I just re-read this brave, important and insightful post, and am stuck by how its relevance grows by the week. Thanks again, Mary, for putting this out there, and I hope it is reaching a wide audience.
Thanks for this thoughtful essay, Mary. I've been sitting with this for a few days: "all who live stand in the desert of the survivor’s dilemma." It's a very interesting way of framing the Gordian Knot in Israel and Gaza. This conversation, like the meta debate about Substack and free speech, seems to have hardened in ways that make it difficult for me to engage. I've been mainly listening, learning, trying to see what I think and how I feel. Remaining human, for me, means resisting the binaries. But my academic life degenerated into binaries, a version of this crept into my marriage, and now the Substack platform itself seems to be moving into two sides. You offer a welcome alternative.
Mary, you write, as always with such feeling and empathy, especially about the tortures of conscience and the struggle to retain humanity in a world of such unfathomable cruelty. Wiesel, I know, and we all read, is an important writer, thinker, and personage to you. I’ve shared that he’s important to me. He and my father were born just 200 miles from each other, though Weisel, younger, still remained to face the Holocaust as a child when my father had escaped it. I’m very struck by these lines:
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“The essence of man is to be a question, and the essence of the question is to be without answer.”
But the way to live under this question mark is to cling to humanity and not to attempt to transcend human potential:
“It’s in humanity itself that we find both our question and the strength to keep it within limits—or on the contrary to make it universal. To flee to a sort of Nirvana—whether through a considered indifference or through a sick apathy—is to oppose humanity in the most absurd, useless and comfortable manner possible. A man is a man only when he is among men. It’s harder to remain human than to try to leap beyond humanity.”
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This is a profound insight. I don’t think Wiesel would have argued against the transcendence that arises from taking the longer, higher view over the scope of human aspiration and suffering, to gain sight of that diminished aspect of each of our appearances in this world. That’s a necessary perspective, too, I think. Most people, evidence repeatedly reveals, know little of the history of the world they live in, still less as the clock winds further back, and it commonly shows in how they respond to the present. But Wiesel’s injunction, through Michael’s words, to remain a human living among humans, is a complementary command to face and see the world for what it is. How could Wiesel not believe that? Is it not what he did so courageously, for us, the remainder of his life?
I think Friedman’s invocation of Confucious about revenge is too easy and off the mark. Do many people feel the rage of outrage that can lead to it among people? It would be ridiculous to say not. However, it isn’t individual people but rather a nation and a government that is pursuing the present course, and mistaken or not, they tend to act from a perception of their self-interest and preservation.
I share your hope for directions that preserve the humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians, fully, equally. My own longer view, not unique, is that those directions aren’t coming, to be maintained with consistency, any time soon. But I believe, like Wiesel, in maintaining a commitment to values even while despairing – maybe most importantly then. I had occasion to say in the comments of an Israeli Substack yesterday that after two thousand years of it, Jews know something about surviving, believing, and dreaming. That needs to continue.
Complex and then no so: the paradox leaves us in the center of the controversy. I thank you for the insights, so essential, that you offer. This conversation must continue as our humanity remains the strong stake. Will it fall?
Heartbreakingly insightful. For some of us it is a choice to learn history, for others, there is no choice but to live it. To live it and be able to see the humanity of all is a gift. Thank you. 🙏
I don't think it's possible to care for humanity on "all sides" too many times. It would be nice if we no longer needed to read Elie Wiesel, but we're not there yet. Thank you for your compassionate light.
I just re-read this brave, important and insightful post, and am stuck by how its relevance grows by the week. Thanks again, Mary, for putting this out there, and I hope it is reaching a wide audience.
That is so kind and generous. My heartfelt thanks.
Thanks for this thoughtful essay, Mary. I've been sitting with this for a few days: "all who live stand in the desert of the survivor’s dilemma." It's a very interesting way of framing the Gordian Knot in Israel and Gaza. This conversation, like the meta debate about Substack and free speech, seems to have hardened in ways that make it difficult for me to engage. I've been mainly listening, learning, trying to see what I think and how I feel. Remaining human, for me, means resisting the binaries. But my academic life degenerated into binaries, a version of this crept into my marriage, and now the Substack platform itself seems to be moving into two sides. You offer a welcome alternative.
What a thoughtful comment, eloquently said, Josh.
Mary, you write, as always with such feeling and empathy, especially about the tortures of conscience and the struggle to retain humanity in a world of such unfathomable cruelty. Wiesel, I know, and we all read, is an important writer, thinker, and personage to you. I’ve shared that he’s important to me. He and my father were born just 200 miles from each other, though Weisel, younger, still remained to face the Holocaust as a child when my father had escaped it. I’m very struck by these lines:
---
“The essence of man is to be a question, and the essence of the question is to be without answer.”
But the way to live under this question mark is to cling to humanity and not to attempt to transcend human potential:
“It’s in humanity itself that we find both our question and the strength to keep it within limits—or on the contrary to make it universal. To flee to a sort of Nirvana—whether through a considered indifference or through a sick apathy—is to oppose humanity in the most absurd, useless and comfortable manner possible. A man is a man only when he is among men. It’s harder to remain human than to try to leap beyond humanity.”
---
This is a profound insight. I don’t think Wiesel would have argued against the transcendence that arises from taking the longer, higher view over the scope of human aspiration and suffering, to gain sight of that diminished aspect of each of our appearances in this world. That’s a necessary perspective, too, I think. Most people, evidence repeatedly reveals, know little of the history of the world they live in, still less as the clock winds further back, and it commonly shows in how they respond to the present. But Wiesel’s injunction, through Michael’s words, to remain a human living among humans, is a complementary command to face and see the world for what it is. How could Wiesel not believe that? Is it not what he did so courageously, for us, the remainder of his life?
I think Friedman’s invocation of Confucious about revenge is too easy and off the mark. Do many people feel the rage of outrage that can lead to it among people? It would be ridiculous to say not. However, it isn’t individual people but rather a nation and a government that is pursuing the present course, and mistaken or not, they tend to act from a perception of their self-interest and preservation.
I share your hope for directions that preserve the humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians, fully, equally. My own longer view, not unique, is that those directions aren’t coming, to be maintained with consistency, any time soon. But I believe, like Wiesel, in maintaining a commitment to values even while despairing – maybe most importantly then. I had occasion to say in the comments of an Israeli Substack yesterday that after two thousand years of it, Jews know something about surviving, believing, and dreaming. That needs to continue.
Complex and then no so: the paradox leaves us in the center of the controversy. I thank you for the insights, so essential, that you offer. This conversation must continue as our humanity remains the strong stake. Will it fall?
Heartbreakingly insightful. For some of us it is a choice to learn history, for others, there is no choice but to live it. To live it and be able to see the humanity of all is a gift. Thank you. 🙏
Heartbreaking, indeed. Thank you for adding "Insightful" -- so many are writing about this issue -- I wan't sure I could be helpful.
I don't think it's possible to care for humanity on "all sides" too many times. It would be nice if we no longer needed to read Elie Wiesel, but we're not there yet. Thank you for your compassionate light.
Oh, what a lovely comment: You encourage me and give me hope.