All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs (69 page)
Read All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs Online
Authors: Elie Wiesel
In the United States the Democratic Party fell victim to the student rioting. Hubert Humphrey lost the election, fulfilling Richard Nixon’s dream of living in the White House. A star appeared in the international political firmament: Henry Kissinger, a refugee from Germany and a respected political scientist from Harvard. I shall write more about this soon.
On April 2, 1969, in the Old City of Jerusalem, an ancient synagogue, the Ramban, that had been destroyed by Jordan in 1948, was opened for a wedding. Officiating was Saul Lieberman, who insisted that a local rabbi also be present. (After all, rabbis have to make a living too.) Time was of the essence, for it was the eve of Passover, and guests would have to hurry home to prepare for the holiday.
Bea and Hilda were there with their families. There were a few cousins, many friends. The groom’s mind wandered, seeking others who were absent. For this was a day he had in some ways dreaded, and now he feared being unable to contain his emotions. He should have been happy at the thought that his parents would have approved of his getting married. But he wasn’t happy.
As Lieberman recited the seven customary prayers blessing the couple, the groom, overwhelmed by sadness, saw neither his two older sisters, nor his nephews, nor his cousins, nor even his wife-to-be. He saw himself, as a child and then as an adolescent, at home, far away. He saw his father, his head slightly bent, and his mother, biting her lip. The night before, he thought that he must go and invite them to the wedding. Custom dictates that before his wedding an orphan go to meditate at the grave of his parents, respectfully requesting the honor of their presence. But this groom’s parents, like millions of others, had no grave of their own. All Creation was their cemetery.
The people shouted
mazel tov
, wishing the newlyweds joy, happiness, and peace, showering them with all the good wishes in the lexicon of the living. People shook hands and kissed. Cousin Eli Hollander wanted to sing a wedding song, but the groom dissuaded him. Jubilation might offend those who weren’t there.
Back in New York the Shabbat before—known as
Shabbat Hagadol
, or the Great Shabbat—an
aufruf
had been improvised in his honor at the small Hasidic
shtibel
he attended with his friend Heschel. In the congregation there were many survivors of the ghettos of Warsaw and Lodz, and of Treblinka.
Heschel had organized it all with Reb Leibel Cywiak. When the groom was called to the Torah to recite the appropriate blessings, almonds, raisins, and candy began raining down upon him.
After the service there was a Kiddush where wine, liqueurs, and cakes were served. Seated at the table, Reb Leibel and Heschel followed tradition by praising the groom. Joyous tunes were sung. There was dancing, frenetic Hasidic dancing of great fervor.
And the groom could no longer hold back his tears. He who since his liberation had always managed to control himself let go. The more his friends urged him to sing, to dance, the more he sobbed. The Hasidim pretended not to notice.
On the wedding day, in accordance with rabbinical law, two witnesses accompanied the newlyweds to the door of their room, on the
sixth floor of the King David Hotel. The window overlooking the Old City was open.
Of what does a man dream when he is forty years old and has made the decision, consecrated by the Law of Moses, to make a home with the woman he loves?
He sees himself as a child, clinging to his mother. She murmurs something. Was it something about the Messiah? He feels like telling her, “You died, and He didn’t come. And even if he does, it will be too late.” He walks with his father to Shabbat services, and suddenly finds himself in the ranks of a procession toward death. He wishes he could reassure his father, console him: “Don’t worry, your son will try to be a good Jew.” But he says nothing. He soundlessly calls to a gravely smiling, beautiful little girl and caresses her golden hair. His thoughts scale mountains and hurtle down steep pathways, wander through invisible cemeteries, both seeking and fleeing solitude and receiving stories already told and those he has yet to tell.
