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at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
Nov 06, 2003
On the eighth anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, Professor Wiesel explores the different attitudes of Talmudic masters to warfare and resistance during the Roman occupation. Professor Wiesel discusses Elisha Ben Abuyah, Rabbi Yehuda ben Gerim, King Herod Agrippa II and Josephus Flavius as collaborators. Professor Wiesel clarifies that the hostility of Talmudic sages to Elisha Ben Abuyah was not due to his theological crisis, but his collaboration with Rome. By contrast, Rabbi Akiva joined Bar Kochba’s revolt and Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai negotiated to secure Yavneh as a place of continuous learning. Professor Wiesel teaches us that in the Jewish tradition, collaboration with the enemy is never an option. Wiesel himself could have gone to meet Arafat but chose not to; as he says, “I am a student of Rabbi Yochanan, but I am not Rabbi Yochanan.” (Followed by a remembrance ceremony for Rabin.)
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