RIP Elie Wiesel

Today, the world lost Elie Wiesel. He was a human rights activist, Holocaust child survivor and author.

Born in what was then Romania in 1928, Elie Wiesel’s parents and younger sister were killed in the Holocaust. Only he and his older sisters survived. In 1960, he published Night, a novel based on his time at Auschwitz.

Mr. Wiesel was more than the face of Holocaust survivors. He was the face of everyone who has faced prejudice and extermination in the modern age simply because of who they are.

I had the pleasure of seeing him speak when I was in college. While I do not remember the specifics of the lecture, it was a thrill just the same.

In Judaism, when a loved one passes away, we say of blessed memory when we refer to them. Elie Wiesel is of blessed memory, not just to those who knew him on a personal level, but to those whose life he influenced, but never had the chance to meet in person.

Elie Wiesel, z”l.

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Enough Already

A few weeks ago, Americans woke up to the heartbreaking news of the shooting at a Latino nightclub in Orlando. 49 innocent people were murdered.

This year is the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Sadly, the news of terrorist attacks have become an everyday part of our lives since then. We are too used to turning on the evening news or opening the newspaper and reading about the murder of innocent people simply because of who they are.

Earlier this week, Hallel Yaffa Ariel, a 13-year-old American girl living in Kiryat Arba was murdered in her bed as she slept. The boy who took her life was a 17-year-old Palestinian boy, Mohammed Tarayreh from Bani Naim, a nearby village. This child did nothing to this boy, her only crime was being a Jew in Israel.

Adding to the death toll was the attack at the airport in Istanbul. 36 people were killed and 147 were injured.

Why do we do this? Is it possible to simply accept that some of us are different and that’s ok? Last time I checked, hate never solved any problems. It just creates more problems.

Enough already.