences in Auschwitz. They came to me afterward, with tears in their eyes, and told me, now I understand.
And yet, he was not just our spokesperson, but also spoke for all of humanity. Through his haunting and powerful words, he stood up for the dignity of all of humankind, taking the teachings of our rabbis, that each person is like an entire world, to the public square. His message of peace and dignity is something we can all take to heart this week, a week in which more innocent lives were taken in our country.
This Shabbat morning, I hope you can join us as we study Wiesel's words after our Torah service. Together, we will read some of Wiesel's most famous words, and reflect upon them together. Together, we will see where we find ourselves in his words and how they resonate for our children and for us.
This will be my last Shabbat for two weeks at Shaarei Kodesh as I will be joining our campers at Camp Ramah Darom. A couple of weeks ago, I gave a dvar torah about why I think Jewish camping is so special, because it forces us to take leaps of action. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to my dvar torah before Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom and I look forward to spending this great Shabbat together with you!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Baum
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