Spotlight

Being A Better Jew

Wiesel recalls the Rebbe in speech
before Chabad-Lubavitch in Novi.

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Elie Wiesel, right, shakes hands with Rabbi Emeritus Irwin Groner of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Oakland County.

Ronelle Grier

Special to the Jewish News

N

obel Prize-winning author
Elie Wiesel is no stranger to
despair. He was a teenager
when he and his family were sent to
Auschwitz. That experience, which
shaped the rest of his life, is what
makes him believe so ardently in the
power of remembrance.
"The opposite of despair isn't neces-
sarily happiness; it's remembrance,' he
told a crowd of more than 1,200 people
at a banquet commemorating the
yahrtzeit of the Lubavitch leader, Rabbi
Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who
died 16 years ago.
The event, sponsored by Chabad-
Lubavitch of Michigan, took place
on June 21 at the Rock Financial
Showplace in Novi. Wiesel was the
keynote speaker for the evening, which
also included a tribute to longtime
Lubavitch supporters Jack and Miriam
Shenkman.

Wiesel met Schneerson in the 1960s;
the two men shared a close relationship
for more than 30 years. Wiesel prizes a
collection of his own works with writ-
ten commentary made by Schneerson
in every single volume.
"Each time we met, I told him I
wasn't Lubavitch," said Wiesel. "I miss
him as a friend; the Jewish people can-
not help miss him because of what he
did, who he was and what he made us
do."
Wiesel said the world still hasn't
learned the lesson of the Holocaust
despite the many books, films and
museums dedicated to the topic.
"If this tragedy were forgotten, it
would be bad for the whole world',' he
said.
Rabbi Yisrael Pinson of the
Friendship House in West Bloomfield, a
program for Jewish persons struggling
with addiction, said that he interpreted
Wiesel's message as a call to action.

Being A Better Jew on page 28

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July 1 • 2010

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