Talmud this Shabbat: In a World Gone Mad, Wisdom From Elie Wiesel

A prophet every inch the stature of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel lived in Boston, a few miles from Temple Emanuel. He built and rebuilt. He loved. He taught. He role modeled. He wrote books. He won a Nobel Prize. He died.

What happened in those classrooms? What wisdom did Elie Wiesel impart that might help us today?

The prophet Jeremiah had Baruch Ben Neriah, a scribe who recorded and preserved for posterity the prophet’s teachings. Elie Wiesel had Ariel Burger, a student and disciple, who has just published a book called Witness which won the Jewish book award. This is a beautiful book that we need now.

Elie Wiesel’s frame is that the world has gone mad. His question is how can we be of the world and not go mad along with it?

Tomorrow morning we will encounter three Hasidic parables that Wiesel taught in his classroom that challenge us to be of this world, without surrendering to its despairs, and ever working on making it a little better.

See you tomorrow at 8:30.

Shabbat shalom,
Wes