Aggadah
Traditional Jewish literature, especially commentaries, aphorisms, legends of the Talmud
ahavat Israel
Love for, attachment to, the Jewish people
aliyah
“Ascent” to Jerusalem; by extension, immigration of Jews to Israel
Amidah
The major daily prayer
bar mitzvah
The ceremony marking the assumption of adult religious responsibilities, at age thirteen
Beit Hamidrash (or Beit Midrash)
A House of Study and Prayer
Betar
An organization of Jewish Zionist youth
Bund
The European Jewish socialist movement preaching development of Jewish communities in their countries of exile
Eretz Israel
The land of Israel
Haganah
A Jewish paramilitary self-defense organization in Palestine
Halachah
The body of rabbinical Law
Hasid (pl.: Hasidim)
Literally, “pious man.” A disciple of the movement founded by the Baal Shem Tov and influenced by the Kabala
havdalah
The separation ceremony marking the end of Shabbat
heder
A religious elementary school; Hebrew school
Irgun
A Jewish nationalist organization fighting against the British occupation in Palestine
Kabala
The study (or practice) of Jewish mystical sciences
Kaddish
The prayer for the dead
kavanah
Concentration of the mind on prayer or other religious acts
kiddush
The evening prayer before meals on Shabbat or holidays
kipa
The skullcap, or yarmulka, worn by Jewish males
kosher
Ritually pure, in accordance with the dietary laws
Kol Nidre
The prayer opening the Yom Kippur evening service
Lehi
An underground Jewish organization opposed to the British presence in Palestine; also known as the Stern Gang
Maariv
The evening service
maggid
A preacher
Makhzor
The prayer book for Jewish holidays
Mapai
The Labor Party in Israel
melamed
A teacher who gives elementary religious instruction
Midrash
Commentary and exegesis on the Scriptures
Minha
The afternoon service
minyan
The quorum of ten men required for a communal religious service
Mishna
The collection of rabbinical laws and decisions
mitzvah
A divine commandment
Musaf
The additional service following the main morning service on the Shabbat and holidays
Musar
A movement founded in Lithuania to foster the teaching of traditional Jewish values and ethics
niggun
A song or melody
Nyilas
The Hungarian anti-Semitic, fascist party
Palmach
The elite Haganah troops recruited from kibbutzim
Pesach
Passover, the Jewish holiday celebrating the Exodus from Egypt
phylacteries
See tefillin
Purim
The holiday (marked by games, exchanges of gifts, and skits) commemorating the victory of Persian Jews over their enemy Haman
Reb
A title of respect accorded any man versed in study
Rebbe
The title accorded a Hasidic master
Rosh Hashana
The Jewish New Year
rosh yeshiva
The director of a rabbinical academy
Shavuot
The holiday commemorating the revelation of the Law on Mount Sinai
Shekina
The presence of God among His people
Shma
The fundamental Jewish prayer, Shma Israel: Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One
shofar
A trumpet made of a ram’s horn used on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
shtetl
A Jewish village in Eastern Europe
shtibel
A Hasidic place of prayer
shtreimel
A wide-brimmed fur hat traditionally worn by Hasidim
sidra
A passage of the Bible read at synagogue on Shabbat
siddur
Prayer book
talit
Ritual prayer shawl
Talmud
The collection of rabbinical teachings and commentaries
tefillin
Phylacteries—two small leather boxes containing four excerpts from the Bible, one strapped to the left forearm and one to the forehead during weekday morning prayers
Tetragrammaton
The four-letter representation of the ineffable name of God
Tisha b’Av
A day of fasting in memory of the destruction of the Temple
Torah
The body of Mosaic Laws given in the Pentateuch and by extension in the whole Bible
Tsahal
The Israeli army
tzaddik
One of the Righteous, who seeks social, moral, and religious perfection
yeshiva
A Talmudic school
Yishuv
The Jewish community in Palestine before the establishment of the state of Israel
Yizkor
The service in memory of the dead
zemirot
The canticles sung during Shabbat meals
Zohar
The Book of Splendor, which is the major work of the Kabala, esoteric commentary on the Pentateuch
Elie Wiesel is the author of more than forty books, including his unforgettable international best-sellers
Night
and
A Beggar in Jerusalem,
winner of the Prix Médias. He has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States Congressional Gold Medal, and the French Legion of Honor with the rank of Grand Officer. In 1986, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. He is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and University Professor at Boston University
.
