Featured Events at 92NY

Annie Proulx with Michael Cunningham: <em>Stories</em>

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November 10 | 7:30 PM

Annie Proulx with Michael Cunningham: Stories

Sandbox Percussion: <em>Seven Pillars</em>

In Person

November 07 | 7:30 PM

Sandbox Percussion: Seven Pillars

America’s Liberal Reckoning — Fareed Zakaria and Patrick Deneen: A Munk Debate at 92NY

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November 12 | 7:00 PM

America’s Liberal Reckoning — Fareed Zakaria and Patrick Deneen: A Munk Debate at 92NY

Featured Classes at 92NY

In Person

November 16 | 7:30 PM

Boxing for Adults All Levels

Super Fast Beaded Jewelry for Holiday Gifts

In Person

November 07 | 10:00 AM

Super Fast Beaded Jewelry for Holiday Gifts

In Person

November 15 | 9:30 AM

Creative Crafts for Families

About 92NY
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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 92NY Center for Culture & Arts, a historic cornerstone of New York’s cultural landscape, continues to define the city’s creative pulse. With its unmatched talks, world-class concerts, innovative dance, literary events, and dynamic arts education, it remains a vital force in global culture.

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In a world where community is more essential than ever, The 92nd Street Y has made it the cornerstone of its mission for 150 years. Today, our community stretches beyond borders, connecting individuals from every corner of the globe. We embrace people of all faiths, backgrounds, and beliefs, creating a vibrant, inclusive space where generations come together and bonds are formed.

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Featured Events Today at 92NY

Streaming

November 10 | 7:30 PM

Annie Proulx with Michael Cunningham: Stories

In Person

November 07 | 7:30 PM

Sandbox Percussion: Seven Pillars

In Person

November 12 | 7:00 PM

America’s Liberal Reckoning — Fareed Zakaria and Patrick Deneen: A Munk Debate at 92NY

The Elie Wiesel Living Archive

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

Home Elie Wiesel Living Archive

Darkness

The Book of Kohelet, the escalation of darkness, and lighting the very dense darkness within

Dec 07, 1999

In addressing Darkness, Professor Wiesel refers to the one Jewish book of extraordinary darkness: Kohelet. He explains why he has always searched Koheleth for his memoirs and why Koheleth speaks directly to the 20th Century experience, “our century”, “the century of Auschwitz.” Reflecting upon his own experience as an escalation of darkness, Professor Wiesel pinpoints the darkest moment in his life as the death of his father. Professor Wiesel teaches us that memory or even a “transfusion of memory” gives us direction not only for the past but for the future.

Download the transcript

Selected Quotes:

“

Hanukkah therefore means to look for light, in the temple when it was possible--and in ourselves, especially when the area of darkness is so dense in our very being. (00:01:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

And yet, and yet, it is given to us to aspire to what is noble in the human being and justify God’s faith in his creation. (00:07:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

The magnitude of the catastrophe, its ultimate absurdity, the silence of the world, responsibility of the accomplices, the very fact that it happened, that it could have been avoided, all these elements make it into a mystery, almost a metaphysical one, which implies all our endeavors and limits all our aspirations, including our attempt at describing them. (00:17:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

And if you remember, as we are trying to do, then there is hope that one day, thanks to our ability to remember, a better world will emerge, a world in which children will be happy. (00:24:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

We don’t live in the past, but the past lives in us. (00:38:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

And I say we must attempt desperately to find hope and to offer it, to share it and create joy where there is none. (00:38:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

What was the Holocaust, an end or a beginning, prefiguration or culmination? Was it a final convulsion of demonic forces in history, a paroxysm of centuries old bigotry and hatred, or on the contrary, a momentous warning of things to come? (00:48:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

To defeat injustice and misfortune, if only for one instant, for a single victim is to invent a new reason to hope. (00:50:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

The Jew in me is waiting for redemption. (00:54:00)

Elie Wiesel

“

Indeed I had dreamed of singing of memory and friendship in a world that sadly needed both. (00:59:00)

Elie Wiesel

Subthemes:

1) The Story of Hanukkah
2) Darkness and Joy in Jewish Life
3) Ecclesiastes
4) God’s Responsibilities to Humans
5) End of the Twentieth Century
6) Review of the Twentieth Century
7) King Solomon’s Biblical Books
8) Importance of Keeping Memories Alive
9) Darkness of the Holocaust
10) Persecution of the Jews
11) Holocaust Perpetrators and Forgiveness
12) Silence During the Holocaust
13) Babi Yar
14) The Impossibility of Understanding the Holocaust
15) The Death of Wiesel’s Father and Wiesel’s Guilt
16) Resilience and Strength of Holocaust Victims

Explore The Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) on Sefaria, a living library of Torah.

Names:

Antiochus Epiphanes Haman Esther Mordecai Ahasueros Besht Solomon Mendel of Kotsk Maimonides Nachmanides Rashi Rabbeinu Tam Ari Hakadosh Gaon of Vilna Mormos T.S.Eliot Giordano Bruno Jerome Linden Paul Valery Kierkegaard Rabbi Nachman of Breslov Maggid of Mezeritch Moshe Leib of Sassov Rabbi Israel of Riszhin

Key Words:

Darkness Hanukkah Talmud Shabbat Zohar Ecclesiastes Job Maccabees Purim Torah Hodaya (Gratitude) Song of Songs Proverbs Hasidism Crusades Inquisition Shechina And the World Was Silent All the Rivers Run to the Sea Bible First World War Holocaust Imagining the Holocaust The Jews of Silence Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur The Forgotten Birkenau One Generation After

Categories:

Moral and Spiritual Reflections

Tags:

Elie Wiesel