Program Particulars
*Times indicated refer to web version of audio

(01:47–03:53) Music
"The 13th Petalled Rose" from Pintele Yid, performed by The Minnesota Klezmer Band

 Voice of Readings

Harold Schulweis is senior rabbi and spiritual leader of Valley Beth Shalom and founder of the Jewish Foundation for Rescuers.

But I told him that I did not believe that they could burn people in our age, that humanity would never tolerate it.

"Humanity? Humanity is not concerned with us. Today anything is allowed. Anything is possible, even these crematories…"

His voice was choking.

"Father," I said, "if that is so, I don't want to wait here. I'm going to run to the electric wire. That would be better than slow agony in the flames."

He did not answer. He was weeping. His body was shaken convulsively. Around us, everyone was weeping. Someone began to recite the Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. I do not know if it has ever happened before, in the long history of the Jews, that people have ever recited the prayer for the dead themselves.

Former prisoners of Buchenwald stare out from the wooden bunks in which they slept three to a bed. Elie Wiesel is pictured on the far right next to the vertical beam. Courtesy: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Yitgadal veyitkadach shmé raba…. May His Name be blessed and magnified…." whispered my father.

For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for?

We continued our march. We were gradually drawing closer to the ditch, from which an infernal heat was rising. Still twenty steps to go. If I wanted to bring about my own death, this was the moment. Our line had now only fifteen paces to cover. I bit my lips so that my father would not hear my teeth chattering. Ten steps still. Eight. Seven. We marched slowly on, as though following a hearse at our own funeral. Four steps more. Three steps. There it was now, right in front of us, the pit and its flames. I gathered all that was left of my strength, so that I could break from the ranks and throw myself upon the barbed wire. In the depths of my heart, I bade farewell to my father, to the whole universe; and, in spite of myself, the words formed themselves and issued in a whisper from my lips: Yitgadal veyitkadach shmé raba…. May His name be blessed and magnified…. My heart was bursting. The moment had come. I was face to face with the Angel of Death….

No. Two steps from the pit we were ordered to turn to the left and made to go into a barracks.

I pressed my father's hand. He said:

"Do you remember Madame Schächter, in the train?"

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.

Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.

Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

(03:45–05:34) Music
"Your Basic Bulgar" from Pintele Yid, performed by The Minnesota Klezmer Band

(03:44) Reading about Famous Rabbi
Hasidic Judaism grew as a movement among persecuted European Jews in the 18th century in response to the thought that Jewish life was becoming too academic. Out of this, a playful and creative belief in the power of stories emerged. The following passage about a famous rabbi appears in Wiesel's collection, Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters, read by Rabbi Harold Schulweis:

Rebbe Leib, surnamed the Grandfather of Shpole, was fond of saying: "If I had seen the Baal Shem Tov a second time, I would have become somebody."

He was somebody.

Known for his kindness, simplicity and warmth, his surname suited him perfectly. He played with children and he loved stories. He had a talent for making people happy. He was also the first Rebbe to turn dance into a ritual. Watching him sway and turn, the son of the Great Maggid of Mezeritch exclaimed:

"Your dancing counts for more than my prayers."

Like most Hasidic Masters of his generation, he had led a turbulent existence before he made himself known.

Rebbe Leib was on the side of man, defending him even against God:

"Lord, You are unjust. You filled books with hell and hearts with desire; is it surprising then that man permits himself to be seduced by evil? Now, if it were the other way around…"

(07:31) André Malraux Reference
Wiesel credits the French author and statesman André Malraux with writing, "The Jewish people were the only ones to take God's words seriously," which can be found in Malraux's best-known work, La Condition Humaine (translated to Man's Fate).

(08:37) Krista's Reading of Night
The excerpt Krista recites can be found in the final three paragraphs of the passage that is part of the 02:31 text above.

