A Tribute to Elie Weisel, a great humanitarian

Elie Weisel has just passed away, may his soul rest in peace. I have been watching his picture in the wagon for many years and we had highlighted the picture in our programs at Holocaust and Genocides for nearly a decade.

I am pleased to share the tributes written by ADL and Parliament of World Religions.

Mike Ghouse
HolocaustandGenocides.com 

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Elie Wiesel stirred the world with the necessity of madness

Courtesy : https://cruxnow.com/obituary/2016/07/03/wiesel/?mc_cid=bce73da150&mc_eid=d97a8b6779

Elie Wiesel stirred the world with the necessity of madness

Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, died July 2 at the age of 87.

For Elie Wiesel, who died July 2 at 87 years old, madness was not insanity. It was rather the willingness, often in the face of incredible odds, to stand up for human dignity no matter what one's national identity, racial heritage or sexual orientation might be.

 

My first encounters with Elie Wiesel came during several early conferences on the Holocaust where he was a plenary speaker.  I was amazed at the way he could silence a large ballroom with his message. It clearly had profound intellectual content, but most of all, it spoke to the heart.

Without the latter, the passionate commitment to remembrance and continuing human dignity that were the hallmark of Wiesel’s contribution to contemporary global society likely would have fallen on deaf years.

My encounters with Wiesel took on much greater depth when he graciously included me in the original membership of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which was charged by President Jimmy Carter, with the unanimous consent of Congress, to erect a suitable memorial to the victims of the Nazi genocide in the nation’s capital.

This presidential appointment allowed me to participate in one of the most meaningful events of my life, as I worked with Elie and many other committed Jews and non-Jews in transforming Carter’s mandate into concrete reality.

During the years of work with Wiesel on the design and construction of the museum, I gained many insights from him as he worked through the often difficult process of deciding on what should be and not be included in a memorial museum located on some of the most sacred space in Washington.

Many of those insights have remained ingrained in my consciousness to this day.

On occasion, Wiesel would speak of the necessity of madness. For him, madness was not insanity.  It was rather the willingness, often in the face of incredible odds, to stand up for human dignity no matter what one’s national identity, racial heritage or sexual orientation might be.

Early on in the process of building the museum, a wealthy benefactor offered to contribute the first substantial gift to the museum.   But the offer had a condition attached.  The donation depended on Wiesel agreeing that only Jewish victims of the Nazis would be memoralized in the museum.

The gift was tempting, because the U.S. Congress was pressing the Holocaust Council to get started on the museum, and its funding had to come largely from the private sector.  Yet in the end, Wiesel declined the offer.

From there on in, he remained committed to memorializing all the Nazi victims, meaning the disabled, the Poles, gay people and Roma and Sinti (Gypsies).  While Wiesel certainly recognized the special features of the Nazi onslaught against the Jews, he was committed to the principle that one can never prioritize victimization.

And so, the inclusion of all the victims in the museum’s permanent exhibits was settled.

One of the most trying moments in my relationship with Wiesel came on the occasion of President Ronald Reagan’s decision to visit the German military cemetery at Bitburg.  Wiesel was deeply disturbed at the president’s choice, and publicly criticized it.  He summoned a number of the members of the council to an emergency meeting in his office, myself included.

He expressed serious reservations about remaining the chair of the council. Resignation seemed the only way to protect his own integrity and that of the victims.  After profound soul-searching with those of us in the meeting, he decided continuing his commitment to the erection of the museum had to take priority over his profound regret that Reagan’s visit had compromised the moral challenge that the Holocaust continues to place before humanity.

For me, these several hours in the room with Wiesel showed the depth of his own moral commitment and demonstrated how moral decision-making might emerge in very difficult circumstances.

Wiesel also showed great foresight in agreeing with a notion originally proposed by the late Hyman Bookbinder of the American Jewish Committee, a longtime social activist and a member of Carter’s original exploratory commission on the Holocaust, which eventually recommended the creation of the permanent council.

