Not So Wise Wiesel

It has been some time that I learned that Elie Wiesel was to receive a Congressional Gold Medal. As a concerned Jewish leader, I found the acknowledgment by our government to be a very altruistic and laudable act, for never has the American people displayed such an interest and reverence to the Holocaust and his writings. However, I wish to address myself to his actions and remarks at the medal presentation and ceremony.

Elie Wiesel, in all his writings, I and many others, find a consistent and underlying message, the harsh reality the Jews can't trust anyone. In the transcript printed in The Los Angeles Times, Saturday, April 20, he stated the following, "Today is April 19 and April 19, 1943, the Warsaw ghetto rose in arms against the onslaught of the Nazis. They were so few and so young and so helpless, and nobody came to their help, and they had to fight what was then the mightiest legion in Europe" Every underground received help except the Jewish underground, and yet they managed to fight and resist and push back those Nazis and their accomplices for six weeks, and yet the leaders of the Free World, Mr. President, knew everything and did so little or nothing, or at least nothing specifically to save Jewish children from death - I am reminded of the great moral essayist, the gentle and forceful Abe Rosenthal, having visited Auschwitz once wrote an extraordinary reportage about the persecution of Jews, and he called it, "Forgive Them Not Father, For They Knew What They Did."

It seems that with all his gentle and clever words, he played into the very same trap that he continually admonishes us to avoid! Don't trust the world leaders, for as he wisely suggests, they will let you down in a time of need. Now it seems that he has not followed his own advice, he trusted our President, and he was proven (so he thinks) right! You just can't trust anyone. You, Wiesel, disregarded the very lesson you espouse! So now you feel deceived. I sympathize for you.

How be it that the President, who cares for the Holocaust, decided, after all is said and done, to do what he was advised to do - to visit the death camp and the German cemetery simultaneously. All this is contrary to what Wiesel and many others believe. The answer to this quandary is that our President and his staff will keep on doing what they believe is good for our nation, regardless of what Wiesel has decided. Mr. Reagan stated, and keeps on stating unequivocally that he knew not of the SS. soldiers buried in the Bitburg Cemetery at the time this trip was planned, nor was he very pleased about the fact. The President did choose to stick to his itinerary, this in respect, regardless of the blunder made by his staff. As our elected leader, he surely has his reasons, that's where things should have stopped.

Mr. Wiesel has a responsibility, nay, an obligation to all of us - he must say what has to be said. But, he had no right what-so-ever to say it where he said it. To shame the President publicly and chastise him after what he did for him. I quote, "I implore you to find another way - That place, Mr. President, is not your place. Your place is with the victims of the SS." That he should speak so brazenly to the President is most distasteful and a disservice to many of us. The President believes in true justice and democracy. Certainly, Mr. Reagan knows the heinous behavior of the SS. Waffen and their kind, so do all those who have been involved in the Allied war effort have a rather healthy understanding. Those comforting and reassuring words, "For years I have said it, and I will say it again today, and I will say it again on that occasion, "We must never forget the Holocaust, nor should we permit such an atrocity to happen ever again. "Never again", uttered by the President, speak of leadership and of friendship to the Jewish to the Jewish nation.

Mr. Wiesel, besides being guilty of berating the President publicly, he also gave pardon to the German nation, something Mr. Reagan has not done, by his statement, "But, Mr. President, I know and I understand, we all do, that you seek reconciliation - but so do I, so do we. And I, too, wish to attain true reconciliation with the German people. I do not believe in collective guilt nor in collective responsibility. Only the killers were guilty. Their sons and daughters are not, is something incredible! How his greatest moment ended with such a perfidious belief is unfathomable and unforgivable. Wiesel started with chastising the President for not doing enough for the victims of the Holocaust, and then turned around and blasphemed by forgiving the Germans!

I end with the following sentiment. Wiesel felt that he must speak, but not I wonder why the American people give him an honor, and he did not repay them with honor. A President should be understood and not criticized when he gives a gold medal. For one who understands the minds and emotions of world leadership, I am astonished with Wiesel's acceptance speech. Perhaps he is changing, perhaps we may sometimes forget ourselves when we are on the top.

There is a well-known dictum, "One should not throw rocks into the well that we drink from." I do hope Wiesel will keep to his writings and practice his beliefs, but for G‑d's sake, use restraint in the future! As King Solomon wisely said, "A time to keep silent and a time to speak out." (Ecclesiastes 3.7)