(11:21) Reading from The Trial of God
Wiesel's play The Trial of God tells the story of Jewish survivors of a 16th century pogrom who imagined putting God on trial for the terrible things he allowed to happen to them. The character of Berish, an embittered innkeeper who assumes the role of prosecutor, speaks the following:

(11:54–13:22) Music
"A Vanished World" from Art from Ashes: Music of Remembrance, Vol. 1, by David Frederick Stock

(13:18) Reference to Jewish Mystical Book
The Zohar — a Hebrew word that means "splendor" — is widely considered the most important work of Jewish mysticism. It is a mystical commentary on the Torah, written in Aramaic and Hebrew. It contains a Kabbalistic discussion of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, sin, redemption, good and evil, and related topics. Read more about and search the text of the Zohar (registration required).

(17:19) Reading from Dawn

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Auschwitz fence posts and Elie Wiesel quote in the third floor tower room of the permanent exhibition at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Courtesy: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" was given from the summit of one of the mountains here in Palestine, and we were the only ones to obey it. But that's all over. We must be like everybody else. Murder will be not our profession but our duty. In the days and weeks and months to come you will have only one purpose: to kill those who have made us killers. We shall kill in order that once more we may be men.

(18:22–19:37) Music
"The 13th Petalled Rose" from Pintele Yid, performed by The Minnesota Klezmer Band

(18:41) Reference to Wiesel's 1995 Memoir
The following passage Krista recited during the program appears in All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs by Elie Wiesel:

I belonged to the community of night, the kingdom of the dead, and henceforth I would also belong to the wondrous, exhilarating community of the eternal city of David.

(21:23) Wiesel's Reference to the Eclipse of God
Wiesel talks about the concept of God hiding his face from humanity. In Hebrew, this is called hester panim, referring to God's presence being hidden from direct human perception but never being absent. According to some theologians, the book of Esther illustrates this concept; although God is never directly mentioned in the text, it's posited that the divine hand of God guides the series of coincidental events.

Read the following passage from Deuteronomy 31:16-19 that talks about the hidden face of God:

And the Lord said unto Moses: "Behold, thou art about to sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray after the foreign gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and

troubles shall come upon them; so that they will say in that day: Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel.

(22:41) Reading of Wiesel Essay
Taken from the collection A Jew Today, read the excerpt from the essay "An Open Letter to a Young Palestinian Arab":

It is the human aspect of your problem that I find most painful. Its dialectical aspect leaves me indifferent. Its ethical side troubles me. I am irritated by your threats but overwhelmed by your suffering. I am more sensitive to that than you imagine. The people of my generation cannot be otherwise. They have seen too many men tortured, uprooted, to turn away from other people's grief. It concerns us and it affects us. Your behavior is conditioned by Arab suffering and mine by Jewish suffering. These two sufferings should unite us, but instead they divide us.

(22:49–24:09) Music
"Endangered" from Earthworks: Music in Honor of Nature, by Steve Heitzeg

Rabin and Arafat shake hands over peace accord. Courtesy: National Archives

(25:50) Excerpt from Nobel Lecture
In 1986, Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to fight for "all repressed peoples and races." Read the entire text of Hope, Despair and Memory, from which the following excerpt of Wiesel's December 11th acceptance speech was taken:

And here we come back to memory. We must remember the suffering of my people, as we must remember that of the Ethiopians, the Cambodians, the boat people, Palestinians, the Mesquite Indians, the Argentinian "desaparecidos" — the list seems endless.

Let us remember Job who, having lost everything — his children, his friends, his possessions, and even his argument with God — still found the strength to begin again, to rebuild his life. Job was determined not to repudiate the creation, however imperfect, that God had entrusted to him.

Job, our ancestor. Job, our contemporary. His ordeal concerns all humanity. Did he ever lose his faith? If so, he rediscovered it within his rebellion. He demonstrated that faith is essential to rebellion, and that hope is possible beyond despair. The source of his hope was memory, as it must be ours. Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair. I remember the killers, I remember the victims, even as I struggle to invent a thousand and one reasons to hope.

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. The Talmud tells us that by saving a single human being, man can save the world. We may be powerless to open all the jails and free all the prisoners, but by declaring our solidarity with one prisoner, we indict all jailers. None of us is in a position to eliminate war, but it is our obligation to denounce it and expose it in all its hideousness. War leaves no victors, only victims. I began with the story of the Besht. And, like the Besht, mankind needs to remember more than ever. Mankind needs peace more than ever, for our entire planet, threatened by nuclear war, is in danger of total destruction. A destruction only man can provoke, only man can prevent. Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures, it is our gift to each other.