Bookbinder insisted that a future museum should not focus exclusively on memorializing the Nazi victims.  It also had to include a futuristic dimension.  Wiesel took up this idea, and made it a central part of the museum’s motto - “Remembering for the Future”.

He clearly saw the need for the museum to include programming with regard to any subsequent genocides through the creation of a Committee on Conscience.  Though it took some time for this committee to see the light of day, because of political opposition and concern on the part of some survivors, Wiesel held firm to his support.

Today the museum is a major force in Washington on the issue of genocide, thanks to Wiesel’s persistence.

Finally, I cannot help but think about one of Wiesel’s most notable quotes as we today struggle to see our way through a time of continuing terror.  Wiesel said that if we forget the victims of the Nazis, in effect we kill them a second time.

As I listened to the news about the terror attack at the Istanbul airport, this quote haunted me as the news media reported on how quickly the airport was reopened (the Turkish Airlines flight from Chicago to Istanbul was delayed only about fifteen minutes).  I can certainly understand the desire on the part of the Turkish authorities to prevent the terrorists from any ongoing victory.

But Wiesel’s powerful comment must also challenge us against accepting such a situation as the “new normal”, as one U.S. government official put it.  We must continue to mourn the victims of genocide and terror attacks, as well as the killing of so many in our urban areas. Otherwise such human destruction can easily become the “new normal.”

The final chapter of Elie Wiesel’s legacy has been closed by his death.  But the passion of his vision for human dignity and the continuing challenge of his personal moral commitment grounded in his personal experience of victimization will live on.  For me, they remain seared in the depths of my soul.

For this, I am grateful that our lives intersected.

Father John T. Pawlikowski OSM, Ph.D., is Professor of  Social Ethics and Director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.  He served for four terms on the board of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and continues as a member of its Academic Committee and its Committee on Religion, Ethics, and the Holocaust.

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Jonathan Greenblatt of ADL writes;

Courtesy - ADL

We were deeply saddened to learn the news of the passing of Elie Wiesel, the Nobel laureate, Holocaust survivor, professor, and a longtime and dear friend of the Anti-Defamation League.

He was a Holocaust survivor who used the memory of his personal tragedy to spark worldwide awareness of the Shoah and the memory of the six million Jews.  Through his books and his speeches, he emerged as one of the most important moral voices of the 20th century, a man whose message reached billions of people.

But the power of Elie’s voice lay in its ability to contextualize the Holocaust and to connect lingering outrage to contemporary action. He spoke out vigorously about the plight of Soviet Jewry; advocated for the repatriation of Ethiopian Jews in the state of Israel; spoke out on behalf of Bosnian Muslims during the Serbian Civil War; and called world leaders’ attention to the Rwandan genocide.  Along the way, he acted as a global conscience, repeatedly reminding the world of the dangers of unchecked racism and anti-Semitism. He embodied, in both word and deed, the admonition of “Never Again!,” and sought to protect the downtrodden of all races and religions with unrelenting passion, determination and pluck.

Throughout much of his life, Elie remained a true friend of ADL and a staunch advocate for our efforts to combat global anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe. Elie was always willing to help in any way he could. Often, behind the scenes and publicly, he played a pivotal role in our efforts, whether as an advisor to our leadership, as an interlocutor in our interactions with diplomats and governments, or as a soft-spoken but undeterred voice against recurrences of anti-Semitism around the world.  It was reassuring that Elie was always just a phone call away.

Most memorably, he and his wife, Marion, were frequently our guests at key moments in ADL’s history. He was one of the early recipients of the prestigious ADL Joseph Prize for Human Rights. In 2003, when ADL convened a World Conference Against Anti-Semitism in New York City, Elie delivered the keynote address, speaking passionately against the tide of old and new anti-Semitism sweeping across Europe, and calling on governments to do more to combat this pernicious hatred. In 2004, we praised his bold action of returning an award he received from the government of Romania in protest of the same award being bestowed on two anti-Semites.

We honored him on the occasion of his 75th birthday, and again in December 2013, when ADL presented him and Marion with the ADL Jabotinsky Prize for Courageous Jewish Leadership. The award recognized their combined efforts, working through the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, to various causes, including that of supporting the needs of Ethiopian-Born Israeli youth. That same year he served as an honorary member of our Centennial Committee.

