Readings and Memories

Knowing the Tales and Reading Them Aloud

Oct 30, 1997

In his only appearance at 92Y in 1997, Professor Wiesel veers away from giving a traditional lecture on a biblical, Talmudic or Hasidic theme in favor of “une causerie,” a soliloquy or meditation on a variety of subjects. He reads passages from two of his novels, Dawn and The Testament, accompanied by some study and commentaries. The first passage describes the last night of an English officer in Palestine and the second the last night of a Jewish poet in the Soviet Union. Professor Wiesel teaches us that most of his novels are tales but that the reverse is not necessarily true; that the novels are his but the tales are not.

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Subthemes:
1) A Favorite Hasidic Story: The Baal Shem Tov Dealing with Misfortune
2) Storytelling: An Introduction to the Evening
3) Preliminary Remarks: Ending Before One Needs To
4) Reading an excerpt from the novel, Dawn
5) Pre-Israel and the Underground
6) Methods from the War of ‘48
7) Current Global Issues
8) Fanaticism and Terrorism
9) Infighting Within the Jewish World (Sinat Chinam)
10) Morality as Essential to the Jewish People
11) Fighting Fanaticism Through Education
12) A Story of Samizdat translations of Night in Russia
13) A Story of The Testament of a Slain Jewish Poet
14) Excerpt from The Testament
15) A Story of Betrayed Friendship from the Second Volume of Memoirs
16) Chiddushim with Humor
17) Have Jews Always Been in Distress?
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