When I read the book Night I was in college, in a biography-as-literature class, and not at all connected to Jewish community (either emotionally or practically). The book moved me, to be sure; but that term I also read Black Elk Speaks. One book did not move me more than another. Both stories broke my heart. Both were written so powerfully that I could place myself in either one and imagine the horror of losing my liberty, my freedom, perhaps even my life, at the hands of a greater force that acted with impersonal evil.When I said so in class, my Jewish professor was surprised that I, a fellow Jew, did not somehow find Wiesel's story more compelling than Black Elk's.
So when I turned on my newsfeed and learned that Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, has passed away today, I felt as though a giant had passed -- but I did not feel that he was "my" giant, simply because he was Jewish. He was a giant because he'd turned his nearly unspeakable personal tragedy into the foundation of a life lived for social justice, equality and safety for people around the globe. He spoke as passionately for racial equality as he had for the existence of the Jewish state. He reminded us that we must always check our own motives to make sure we confront the internalized fear and paranoia each of us has been socialized to carry within. So today, I mourn the passing of Elie Weisel, not because he was a great Jew, but because he was a great human being. May we all continue to learn from his wisdom and may it inform us to greater action in the pursuit of justice and peace.
So when I turned on my newsfeed and learned that Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, a Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, has passed away today, I felt as though a giant had passed -- but I did not feel that he was "my" giant, simply because he was Jewish. He was a giant because he'd turned his nearly unspeakable personal tragedy into the foundation of a life lived for social justice, equality and safety for people around the globe. He spoke as passionately for racial equality as he had for the existence of the Jewish state. He reminded us that we must always check our own motives to make sure we confront the internalized fear and paranoia each of us has been socialized to carry within. So today, I mourn the passing of Elie Weisel, not because he was a great Jew, but because he was a great human being. May we all continue to learn from his wisdom and may it inform us to greater action in the pursuit of justice and peace.
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