Almost a year ago, Elie joined us at a gala tribute in New York City in recognition of Abe Foxman’s 50 years with ADL and his retirement as national director. True to form, Elie once again delivered an impassioned appeal for the world to wake up to the forces of intolerance and bigotry that led to the events of the Shoah in the 1940s, and which again were being manifested in new guises in places such as Iran.

We will never forget his intellect, his passion, and his impact. May his memory be for a blessing.

Sincerely, Marvin D. Nathan National Chair Anti-Defamation League

Jonathan Greenblatt CEO Anti-Defamation League

Holocaust and the Muslim Guy

Published by Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/holocaust-and-the-muslim-_b_4629509.html

Frequently, I am introduced in the following manner, "He is the first Muslim guy to commemorate Holocaust, and perhaps the first non-Jewish person to commemorate the Holocaust as well."

As a Muslim committed to building cohesive societies, it was an honor to step up to the plate. Quran 3:133, "And vie with one another to attain to your Sustainer's forgiveness and to a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, which has been readied for the God-conscious." I am not driven by paradise, nor do I seek rewards. But it does mean building a cohesive world where no one has to live in apprehension or fear of the other. God-conscious simply means being caring and sensitive to all of God's creation; life and matter.

Of all the people on the earth, my mother would be pleased to know I am doing what it takes to be a "good Muslim," to respect, honor and protect the sanctity of life.

I have always believed, and I read the assessments of some of the best brains that if we can resolve the Jewish-Palestinian conflict, i.e., security to Jews and justice to the Palestinians, most of the world issues will collapse and a period of peace on earth will begin.

Commemorating Holocaust and Genocides for seven years is a fulfillment of a lifelong desire.

Here is how it happened.
When I was ten years old, I read just about every book my mother read. She was indeed a voracious reader on religion and social sciences; however, I was banned from reading certain books, and one of them was "Eishmann 60 lakh Yahudiyon ka Katil" in Urdu language. That is Eichmann, the killer of 6 Million Jews. My mother insisted that I was a kid and I should not read the book, she was protective of her child. However, I was able to sneak in and see a few horrible pictures which had shut me down for the next 44 years of my life.

The picture continues to influence me; it is about betrayal of a people. A group of Jews were shoved in front of a ditch and then were shot into the pit. The looks of helplessness on their face, as if looking at me and saying, "you are not going to do anything about it?" They were not complaining, but with all humility enduring the betrayal from the entire world, it has been a difficult picture for me.

For the next 44 years of my life, I was not able to see the WWII movies with scenes from holocaust on the screen. I would turn the TV off and go into silence for a while, just could not get over the idea how people can do that to other people. There was fear in me, fear to witness that betrayal. They never begged any one to save their life and just stared into the spaces even without complaining. I have held them in a very high esteem for the dignified death they faced.

Fast forward: Sunday, September 11, 2005.

The first Public commemoration of 9/11 was initiated by Muslims, and we called it Unity Day USA to boldly bring together Americans of different faiths, ethnicities and cultures together to rededicate our pledge to the safety and security of America.

About 650 People attended the event including 10 Mayors and several Police and fire chiefs, FBI Chief, and clergy from every faith and civil leaders were represented in the event.

While Mayor Joe Chow of Addison was speaking, the Fire Alarm went off creating a panic. Remember, it was a 9/11 commemoration! Most people were dashing out of the building including my Jewish friends who sat in the front row, what I distinctly remember was the fear in their eyes, and that bothered me to no end. They were my guests and that is no way to treat the guests.


No human should be afraid of the other.

It was a false alarm; Mayor Simpson of Frisco announced it within 3 minutes. I asked the FBI Chief Guadalupe Gonzalez to assure the people and ask them to come back, finally, everyone made it back and took the seats waiting for the Fire Marshall to come and turn the Alarm off. I love Mayor Joe Chow, while all of this was happening he continued with his speech.

