Abraham Heschel, a Jewish theologian who lived from 1907-1972, wrote in the introduction to his book The Prophets that, “The prophet was an individual who said No to his society, condemning its habits and assumptions, its complacency, waywardness, and syncretism.” (Heschel, The Prophets, p. xxix) To Heschel, the prophets’ message of justice was a reaction to God’s divine concern for the human race. Their harsh message challenged everyone from priests to kings. When Heschel was a child, he was surrounded by strong faiths. A distinguished leader in the Jewish community, his father focused his teachings mainly on poverty. His mother had so much respect in the community that people would ask her to pray for them. At age nine Heschel’s father
The memoir of Gluckel of Hameln is an irreplaceable source of information for historians because it gives the understanding of Jewish life. The Jews faced lots of challenges and the memoirs reveal life and death matters that constituted the Jewish life. These memoirs help the reader to learn the difficulties faced everyday life by the Jews at the time. However, the Jewish people preserved their Jewish self-identity. The memoir is a rich source for the understanding of social and cultural history of the 17th century Europe. Using her spirituality, Gluckel used her memoirs to instruct her children on the importance of values, the family and religious ties, and maintaining their Jewish identity.
... an important event in any Jewish child’s life, and which, also, makes it interesting for us.
Wiesel recounts the cramped living conditions, the Jewish life and the design and purpose of the Sighet ghettos from its conception to its liquidation. His recount demonstrates the hardships and the dehumanization experienced by the Jewish people starting with their isolation and containment within the
In addition to him having to overcome difficult odds in order to survive for himself, he also had to care for his weakening father. A similar situation occurs in A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, however, Ishmael accepts the situation and is able to defend himself. While they differ in their ability to defend themselves, they both relate in that they need to fight, both mentally and physically, in order to survive. not only because of the hardships they faced, but also because of what they had to do in order to survive. “‘I have never spoken about the Holocaust except in one book.’”
Rubenstein, Richard L. After Auschwitz: History, Theology, and Contemporary Judaism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1992. Print.
To truly understand “YENTL,” requires a knowledge of Orthodox Judaism as practiced in the shetls (villages) of pre-World War II eastern Europe, as well as Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Eliezer Wiesel, the narrator, is the only son of four children. He resides in Sighet, Transylvania, where his father was held “in the highest esteem… his advice… was frequently sought” (4). In 1941, Wiesel meets Moishe the Beadle, a man that was “as awkward as a clown,” who became Wiesel’s master in studying Kabbalah, a practice his father disapproved of (3). Soon after, the Hungarian’s expel all foreign Jews from the town, and Moishe the Beadle is forced to leave as well. He returns months later, only to tell Wiesel of an outrageous-seeming story of the terrors he encountered while away. Moishe the Beadle was a completely changed man, and the “joy in his eyes was gone’ (7). However, Wiesel only had pity for the man, and didn’t realize that
Eliezer Wiesel loses his faith in god, family and humanity through the experiences he has from the Nazi concentration camp.
Schloss Itter was one of the strangest battles in the history of the world. The reason I studied this topic was because it was very peculiar.
Elie Wiesel was a Jewish writer and a holocaust survivor. By capturing his trials facing one of the ugliest times in humanity’s history, he was able to show the world how his hope in Jehovah never wavered. In his book, “Souls on Fire” he introduces the Hasidic masters of Eastern Europe and allows us to explore the way he identified with them. Through his book, he allows us to see that the duty of the Hasidic master is to create a bridge between followers and the Almighty. This essay’s purpose is to focus on who influenced his voice as a storyteller and how he carried the theme of faith throughout his book.
Many themes exist in Night, Elie Wiesel’s nightmarish story of his Holocaust experience. From normal life in a small town to physical abuse in concentration camps, Night chronicles the journey of Wiesel’s teenage years. Neither Wiesel nor any of the Jews in Sighet could have imagined the horrors that would befall them as their lives changed under the Nazi regime. The Jews all lived peaceful, civilized lives before the German occupation. Eliezer Wiesel was concerned with mysticism and his father was “more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin” (4).
Throughout his life, the Prophet Muhammad proved to be exceptionally adept at uniting diverse groups, negotiating a series of alliances and loyalty arrangements that spanned religious, tribal, ethnic, and familial lines (Berggren 2009). Among other things, this ability enabled Muhammad to forge a shared identity and found a nascent Islamic state from a diverse and even heterogeneous community (Rahman 1982; Ernst 2003, pp. 87-93). This diversity proved to be both a source of strength and conflict for Islam, and following the death of Muhammad early Islamic communities engaged in extensive debates not only about the nature of his teachings or how to carry his legacy forward, but also about the terms that should be used to define his authority. Although this debate produced a colorful array of movements within the tapestry of early Islamic civilization, this essay offers a critical examination of two particularly distinct perspectives on the nature of prophetic authority: namely, those articulated
When Eliezer and his father, Chlomo, arrived at their first concentration camp, Eliezer was in an emotional agony. He considers running to the electrical wire to escape the "slow agony in the flames." His father replies by weeping and reciting the prayer of the dead. "May His Name be blessed and magnified" This tests Eliezer’s faith for the first time. "Why should I bless His name...what had I to thank Him for," he said...
A most interesting film detailing the history and role of the prophet in the Jewish tradition. The first question we must explore is what a prophet is. A prophet by definition is a person who speaks by divine inspiration. Others will say that a prophet is one whose eye is open. A person who can see things that others cannot. In order to understand the prophets and their appearance in history we must first understand the politics of the times.
"A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims." A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims. University of South Florida. Web. 19 May 2014.