Elie Wiesel, Historian, Mystic, Hasid
Inspires Youth Loyalties in New Book
rabbis of old and the Habad
Elie Wiesel, author of best sel-
storytellers of more recent de-
lers, winner of literary prizes in
cades.
this country and in France, the
Addressing himself to the young,
impassioned pleader for Jewish
loyalties, for recognition of Jewish Wiesel is more than a teacher, a
values and retention of the mem- capacity in which he could, as he
ories of the years during which the does, rise to great heights. He
great crime of Genocide was corn- teaches and admonishes and he
has a lesson a portion of which is
marked by saintliness in the plea
not to abandon faith while determ-
ining to remain vitally linked with
their people. Thus he asserts:
"If with the Holocaust God has
chosen to question man, man is
left to answer with a quest having
God as object. The interrogation
is two-fold, and it is up to you to
claim it as your own and link it
to the actions it calls forth.
"We are talking about a double,
a two-way, interrogation. It must
not be divided. The question man
poses to God may be the same God
poses to man. Nevertheless, it is
man who must live—and formu-
late—it. In so doing, he challenges
God, which is permissible, indeed
required. He who says no to God
ELIE WIESEL
is not necessarily a renegade. Ev-
mitted, presents so strong a case erything depends on the . way he
for his Hasidic heritage and its re- says it, and why. One can say any-
tention in our time that his new thing as long as it is for man, not
book emerges as a great inspira- against him, as long as one re-
mains inside the covenant; only if
tion.
you repudiate and judge your peo-
His "One Generation After" has
ple from the outside, will you be-
just been published by Random come a renegade.
House. It is much more than an
"You will undoubtedly reply:
addendum - to his "N i g h t,"
Why speak about God, since I do
"Dawn," "Beggar in Jerusalem,"
not believe? Don't worry, my pur-
"The Jews of Silence." It is a pose is not to give
you back your
combination of all of them with faith. You are free to replace God
these valuable addenda: This work
with any word—or presence—you
is history linked with the mysti- prefer. It would in no way alter
cism of the author, his vision, his my message to you.
plea for assertion for Jewish
"Besides, I leave you the task of
rights, his idealistic adherence to
the traditions that make Israel the working out your own relationship
with God. What matters to me is
bearer of a great message.
the relationship between the indi-
Wiesel is eloquent in his writ-
ings. in every chapter he pre- vidual and the community.
"To be a Jew is to work for the
sents the message which seems
to have elevated him to a role survival of a people—your own—
of interpreter of prophecy and whose legacy to you is its collec-
implorer to all, especially to tive memory in its entirety. No
youth, neither to abandon faith one has the right to dissect his-
tory, making personal choices, se-
nor to forget fact.
lecting this period, that personality.
Wiesel is devout. He also is real- Your "I" includes them all. You
istic in his realism. To be thor- have seen Moses at Sinai, heard
oughly Jewish he must draw upon
David in his citadel, fought the Ro-
Talmud and Midrash, the Hasidic
mans at Massada, felt the Cru-
mystics and their stories and the saders' sword. Whoever sees him-
great scholars in Jewish history.
self as a severed branch becomes
He is the traditional Zionist in other, the Midrash teaches us. Iso-
whose writings there echo the mes- late yourself within time, and time
sages that were read in "A Beggar
itself becomes abstraction, and so
in Jerusalem" and are reiterated
do you. Time is a link, your "I" a
with equal passion in "One Gener- sum total. Your name has been
ation After." And while he titled borne by others
before you. Your
his book as the story about a gen-
fate is not yours alone. The ques-
eration that follows the Holocaust
tions asked by children and the
there is continuity here that is un- answers
they will be given were
broken.
all heard at Sinai. Your doubts
The great value In this work and turmoils, your victories as
is that it is not apologetic. There well, come down to you, in a di-
is firmness. The Hasid domin- rect line, from your earliest fore-
ates. The Hasidic stories enchant bears.
the reader in every chapter.
"You may call this phenomenon
lie may not wish to re-empha- historic consciousness, or spirit of
size the tragedies, yet out of his solidarity. Your kinship encom-
story there emerges the experi- passes those who live in your time
ences of his survival from Ausch- and those who survive within you.
witz, his reminder of what had You cannot fulfill, yourself as Jew
occurred, his warnings against if you feel no bond with those who
repetitions and his appeals for share dilemmas, your celebrations
firmness in opposing indignities. and even your contradictions: the
He relates the prayers of those Jews in Israel, in the Soviet Union,
who in their sufferings defied in the Arab countries, and even in
Nazism and of the youth who in the lands where they are not har-
their way were the heroes—those assed.
who fought in the forests, in the
underground.
Hebrew U. Offers Master
At the same time he recalls his
youth, his shtetl, and he tells of of Social Work Degree
his bar Mitzva gift, the watch
JERUSALEM—Masters degree
which be buried, recovered by studies in social work are being
digging with his fingernails into introduced for the first time at the
the frozen earth upon his return Hebrew University where the aca-
from the gehenna--only to bury demic year opened on Nov. 8.
again so that a later generation Shortage of trained personnel quali-
may reconstruct the tragedies. fied to undertake social work ad-
'That is why the cover of the book ministration and research have
has the watch imprinted upon it.
dictated these two trends of study.
"One Generation After" could The master's course presently
well be called an autobiography. offers them in a two-year program
It is also a credo. It is a sym- largely made possible by support
bolic declaration of faith. It is from the JDC. Scholarships and
filled with dialogues—it Is a read- loans available to students should
er for the learned who will get enable them to devote full-time
the thrill of introductions to the to study.
16—Friday, November 27, 1970
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Grace After Meals Trips Up Israeli Objector
A decisive factor in the local
TEL AVIV (ZINS) — Israel's
highest court has ruled that a board's decision was an acknowl-
edgement
by the girl that she does
Jewish girl cannot claim exemp-
"As a Jew, you are entitled, in- tion from military duty on reli- not recite grace after meals ac-
deed required, to speak in the gious grounds if she admits that cording to Jewish tradition.
name of all Jews. Your word, she fails to do the traditional
therefore, takes on immeasurable "benchen" after meals.
significance and ancient reson-
The decision followed an appeal
ance; it involves others; your an- by an 18-year-old against her
cestors from the most distant past. local draft board which refused
For the Jew who denies himself to accord her religious exemp-
denies more than his own person: tion status.
he denies Abraham, Isaac and Ja
cob. To betray the present means
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and to constant repetition.
Whether Russian Jewry—whose
courage he draws upon to indicate
that perhaps American rather than
Soviet Jewry is the silent one—or
Israel and the Israelis; or all of
us, the American and other Jews,
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who are being implored here: the
fact is that in Wiesel's new mes-
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—P. S.
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