Table Of ContentPortraits
SUNY series in Contemporary Jewish Thought
——————
Richard A. Cohen, editor
Portraits
The Hasidic Legacy of Elie Wiesel
David Patterson
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval
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electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Patterson, David, [date] author.
Title: Portraits : the Hasidic legacy of Elie Wiesel / David Patterson.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Series:
SUNY series in contemporary Jewish thought | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020056927 (print) | LCCN 2020056928 (ebook) | ISBN
9781438483979 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438483993 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Wiesel, Elie, 1928–2016—Criticism and interpretation. |
Hasidism.
Classification: LCC PQ2683.I32 Z84 2021 (print) | LCC PQ2683.I32 (ebook) |
DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020056927
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020056928
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Contents
Preface / vii
Acknowledgments / ix
A Post-Holocaust Hasidic Legacy / 1
The Portrait of the Who / 13
Portraits from the Torah / 27
Portraits from the Prophets / 73
Portraits from the Writings / 107
Portraits from the Talmud / 129
Portraits of the Hasidic Masters / 181
The Messiah: Portrait of an Anticipation / 233
Notes / 251
Bibliography / 279
Index / 289
Preface
Although I never had the honor of sitting in one of Professor Elie
Wiesel’s seminars at Boston University, I have counted him among
my teachers ever since one of my own students placed in my hands a copy
of Night in 1978. Reading his first book not only set me upon a path of
reading everything he published, but it also launched me on a never-ending
journey through an ocean of Jewish texts and teachings, as well as Jewish
thought and testimony. I began corresponding with Professor Wiesel in
1982, whereupon he graciously invited me to meet with him should I
ever be in Boston or New York. In 1984 I had my first meeting with him
in New York; as a result of that meeting I wrote a now-obscure book,
In Dialogue and Dilemma with Elie Wiesel, which consists of transcripts
of our conversation followed by my reflections on his words and works.
With his characteristic generosity, he told me that he regarded that book
as an expression of friendship; those who knew him know that friendship
meant a great deal to him, and his words meant even more to me. Over
the subsequent years I was blessed to sit with him and to learn from him
on many other occasions.
Although I could never attain the merit of calling myself a Hasid,
I count myself among the heirs to Wiesel’s Hasidic legacy, and my own
embrace of Jewish tradition has been shaped by that legacy. Therefore this
book is, in a deep sense, the work of one of Professor Wiesel’s students
and not the work of one who comes to this subject matter with the cold
distance of scholarly objectivity. The Baal Shem’s call, Wiesel insisted,
was a call to subjectivity, to passionate involvement. This study of Elie
Wiesel’s teachings, as they unfold through his personal engagement with
the portraits of Judaism’s sages and dreamers, is an attempt at just such
an involvement. Years ago a critic once said that to read Wiesel is to
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viii | Preface
burn with him. And so, at least for me, it is true: my attempt to convey
the Hasidic legacy of this soul on fire is an attempt to transmit the fire
he has transmitted to me.
I should also note that when, for example, I refer to “Jewish teach-
ing,” I am aware that my understanding of Jewish teaching is not the only
legitimate one; it is my best understanding, informed by my own study of
Judaism, as well as by what I have learned from the Hasid Wiesel. Indeed,
Wiesel’s portraits of biblical figures and Talmudic sages are rooted in his
Hasidism; so all of these portraits, not just the portraits of the Hasidic
masters, belong to his Hasidic legacy.
One other thing: the Holocaust. If there can be a post-Holocaust
legacy, it must include a Hasidic legacy, a legacy that stems from that
segment of world Jewry so profoundly and so brutally ravaged in the
Shoah. And if it can be expressed as a Hasidic legacy, who better than
Elie Wiesel to give voice to that expression, to that summons? A legacy
is above all an inheritance, and an inheritance is a summons. It is a call,
even a commandment, to zakhor v’shamor, to remember and to observe; it
is a commandment that, says the Talmud, is woven into in a single utter-
ance from Mount Sinai (Shevuot 20b). Turning to Mount Sinai—turning
to those who turned to Mount Sinai—Professor Wiesel bequeaths to us
an inheritance couched in the commandment to remember and observe
voiced in a single utterance. His Hasidic legacy is a summons to remem-
ber what happened and why it matters. It is a summons to remember the
testimony reduced to ashes and the voices that cry out from those ashes.
It is a summons to remember and observe—to remember and watch
over—the teaching and tradition consigned to obliteration as the Jews
made their way to the gas chambers under the towers that watched over
them in Auschwitz. Just as the teaching is embodied in the teachers, so
too is the tradition embodied in their portraits.
Dallas, Texas
2020
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my deepest thanks to SUNY Press and to Rafael
Chaiken, James Peltz, and Richard Cohen for their support, encour-
agement, and insightful suggestions in the preparation of this book. I am
also grateful to the readers who took the time to review the manuscript
and offer valuable recommendations to make this a better book. Most
importantly, many thanks to Alan Rosen, who had the great blessing of
being one of Professor Elie Wiesel’s students and who has become one of
my teachers. A great scholar, a true Hasid, and a dear friend, Alan has
been a profound inspiration for this endeavor.
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