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at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
Oct 24, 1991
I asked myself: since I have written so much about the cause of memory, what is its opposite? Alzheimer’s, a malediction that in the past affected individuals but that tomorrow may strike groups--and that will be the ultimate catastrophe. . . Thus reading for the third year excerpts from the novel, The Forgotten. The hero Elhanan wanted his son Malkiel to go back to his Eastern European home town. Can a son redeem his father? Can he live in his place? Can he remember in his stead? This is the theme of the book. What have we learned over 25 years? Just as God renews each day the creation of the world, it is incumbent upon us to learn its secrets every day anew. Reviewing the previous lectures, we saw the importance of Yiddish in Hasidism. There are so many Yiddish words in English that many Americans speak Yiddish without knowing it. As a funny story shows, even the American Indians speak Yiddish. The year’s events: In January, I merited going through eight missile attacks in Israel in the Gulf War. Then in August, I was sent by Mitterand as his emissary to Gorbachov. Why was the latter moved by our meeting? I then realized that Gorbachov was the loneliest man in the world. He had no friends or associates, no power, no god, i.e. communism. Nothing. And comes a Jewish man, saying, “I am thankful to you, I came to help you.” Similarly, Isaac from Aix-la-Chapelle was sent in 797 by Emperor Charlemagne; I only followed in his footsteps. I also traveled to Romania to commemorate the Iasi pogrom, and saw there resurgent antisemitism; Eastern Europe is abusing its newfound freedom. My friends and I have devoted past years organizing seminars on fanaticism, trying to find the fabric of hate in order to disarm it. What we have tried to do here in the last 25 years is first of all to inspire love for study, for our people, and for humankind. And at the same time to fight fanaticism. I hope you shall continue to study.
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