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at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
May 16, 2012
Speaking about the Akedah for the fourth time, Professor Wiesel acknowledges that this biblical episode fascinates and hounds him more than any other and that each time he returns to it, he grows closer to Isaac. Professor Wiesel professes his love for Isaac (eleven times) in a conscious echo of the Biblical text wherein God requires Abraham to take his son, “the one you love.” Professor Wiesel explains that his love is due to Isaac suffering so much and so unjustly and being used by the Almighty in a situation in which he was not personally involved. Isaac remains in our collective memory as “our first survivor” and Jewish history can be seen as “a series of sequels” to Mount Moriah. We are an Akedah Volk, the people of the Akedah. Professor Wiesel asks whether he loves Isaac because the Akedah transcends centuries and frontiers on many levels and answers that he loves him because of what Isaac does with his memories. Rather than living a life of solitary sadness, he married, raised a family and composed prayers for future generations.
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