Next to him lay his violin, trampled, an eerily poignant little corpse.

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.

One day when I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me.

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

In Jewish history there are no coincidences.

They are committing the greatest indignity human beings can inflict on one another: telling people who have suffered excruciating pain and loss that their pain and loss were illusions. (v)

Suffering pulls us farther away from other human beings. It builds a wall made of cries and contempt to separate us.