Israel: New Fears, Old Hopes

The Relationship Between the Shoah and Israel: The Secret of Jewish History Beginning Again

May 01, 2008

On Yom HaShoah and a week before Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Professor Wiesel addresses fear and hope from a historical and contemporary perspective. In particular, Professor Wiesel speaks of the relationship between the Shoah and the State of Israel. He questions whether the Shoah would have happened had Israel existed and whether Israel would exist had there been no Shoah. To both, he answers with a resolute no, but penetrates the connection between the two events not just chronologically, but philosophically. Ultimately, Professor Wiesel prefers to credit the establishment of the Jewish State to the Jewish people who always kept Jewish memory and hope alive. Professor Wiesel insists also on taking present threats against Israel and the Jewish people seriously. Those who reject the existence of the Holocaust of the past, want a Holocaust in the future. Professor Wiesel concludes with two personal stories: his fear in Auschwitz that he was witnessing the end of Jewish history and his hopes when witnessing the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967. Jewish history did not end in Auschwitz but found the secret of beginning again.

Subthemes:
1) The thin line between fear and love, hope and fear
2) Fear at Mt. Sinai
3) Missing a 92Y lecture due to an Israel trip
4) Would Israel exist without the Holocaust?
5) A self-examination regarding Israel after 60 years
6) To whom do we owe our gratitude for Israel?
7) Visiting and revisiting the same city for the first time
8) Hatred from Gaza and threats from Ahmadinejad, the #1 Holocaust denier
9) Difficult relations with and Holocaust history according to Arabs and Muslims
10) Does Israel embrace or resist suffering?
11) Will there be peace?
12) Jewish renaissance and the re-emergence of Israel
13) What do we do about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
14) Hatred and suicide bombing: the need to end terrorism
15) Jewish history did not end at Auschwitz but found the secret of beginning again.
Names:
Key Words:
Categories:
Tags:

© 2025 The Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association

All Rights Reserved.

All material accessed via the 92NY website (“content”) is protected by copyright under U.S. Copyright laws and is the property of The Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association or the party credited as the provider of the content. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, perform, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in any way exploit any such content, nor may you distribute any part of this content over any network, including a local area network, sell or offer it for sale, or use such content to construct any kind of database. You may not alter or remove any copyright or other notice from copies of the content accessed via 92NY’s website. Copying or storing any content except as provided above is expressly prohibited without prior written permission of 92NY or the copyright holder identified in the individual content’s copyright notice.