In a world of despair, create hope, advises Elie Wiesel at Bailey

Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel speaks to the audience in a packed Bailey Hall Nov. 4. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

By Linda Myers

Elie Wiesel believes that we can end conflicts like the most recent one in Kosovo if we encourage the opposing sides to "build relationships that will bring [their] children together to stop the vicious, bloody cycle of hatred."

Projecting wisdom, humility and humor tinged with sadness, Wiesel charmed his audience utterly with his empathetic presence from the moment he appeared on Bailey Hall's stage. His Nov. 4 talk was sold out, and left crowds clustered on the concert hall entrance steps vying for tickets.

Expressing his own desire for an end to such conflicts as the one in Kosovo in the coming millennium, Wiesel declared: "In a world of despair, we must create hope." He noted that his words paraphrased those of French philosopher and writer Albert Camus: "In a world of unhappiness we must create happiness."

Wiesel, a chaired professor in Boston University's religion and philosophy department, is perhaps best known as the author of Night. The book, about a boy who, like Wiesel himself, survived the Nazi death camps, was first published in the 1960s. Since that time, Wiesel has achieved near-iconic status as an ethicist who speaks out against intolerance and indifference to human suffering around the globe. World leaders call him for advice, and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

But despite the publication of the Night trilogy and other books, Wiesel maintains that he avoids writing directly about the Nazi Holocaust because "there are no words" to express the horror, and he fears that his further attempts will turn it into "something profane." Instead, he said, he approaches the persistence of human hatred through Biblical texts, in particular the Talmud, which includes commentary by Jewish sages from ancient times to about the fifth century.

During his talk Wiesel drew parallels between the recent ethnic conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo and the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, whose lesson, he said, is: "Whoever kills, kills his brother." In the Balkans, "most of the murders were committed by neighbors and friends," Wiesel noted. During the conflicts, Wiesel traveled to refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania. "We went from tent to tent, camp to camp," he said. He was discouraged to hear that those whose families had been tortured, raped and murdered intended to avenge such acts immediately upon their return. "Cain and Abel," Wiesel said, sadly.

He also saw relevance in the Biblical story of Joseph, retelling it as a lesson in the dangers of indifference. Wiesel reminded the audience that Joseph's brothers cast him into a pit filled with snakes and scorpions, then proceeded to eat a meal, oblivious to his fear, panic and cries for help.

"The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference," said Wiesel. He called indifference "not a sin but a punishment. When we're indifferent to the pain of others, we're indifferent to our own pain."

He also said he still believes in the existence of God despite his subhuman treatment in Nazi death camps. "I may question God, argue and debate with him, but what saved my family [in the camps] is study [of the Talmud]." He related that in the camps his father managed to acquire a single pair of tefillin -- phylactories traditionally wrapped around arms and forehead during Jewish daily prayer -- and that hundreds of fellow prisoners lined up to use them each morning. "How could we say those words there, 'How happy, how joyous'? But we said them."

Acknowledging some of the horrors that have characterized the past hundred years, Wiesel commented: "It seems as if history is running" as fast as it can "to purge itself of the terrible tragedies of this century -- two totalitarian ideologies, Nazism and Communism, two world wars, how many civil wars and world calamities? Hardly is one tragedy ended when another begins -- Sarajevo, East Timor."

Wiesel also mentioned that the day of his talk marked the anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, who was gunned down by a fanatical opponent at a peace rally in Jerusalem in 1995. Fanatics are people whose egos are so enlarged that they believe only they have God's ear, said Wiesel. "I believe that fanaticism is the great danger in the world today," he added.

"There is hope for the next century, but it all depends on us," counseled Wiesel. "Your generation is privileged," he told the students in the audience. "You are the bridge between two centuries. You bring into the next century our hopes, our dreams, our pain, our joy. It's up to you to do something with that legacy. If you use it to create hatred, you will have failed. But I believe that your generation will be a better one." Recalling his earlier words, Wiesel ended by stating, "In a world of despair, you must create hope. And I think you can and I think you will!" He drew a standing ovation.

Wiesel was introduced by Vicki Caron, the Diann G. and Thomas A. Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies and professor of history at Cornell. Wiesel's talk was sponsored by the Cornell University Program Board. Past program board speakers have included feminist leader Gloria Steinem, former South African President F.W. de Klerk and former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.