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Elie Wiesel Remembered as Conscience of Holocaust at UES Shul

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Legendary author and human rights activist Elie Wiesel was honored by numerous groups for his human rights activism.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel – who gained worldwide fame for his books about his experiences during the Holocaust and steadfast activism for peace and social justice – was poignantly memorialized on Sunday at a private service in Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue Synagogue, where he regularly attended Shabbos services. Wiesel died in his Manhattan home on Saturday at age 87.

Former Anti-Defamation League head Abraham Foxman paid tribute to Wiesel, a close friend for decades. “He carried a message universally, he carried the Jewish pain, the message of Jewish tragedy to the world but he took it way beyond,” declared Foxman. “He stood up for the people in Rwanda, he stood up for the Yugoslavians, he stood up for the Cambodians.”

The long-time Jewish leader reminisced about a number of discussions he recently had with Wiesel. “We talked about forgiveness. We talked about God. He was struggling with it,” Foxman said, according to the New York Post. “Well, now he’s a little closer. Now he can challenge the Almighty much closer, and maybe he’ll get some answers, which he asked but never got the answers to.”

In the same vein, the Daily News reported that Rabbi Sol Roth, spiritual leader of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, told the approximately 150 family members and friends attending the funeral, “He had questions with regard to theology. And why not? A man who lived through the Holocaust would naturally have questions.”

However, in a reference to Wiesel’s regular attendance of the synagogue’s weekly Shabbos and Yom Tov services, Rabbi Roth added, “But never, at no time, did he have any doubts about his devotion to Jewish life. He loved the synagogue. If he was in town, he was in shul, sitting right behind me.” The rabbi added, “I would listen to him pray. It was a remarkable experience.”

Summarizing the impact of Wiesel’s career as an author, ex-ADL leader Foxman stated, “Elie wrote 40 books, 50 books, the books will remain. That message will continue.”

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, recounted a visit to Auschwitz with Wiesel in the 1980s. “He said to me what I think was one of the most important statements: ‘The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference, it was indifference that brought anti-Semitism to Germany and it was indifference that brought the Holocaust,’” Lauder quoted.

Elie Wiesel was the author of 57 books, written mostly in French and English. His most famous work was “Night,” which described his harrowing internment as a teenager in the infamous Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. “Night” is generally regarded as the first book to vividly bring the experience of the Holocaust to the world. A professor of the humanities at Boston University, Wiesel was a founding member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. He was described as “the most important Jew in America” by the Los Angeles Times.

In 1986, the outspoken advocate for human rights was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for being a “messenger to mankind” who stood out with his “practical work in the cause of peace.” The Norwegian Nobel Committee described him as “one of the most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression and racism continue to characterize the world.”

Over the years, Wiesel received numerous honors for his activism, including the Congressional Gold Medal in 1985, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and The International Center in New York’s Award of Excellence.

Married to Marion Erster Rose since 1969, Wiesel had one son, Shlomo Elisha, who was named after Wiesel’s father, who perished in the Holocaust. In a moving, tear-filled speech at the funeral, the junior Wiesel recounted, “Like Moses, my father did not want to die,” the Daily News reported. “He wanted to walk farther with all of us into the new century. But he took comfort in knowing a new generation would move forward his work.”

Shlomo Elisha Wiesel further remarked that, as his father’s health declined in recent weeks, Wiesel was pleasantly anticipating a heavenly reunion with his family members who were killed during the war. “I asked him to take a message to his parents,” the mourning son recalled. “That he succeeded. that we live. That we love.”

Following the funeral service, Wiesel’s casket was loaded into a hearse. The cantor of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, Joseph Malovany, took a moment to kiss the casket before it was taken for burial at the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, Westchester County.

A public memorial is being planned, according to the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.

Boruch Shubert

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