Fun
Elie Wiesel on Evil, Forgiveness, and Prayer
Dear Ann,
We could just do episodes of the On Being podcast every week for Knit to This, and that would be fine by me. Krista Tippett’s conversations have a way of disarming me and leading me to explore thoughts I usually bar at the doorstep of my well-guarded heart.
The Jewish High Holidays are coming up very soon, with Rosh Hashanah beginning next Friday evening, and Yom Kippur following on September 28. The theme every year is the same, and every year is new: forgiveness. We need to give it, we need to get it. Without giving and receiving forgiveness, we get all twisted up inside. It’s less about repentance, more about returning to ourselves.
In preparation for the holidays, I received an excerpt from Krista Tippett’s 2006 interview with Elie Wiesel, author of the Holocaust memoir Night. Wiesel died in 2016.
It’s a few minutes that stopped me in my tracks. In fact I did not knit to it. But it made me want to re-read, or re-listen, to Night. Elie Wiesel’s reflections on faith and forgiveness are so resonant in these troubled, polarized times. We do not want to talk to each other, yet we need to talk to each other. We need a way to return to the longing for justice and peace deep in our hearts. A longer version of the interview is available here.
L’shana tova to all who celebrate the Jewish new year.
Love,
Kay
Note: The public reading of Night starts at the 11:30 mark of the video up top.
Thank you. I read Night many years ago, but hearing it in so many voices was powerful. Peace.
Thank you so much for sharing this. It feels like a beautiful gift in these frightening times.
Wow. Thank you for sharing and L’shanah tovah.
Thank you for this.
L’Shanah Tovah to you and all you hold dear.
Marcy
G’mar hatimah tovah.
I love Elie Wiesel, a hero of remembrance and forgiveness. He had slipped from my recent memory. Thanks for the reminder. I never thought in knitting terms, but maybe they fit into mindful making. As we make beautiful fabrics. I hope we knit in all our strands- seek and give forgiveness, recognize aspirations of all, realize where our loose ends are as we weave them in.
Our celebrations of holidays- Jewish or otherwise – will be odd this year, but I wish everyone Peace and Love.
Thank you for sharing this.
שנה תובה to you and yours for a sweet (and healthy) year.
I had the privilege of hearing Weisel speak twice, his voice must live on.
Thank you for this, Kay. L’shana tova to you and yours. May your year be filled with health and sweetness.
L’shana tovah. May this year bring peace and health to our world.
Shana tova. Thank you for all you bring to us.
On Being is one of my favorite podcasts! Thank you for sharing.