Books by
ELIE WIESEL
ALL RIVERS RUN TO THE SEA
This first volume of Wiesel’s memoirs recalls in intimate detail the experiences that shaped his life—from the small Carpathian village where he was born to the horrors of Auschwitz and Buchenwald to his discovery of his calling as a writer and “Messenger to Mankind.”
0-8052-1028-8 Schocken
AND THE SEA IS NEVER FULL
The concluding volume of Wiesel’s memoirs opens in 1969 as the author sets himself a challenge: “I will become militant. I will teach, share, bear witness. I will reveal and try to mitigate the victim’s solitude.” He makes words his weapons, and in these pages we watch as he meets with world leaders, returns to Auschwitz, and travels to regions ruled by war, dictatorship, and racism in order to engage the most pressing issues of our day.
0-679-43917-X Knopf
A BEGGAR IN JERUSALEM
In the days following the Six-Day War, a Holocaust survivor visits the reunited city of Jerusalem. At the Western Wall he encounters the beggars and madmen who congregate there every evening, and who force him to confront the ghosts of his past and his ties to the present.
0-8052-1052-0 Schocken
THE FIFTH SON
When the son of a Holocaust prisoner discovers his brooding father has been haunted by his role in a murder of a brutal S.S. officer just after the war, the son also discovers that the Nazi is still alive. What begins as a quest for his father’s love becomes a reenactment of the past, as the son sets out to complete his father’s act of revenge.
0-8052-1083-0 Schocken
THE FORGOTTEN
A distinguished psychotherapist and Holocaust survivor is losing his memory to an incurable disease. Never having spoken of the war years before, he resolves to tell his son about his past—the heroic parts as well as the parts that fill him with shame—before it is too late.
0-8052-1019-9 Schocken
FROM THE KINGDOM OF MEMORY
The essays and speeches collected here include reminiscences of Wiesel’s life before the Holocaust and his struggle to find meaning afterward, his impassioned testimony at the Klaus Barbie trial, his plea to President Reagan not to visit a German S.S. cemetery, and his speech in acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize.
0-8052-1020-2 Schocken
THE GATES OF THE FOREST
A young Jew hiding from the Nazis in the forests and small towns of Eastern Europe allows another refugee to sacrifice himself in his stead. As he struggles with his guilt, one question recurs: How to live in a world that God has abandoned?
0-8052-1044-X Schocken
A JEW TODAY
In this powerful collection of essays, letters, and diary entries, Wiesel probes such central moral and political issues as Zionism and the Middle East conflict, anti-Semitism in the former U.S.S.R., the obligations of American Jews toward Israel, and the media’s treatment of the Holocaust.
0-394-74057-2 Vintage
THE TESTAMENT
On August 12, 1952, Russia’s greatest Jewish writers were secretly executed by Stalin. In this novel, poet Paltiel Kossover meets the same fate but, unlike his historical counterparts, he is permitted to leave behind a written testament. Two decades later, Paltiel’s son reads this precious record and finds that it illuminates the shadowed planes of his own life.
0-8052-1115-2 Schocken
THE TOWN BEYOND THE WALL
Based on Wiesel’s own life, this is the story of a young Holocaust survivor who returns to his hometown after the liberation, seeking to understand the mystery of what he calls “the face in the window”—the symbol of all those who just stood by and watched as innocent men, women, and children were led to the slaughter.
0-8052-1045-8 Schocken
THE TRIAL OF GOD
When three itinerant actors arrive in a small Eastern European village to perform a Purim play for the Jewish community, they are horrified to discover that all but two of the Jewish residents have been murdered in a recent pogrom. The actors decide to stage a mock trial of God, indicting Him for allowing such things to happen to His children.
0-8052-1053-9 Schocken
TWILIGHT
The story of a man whose search for a friend who saved him during the Holocaust leads him to question the very meaning of survival, this novel of memory, loss, and madness resonates with the dramatic upheavals of our century.
0-8052-1058-X Schocken