The Tale of a Niggun by Elie Wiesel

Author:Elie Wiesel [Wiesel, Elie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2020-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

Now the rabbi is happy,

almost happy,

but suddenly

he hears someone calling him

with a caressing voice. It is Levi,

Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev.

I do not like that solution,

says the Berditchever Rebbe;

it pushes you into solitude

and this displeases me.

A Jew is never alone,

you ought to know that.

Even when he dies,

he does not die alone.

Self-sacrifice is not the answer,

my young brother

and peer.

When a Jew thinks he is lost,

he must find himself

within the community of Israel;

it must be strengthened

by him

and not divided;

if the enemy wishes to kill,

let him kill—

and do not tell him

whom to kill.

Your role,

my young brother and colleague,

the role of rabbi

is to be with his Jews,

not facing them.

Should they be summoned

by God

or the enemy,

should they choose

to respond,

do as they do,

walk with them,

pray with them

or for them,

howl with them,

weep as they weep;

share their anguish

and their anger

as you have shared their joy;

see to it

that the sacrifice

imposed by the enemy

unites his victims

instead of separating them;

as rabbi,

there is only one call

you must issue:

Jews stay together,

Jews

stay together

as Jews.

And so,

the next morning,

the rabbi receives

the eldest of the ghetto

and solemnly

informs them

of his decision:

the enemy will kill—

but his victims

will not be

our victims;

we shall remain

together

and together

we shall confront the enemy

as one person

linked by the same breath.

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