That fear prompted me to do something about it, not sure what. But I do know what Goethe had said, "When you are committed, all sorts of things will happen to you, and providence moves in and God paves the way to fulfill your commitment." In November, the United Nations made a proclamation to commemorate Holocaust on January 27, 2006. I said to myself, did God pave the way for me?

Sixty years after of the Holocaust, the United Nations finally established the Holocaust Remembrance Day on November 1, 2005. "At its sixtieth session, the General Assembly resolved that the United Nations would designate 27 January as an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust; and requested the Secretary-General to establish a programme of outreach on the subject of the "Holocaust and the United Nations", and to report on the implementation of that programme at the sixty-third session of the Assembly (resolution 60/7).

I called on my friends with the idea of commemorating the event, and thus began this journey. Education is the purpose; we have to learn, acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things that we humans have inflicted upon each other, and we have to understand that our safety hinges on the safety of all others around us. It is a comprehensive event where all human failings, massacres, genocides and Holocaust will be addressed in one fashion or the other.

Yom HaShoah has been commemorated in Synagogues since the 50's, and for the first time in history, others have joined in the commemoration, it's just not Muslims, but people of all faiths have participated in the interfaith pluralistic prayers. I just want to assure my Jewish friends that you are not alone; we are with you in the most somber moment of your life.


The first commemoration lifted a huge burden off me. I felt the relief. This was my calling - to build bridges. William and Rosa Lee Schiff, the holocaust survivors delivered a talk for over an hour - it was literally pin drop silence.

There are incredible stories associated with this journey. There was harassment, threats, bias, and prejudices from across the spectrum. Each group was about me, me and my pain.

We had many a tense moments, some were purely political, everyone was reluctantly ready to face them; it was the resistance to the inclusion of pain of others. Although I do not believe in divine intervention, a revelation came to me a few seconds before such an acknowledgment.

"Dear friends, it is painful to miss out the suffering of one people or the other, we do not want to live with the burden of consciously or subconsciously excluding the suffering of any, hence, to be fair to all, let's silently pray for every atrocity that comes to our minds, and pray for the relief of the victims, and punishment or release to the perpetrators" - Sounds simple? But that offered a magical relief to the people who were tensed up for that moment. Thank God, every atrocity was silently included in one's prayer or the other.

It has not been an easy story. A few have dropped me from their lists; a few did not want to see me ever again. People who taught tolerance were intolerant; a few people in the pulpit did not tell the truth to their congregants. Maria Arita of Fox News and I had a heart to heart on a few items. Maybe, I will write a chapter urging people and organizations to guard themselves from a few who can prevent good things from happening. Thank God, we have made through it all.

Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting peaceful functioning of a society and it is our duty, both individually and severally to track down the source of such hate and work on mitigating it. Indeed, each one of us needs to do our share of work. It is also our moral responsibility to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen.

The spark of hatred will not disappear through law and order, it would be temporary off the screen, but will reappear at every little conflagration. As civil societies, this has to be worked out for the long term good.

The injustice done in the past will not fall off the earth, it lingers and eats away peace between individuals and nations, and we are responsible to bring a closure to the loose ends of many a conflict, so we all can trust each other and feel safe, and focus on the collective prosperity of all.

The program will address preventing such occurrences, and most importantly, how to bring closure to these sparks and work on building cohesive societies, where no human has to live in apprehension or fear of the other.

There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own or somehow it amounts to infidelity to our own cause. Shame on us that we justifying massacres by believing and propagating that the victims deserved it or asked for it.
We sincerely hope the attendees will walk out with the following understanding:

• Other people's suffering is as legitimate as mine;
• It is easy to see ourselves as Victims, but we must also see the perpetrator in us;
• When we strip the politics out of a conflict, we see hope;
• We can value others suffering without lessening our own;
• The overriding desire to highlight our own blinds us from other's suffering.
• A sense of responsibility for creating a better world is awakened
• Ultimately co-existence and every one's safety and peace should be the driving thought.

The event is on Sunday at Unity Church on Forest lane. Details at www.HolocaustandGenocides.com