[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4846]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        RECOGNIZING ELIE WIESEL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. E. SCOTT RIGELL

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 9, 2013

  Mr. RIGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to enter a statement into the 
Record on behalf of my constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman. Rabbi 
Zoberman is the Founding Rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim in 
Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is also the president of the Hampton Roads 
Board of Rabbis and Cantors. Rabbi Zoberman asked me to enter the 
following remarks into the Record recognizing Elie Wiesel on the 
occasion of Yom Hashoah, the 65th anniversary of the State of Israel, 
and the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Rabbi 
Zoberman's statement follows:

       Elie Wiesel, the most distinguished representative of the 
     Holocaust survivors' generation, has risen from Auschwitz's 
     hell which he entered at age fifteen, to become the world's 
     witness to the human condition and humanity's prophetic voice 
     of both sacred remembrance and chastising warning. He even 
     admits to making enemies because of his steadfast stance 
     against trivializing Auschwitz, protectively defining the 
     Holocaust as ``the Event.''
        The 1986 Nobel Peace Laureate--he deserves the literature 
     prize too--and Founding Chairman of the U.S. Holocaust 
     Memorial Council, who has earned our nation's greatest honors 
     along with foreign high ones, enjoys a special relationship 
     with President Obama and is presently collaborating on a 
     joint literary project. In the latest book of this prolific 
     author, Open Heart, Wiesel opens his aching and grateful 
     heart to us following the watershed impact of his open heart 
     surgery on June 16, 2011, at age 82. He utilizes this trying 
     medical and life-changing ordeal to teach us about life's 
     demanding trials and transitions, courageously facing his own 
     mortality at his ``greatest pain and darkest anguish.''
        This master teacher who is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor 
     in the Humanities at Boston University is asking challenging 
     questions: How well has he fulfilled his obligation as a 
     survivor with a consecrated mission to tell a tale of woes 
     without despairing of the Creator nor of a blemished 
     creation, wrestling with a God who deprived him of so much 
     but also blessed him beyond measure? Having contributed 
     immeasurably toward a sane and sacred world, ever standing 
     guard, Wiesel nonetheless doubts if he has done all he could 
     and should have in his struggle against evil. He and fellow 
     survivors believed that the world would change for the 
     better, never allowing for genocides again, and how painful 
     it must be for heart-broken Wiesel to conclude, ``The fact 
     is, the world has learned nothing.''
        May Wiesel fulfill his heart's fondest desire to live to 
     witness the B'nai Mitzvah celebrations of his beloved 
     grandchildren Elijah and Shira, the children of son Elisha 
     who is named for Wiesel's father Shlomo who perished so close 
     to liberation. May he do so along with his wife Marion, 
     faithful soul-mate and professional helpmate, herself a 
     survivor from Vienna, Austria. Her brainchild is Beit Tzipora 
     in Israel, the centers to enrich Ethiopian children, named 
     for Wiesel's precious little sister whom he saw with their 
     mother for the last time upon the arrival in Auschwitz. 
     Reading Wiesel's transforming account a few days following 
     the multiple tragedies at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 
     Newtown, Conn., the following line resonates with painfully 
     heartfelt relevance, ``We must choose between the violence of 
     adults and the smiles of children, between the ugliness of 
     hate and the will to oppose it.''
        The 20th Anniversary of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial 
     Museum, with which Wiesel has been so intimately connected, 
     is testimony to his vision to ensure in the face of Holocaust 
     deniers and the ravages of time's forgetfulness that the 
     indispensable facts and essential lessons of the holocaust 
     will endure for the sake of humanity. The museum has already 
     exposed millions of Americans and other visitors in our 
     nation's capital to its sacred work, shedding light on 
     history's darkest chapter. I'm ever grateful to this U.S. 
     sponsored museum as a son and grandson of Polish Holocaust 
     survivors with heavy family losses in Zamosc, Poland, and 
     Sarny, Ukraine. I was born in Kazakhstan on November 12, 1945 
     and spent my early childhood in Germany's American zone of 
     the Wetzlar Displaced Persons Camp, before finding refuge and 
     home with my family and most of the survivors in the reborn 
     State of Israel now celebrating its 65th proud anniversary. 
     Wiesel reportedly was invited in the past to be Israel's 
     president.
        Israel's accomplishments in all fields of endeavor are 
     astonishing given its humble beginnings and ever trying 
     circumstances. This vibrant democratic oasis and America's 
     trusted ally in a mutually beneficial bond more significant 
     than ever, is surrounded by a wide wilderness and exposed to 
     substantial threats following the ``Arab Spring'' with its, 
     so far, destabilizing islamist victory. It is truly an 
     inspiring expression of the Jewish spirit and the human saga. 
     The vast human tragedy in Syria continues unabated with the 
     international community failing to stop it, while Iran's 
     menacing shadow looms large. May the Middle East and the 
     entire world where the Jewish people first proclaimed an 
     enlightened agenda for all, yet be transformed, with the 
     United States' critical role, in the spirit of eternal 
     Shalom.

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