I am looking for the word which is there and shouldn't be there. I wonder, why is it there? Or I look for problems: the Akedah [the Binding of Isaac - Genesis 22]. It still baffles me. Each time I read it - and I read it at least twice a year - each time I discover new layers in it. Always. So this is of more concern to me than the minimalists.
Elie WieselWords can be turned into spears. They can be turned into prayers. It's a strange world that you are in. But you deal with words.
Elie WieselMy teachers [ had the most impact in my life]. Of course, my father and grandfather, but after my family, my teachers.
Elie WieselI remember one day I came home and shouted to my grandmother, "Grandma, Sarah is pregnant!" Poor Sarah! For weeks before I had read how difficult it was for her to get pregnant. "Grandma! I have news for you!" "What did you learn?" "I have news, Grandma: Sarah is pregnant!" [Genesis 16 - 21].
Elie WieselA disciple came to the celebrated Master of the Good Name with a question. โRabbi, how are we to distinguish between a true master and a fake?โ And the master of the good name said, โWhen you meet a person who poses as a master, ask him a question: whether he knows how to purify your thoughts. If he says that he knows, then he is a fake.
Elie WieselThe night was gone. The morning star was shining in the sky. I too had become a completely different person. The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me. A dark flame had entered into my soul and devoured it.
Elie Wiesel