An Night Evening

Elie Wiesel Speach

"Life is not made up of years, but of moments" - Elie Wiesel. We think of life as contiguous, as streaming by, but in memory, it is less movie and more picture - frozen images, feelings, sensations that, like a pointillistic illusion, come together to form our past. Perhaps it’s a childhood victory, a first kiss, a tragic event, a life-changing revelation. Perhaps it’s just a smell, a song, a moment not to forgotten, etched into the cerebrum forever. These points are the ticket stubs of our lives, and make up the scrap book that will guide us into the unknown. But we can’t simply rest on these past images.

Elie points out that though history books are filled with the long and storied of our people, that we have an even better future. We care. We have hope. The Talmud, he recalls, says that, though our first focus of tzedaka must always be to our own family and village, we are not released from the responsibility of helping others. From Cambodia to Harlem, Elie Wiesel has been there. In his words - "When we needed others, they were not there. So it our imperative to be there for others that need our help".

Looking around the room it’s hard to imagine the reality of fear that penetrated our people throughout history. Chrystal Nacht, the subject of "Night", can only resonate so much with people who have never known true fear. Even when Elie Wiesel talks of Ahmadinejad and the atrocities he had publicly announced he wants to commit, the fear does not register as immediate, pertinent or real. But Elie Wiesel, standing up, knows a different reality. We should listen.