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at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
Dec 14, 1967
In the fourth lecture of the fall series, Professor Wiesel begins by saying tonight we are only going to tell tales, which also means to tell legends (“when the past lives in the present”). The tales range from the Soviet Union (Isaac Babel’s pleading with the Chernobler Rebbe to give me fervor) to America (Golda Meir’s pleading with Kennedy to give Israel missiles—so Jews everywhere can dream). But ultimately the spoken and written word “is more important than missiles” “especially if it is conceived in fervor.” Professor Wiesel revisits the lectures on Job, Kotsk, and Breslov and the noble “conspiracy of silence” they share. Hasidism feels the continuity of legends most deeply, including the Lubavitcher Rebbe blessing “both of us” with a “new beginning.” Professor Wiesel concludes with, “as a child I heard a storyteller telling many tales. . . . And my looking for his tales is what he left me.”
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