Wiesel

I'm about to enter our auditorium where, in one hour, Elie Wiesel will speak about reconciliation to a room full of Gentiles (some Christian, some not) and Jews. I am looking forward to this more than Michael Jordan's last game against the Pistons (as a Bull) in 1998.

Here are some of my favorite lines from Messengers of God:

"In the face of injustice, one may not look the other way. When someone suffers, and it is not you, he comes first . . . to watch over a man who grieves is a more urgent duty than to think of God," (57).

"According to Jewish tradition, creation did not end with man, it began with him. When He created man, God gave him a secret--and that secret was not how to begin but how to begin again," (32).

"Leaving the calm of the desert, Moses plunged into the whirlpool of history," (190). And, commenting on God's decision not to let Moses enter the promised land, "Who knows? Perhaps God's decision not to let him enter the promised land was meant as a reward rather than as punishment," (199).

UPDATE: Wiesel was fantastic. I'm absolutely speechless. If I find the words, I'll write more later.