(25:59–28:28) Music
"Fancy on a Bach Air" from Phantasmagoria (The Fantasy Album), by John Corigliano

(28:31–30:55) Music
"Wiggle Town" from Agada, by the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band

(31:27–31:53) Music
"The 13th Petalled Rose" from Pintele Yid, performed by The Minnesota Klezmer Band

(32:25) Reference to Biblical Law about Slaves
Wiesel mentions that the first law after the ten commandments deals with slavery. Read more about rules concerning slavery and additional rules that can be found in chapters 21 through 23 of Exodus of the Tanakh.

(36:10) Reading from A Beggar in Jerusalem
Wiesel comments that he wrote A Beggar in Jerusalem after the 1967 Six Day War (part four of the National Public Radio series The Mideast: A Century of Conflict), fought between Israel and its neighbors of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, with Israel emerging victorious.

JERUSALEM: the face visible yet hidden, the sap and the blood of all that makes us live or renounce life. The spark flashing in the darkness, the murmur rustling through shouts of happiness and joy. A name, a secret. For the exiled, a prayer. For all others, a promise. Jerusalem: seventeen times destroyed yet never erased. The symbol of survival. Jerusalem: the city which miraculously transforms man into pilgrim; no one can enter it and go away unchanged.

For me, it is also a little town somewhere in Transylvania lost in the Carpathians, where, captivated as much by mystery as by truth, a Jewish child studies the Talmud and is dazzled by the richness, the melancholy of its universe made up of legend.

Katriel once asked me: "Do you know Jerusalem?"
"I think so."
"The Old City too?"
"Yes, Katriel. The Old City too."
"When were you there?"
"Long, long ago."
He didn't ask me when that was, and I was grateful.

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav, the storyteller of Hasidism, liked to say that no matter where he walked, his steps turned toward Jerusalem. As for me, I discovered it in the sacred word. Without taking a single step. I saw it then, as I see it now.

Here is the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where one day the nations will be judged. The Mount of Olives, where one day death will be vanquished. The citadel, the fortress of David, with its small turrets and golden domes where suns shatter and disappear. The Gate of Mercy, heavily bolted: let anyone other than the Messiah try to pass and the earth will shake to its foundations.

And higher than the surrounding mountains of Moab and Judea, here is Mount Moriah, which since the beginning of time has lured man in quest of faith and sacrifice. It was here that he first opened his eyes and saw the world that henceforth he would share with death; it was here that, maddened by loneliness, he began speaking to his Creator and then to himself. It was here that his two sons, our forefathers, discovered that which links innocence to murder and fervor to malediction. It was here that the first believer erected an altar on which to make an offering of both his past and his future. It was here, with a building of the Temple, that man proved himself worthy of sanctifying space as God had sanctified time.

(37:26–40:26) Music
"Evocations (Whispers of the Past)" from Whispers of the Past, performed by Paul R. Cooper

(40:34) South Africa and Apartheid
Learn more about South Africa's process of "Truth and Reconciliation," a Speaking of Faith program that explores the religious implications of truth and reconciliation. Krista speaks with two people—one black, one white—who did the work of the commission in charge of it.

(44:34) Wiesel Speaks in Germany
On January 27, 2000, Wiesel spoke to the members of the Reichstag, the lower house of the German parliament. Read a New York Times report by Roger Cohen of that event.

(45:14–45:32) Music
"Dvekus" from Pintele Yid, performed by The Minnesota Klezmer Band

(47:20) Reading of Prayer
The prayer read by Wiesel during the program originally appeared in a diary and was included in the collection One Generation After.

(49:16–49:26) Music
"The 13th Petalled Rose" from Pintele Yid, performed by The Minnesota Klezmer Band

(50:55–53:12) Music
"Symphony No. 3, Opus 36" from Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 Opus 36, performed by Henryk Górecki and London Sinfonietta