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The 92nd Street Y, New York is a world-class cultural and community center where people all over the world connect through culture, arts, entertainment and conversation. For over 150 years, we have harnessed the power of arts and ideas to enrich, enlighten and change lives, and the power of community to repair the world.
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    The Elie Wiesel Living Archive

    at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity

    In the Bible: The Solitude of Moses

    Transforming Loneliness and Solitude into Creativity and Responsibility

    Oct 19, 1995

    Professor Wiesel identifies loneliness as the oldest tragic human condition. Of all the lonely characters in the Bible, stretching from Adam to Job, Professor Wiesel considers Moses the loneliest. Drawing upon every stage of his life, alone on the River Nile, in Pharaoh's palace, in the land of Midian, in the desert and on Mt. Nebo, Professor Wiesel teaches us that being a leader means transforming solitude into creativity, responsibility and greatness and that/thus the Torah helps to alleviate our solitude.

    Download the transcript

    Selected Quotes:
    “
    The humanity of a human being is measured by his or her relationship to other human beings. (00:02:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    The tragedy of man is that in essential matters, man is condemned to be alone. (00:05:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    When one is a victim of injustice, when one is a victim, it’s always solitude that follows. (00:06:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Naturally, a true leader cannot function without those whom he leads. By the same token, he cannot work, he cannot live in their midst as one of them. (00:07:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Study is what envelopes human existence and allows it to be penetrated by beauty. (00:11:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    The more you study a biblical text, the more inviting it becomes. Each time you are convinced that your exploration can go no deeper, and each time you realize that you have hardly scratched the surface. (00:11:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    In other words, were it not for Moses there would have been no Jewish people. In other words, were it not for Jochebed, there would be no Moses, and no Jewish people. (00:24:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    The loneliest and most insulted man in the Bible, Moses has problems either with God, who is too harsh with his people, or with his people, who too often rebel against God. (00:51:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Moses never failed to reprimand his people for its sins, but never failed to intercede on his behalf when condemned by God. (00:53:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    The humanity of a human being is measured by his or her relationship to other human beings. (00:02:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    The tragedy of man is that in essential matters, man is condemned to be alone. (00:05:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    When one is a victim of injustice, when one is a victim, it’s always solitude that follows. (00:06:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Naturally, a true leader cannot function without those whom he leads. By the same token, he cannot work, he cannot live in their midst as one of them. (00:07:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Study is what envelopes human existence and allows it to be penetrated by beauty. (00:11:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    The more you study a biblical text, the more inviting it becomes. Each time you are convinced that your exploration can go no deeper, and each time you realize that you have hardly scratched the surface. (00:11:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    In other words, were it not for Moses there would have been no Jewish people. In other words, were it not for Jochebed, there would be no Moses, and no Jewish people. (00:24:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    The loneliest and most insulted man in the Bible, Moses has problems either with God, who is too harsh with his people, or with his people, who too often rebel against God. (00:51:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Moses never failed to reprimand his people for its sins, but never failed to intercede on his behalf when condemned by God. (00:53:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    He [Moses] did not seek the role of political or military leader, but once he took it on he was the best. (00:54:30)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    What I most like about him [Moses] is his attitude towards the young. (00:54:54)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    That human beings are incapable of answering the essential questions of their existence is something I can live with, but why does God, kavyakhol, who knows all the answers, keep them to himself? (00:58:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    After all, we have learned from history that people are united by questions; it is the answers that divide them. (00:58:00)'That human beings are incapable of answering the essential questions of their existence is something I can live with, but why does God, kavyakhol, who knows all the answers, keep them to himself? (00:58:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    After all, we have learned from history that people are united by questions; it is the answers that divide them. (00:58:00)
    Elie Wiesel
    Subthemes:
    1) The Solitude of Adam and the Patriarchs
    2) The Value of Ongoing Torah Study
    3) Moses, the Solitary Leader
    4) Moses: Egyptian or Jew?
    5) In the Midrash: The Unpopularity of Moses Among the People
    6) The Death of Moses
    7) The Complaints of the Israelites in the Desert
    8) The Tensions Between Moses and God in the Desert
    9) Solitude vs. Isolation
    10) Chronology of Moses’ Life
    11) Moses in Egypt
    12) Moses in Midian
    13) Moses in the Desert
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