Elie Wiesel and Faith
Here s a shocking quote from Elie Wiesel s book, Night, that MUST be heard:
In the beginning there was faith which is childish; trust which is vain; and illusion which is dangerous
We believed in God, trusted in man, and lived with the illusion that every one of us has been entrusted with a sacred spark from the Shekkinah s flame; that every one of us carries in his eyes and in his soul a reflection of God s image.
THAT was the source if not the cause of all our ordeals (pp. x f.).
At the end of the book, he includes his Nobel Prize acceptance speech from December 10, 1986. In it he says:
I have faith. Faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and even in His creation. Without it no action would be possible (p. 120).
Here s a man who suffered at the hands of extreme violence. He explores the causes. He discerns the solution. May we have such courage! For only then can we do right action.