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When Elie Wiesel came to my summer camp, and what he taught me about speaking the unspeakable
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(JTA) — It was August 1966, the summer before my senior year of high school, and I was attending a Reform movement summer camp in Wisconsin when Elie Wiesel came for a visit.
Wiesel’s “Night,” a spare, searing memoir of the 11 months he spent in Auschwitz and Buchenwald, had been published in English just a few years before. Now Wiesel would come to a different kind of camp to meet with a bunch of American high-schoolers to get a taste of our experience and offer us a window into his.
The day of his arrival, I saw him from afar walking with the rabbis, a thin, dark-haired man, chest concave — enwrapped, it seemed to me, in a mist of sadness, not fully of this world. I had not yet read Night, but I knew that he had lived through something unimaginable, and I was both drawn to him and vaguely horrified, as if I were about to approach someone bearing a grave, open wound.
That afternoon we sat rapt, packed into the airless Quonset hut that served as our social hall, listening to Wiesel describe what he endured and barely survived some 20 years earlier, when he was the same age as his audience. He spoke in a low voice, devoid of affect. I don’t remember the particulars, but I can still feel the reverberations in my body. You could have heard a pin drop as we strained to understand his Romanian-Yiddish accented English.
I had been asked to write a poem expressing the essence of philosopher Martin Buber’s concept of I and Thou, the idea that one may experience the divine by being wholly present with another. That night I read my poem during the evening service in our outdoor chapel, stars shimmering above the treetops. Wiesel sat quietly at one end of a wooden bench, folded into himself. As the service ended, he approached me, gripped my arm with a ferocious strength and said with quiet intensity, as if to emboss the words on my soul, “Dat vas veddy gud.” Thrilled, I ran off by myself to lie beneath the stars and savor his praise.
I wonder what it must have been like for this European refugee, a survivor destined for greatness as a writer, speaker, teacher, activist and eloquent witness to the destruction of European Jewry, to encounter a group of well-fed, comfortable American teenagers, enjoying our privileged suburban lives, just waking up to the racial injustices in our own country and to the war gathering steam in the jungles of southeast Asia, but mostly oblivious to the suffering in so much of the world, even to the traumas embedded in our own lineages.
For me, meeting him was an initiation, a window into a world of religious piety, human suffering and courageous resilience. I sensed in him a kindred poet-mystic, as perhaps he did in me. At his request I sent him my Buber poem and others. He sent back notes of encouragement, which I keep in a manila folder marked “Historical Materials,” and which I read from time to time, a memento of my younger yearning self, reaching for a connection backward in time, outward to the world, and inward to my own soul. Perhaps Elie Wiesel would have been less surprised than I to find myself, some 40 years later, being ordained as a rabbi.
I have often reflected on the 10 years it took Wiesel to begin to write or speak about the horrors he experienced. Maybe like Moses, he had to spend time in the wilderness tending other flocks before the call to speak for the living and the dead flamed up in him like a burning bush, unquenchable. Perhaps his heart still needed to hold on to the boy he had been before the war, measuring the weight of his anger, shame and grief before he could speak the unspeakable.
How much longer has it taken a shocked humanity to begin to process those devastating years of the Holocaust. Two decades of relative silence gave way to what has become, more than 75 years later, a flood of memoir, film, poetry, fiction, choreography, museums and monuments, mostly created and curated not by those who lived it, but by their children and grandchildren. It has taken lifetimes — generations of slow digestion and gradual openings of heart and mind.
How much time, how much holding does it take for a collective nightmare to be felt through and digested? The prophet Ezekiel, speaking to his own vanquished people in exile nearly 2,500 years ago, offers God’s stunning promise of renewal: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
In this time of polycrisis, when images of horror and destruction flash across our computer screens hourly, I wonder how long it will take to revivify our hearts, how many generations to begin to feel, absorb and heal.
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The post When Elie Wiesel came to my summer camp, and what he taught me about speaking the unspeakable appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘Make Zionists Afraid’: Pro-Hamas Agitators in Germany Vandalize Gov’t Buildings, Intimidate Local Business
Anti-Israel protesters march in Germany, March 26, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Willnow/dpa via Reuters Connect
Pro-Hamas agitators in Germany carried out a series of antisemitic attacks this week, vandalizing government offices and targeting a Berlin bar with death threats and intimidation.
On Tuesday, an antisemitic flyer began circulating in Berlin, targeting the owners of Bajszel, a local bar in the city’s southeastern Neukölln neighborhood, with threats of violence and death, German media reported.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, the local bar — which hosts cultural programs and political events dedicated to fighting antisemitism — has been repeatedly targeted, with customers and staff threatened as “Jewish child killers” and the establishment repeatedly vandalized.
In this latest targeted incident, unknown individuals plastered flyers on the bar’s facade bearing the headline “Make Zionists Afraid.” Designed like a wanted poster, the handout showed photos of the three owners, each stamped with an inverted red triangle, which Hamas has used in its propaganda videos to indicate Israeli targets about to be attacked. The symbol has become a demonstration of support for the Palestinian terrorist group amid the war in Gaza.
The flyer accused the owners of “openly expressing their support for the colonial state of Israel” through the events they host at their bar.
“Anyone who sides with the perpetrators of genocide should feel unsafe everywhere. We want these three to be silenced forever and serve as a warning to all Zionists in Berlin and Neukölln,” the flyer read, referring to the bar’s owners.
The handout also included the antisemitic phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a genocidal call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Local authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the incident, but no arrests have been made so far.
Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society, strongly condemned the attack, calling on law enforcement to act swiftly and urging immediate protection for the bar’s owners.
“Supporting Israel … should never put anyone’s life in danger. The antisemitic death threats against Bajszel in Berlin-Neukölln are completely unacceptable,” Beck said in a statement.
“Threatening people … with death for openly expressing their loyalty to Israel is a form of everyday terrorism that cannot be tolerated,” he continued.
In a separate incident on Thursday, the office of Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Württemberg-Hohenzollern, a southwestern region of the country, was vandalized with antisemitic slogans. This marks one of the latest in a string of attacks by anti-Israel protesters targeting CDU offices nationwide.
Unknown perpetrators covered the office facade in red paint, scrawling messages such as “Accomplice,” “Stop the Genocide,” and “Flotilla Sumud.”
On Wednesday, the CDU building in Göttingen, a central German city, was vandalized, with several windows smashed and antisemitic slogans scrawled across the facade.
The perpetrators spray-painted slogans on the walls, including “Free Palestine,” “From the River to the Sea,” “Kill Zionists,” and “FCK CDU.”
Anti-Israel demonstrators even vandalized the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin-Mitte, covering the facade with red paint and scrawling antisemitic slogans.
Shortly after this incident, a pro-Palestinian demonstration was held outside the Foreign Ministry, where protesters chanted slogans such as “Free Palestine,” “Genocide,” and “All of Berlin hates the police.”
Berlin: Aktivisten beschmieren Auswärtiges Amt mit roter Farbe
Mehrere Aktivisten haben am Donnerstag die Fassade des Auswärtigen Amtes in Berlin mit roter Farbe beschmiert. Zudem sei ein Schriftzug angebracht worden. Dieser soll einen Bezug zum Nahost-Konflikt aufweisen. pic.twitter.com/dgPBqL5lHv
— TAVI (@xTAVIx) October 2, 2025
According to local authorities, an investigation has been launched into these latest incidents, and four activists have been arrested in connection with them.
Carina Hermann, chair of CDU’s municipal association, strongly condemned the recent wave of violence and vandalism, calling for immediate measures to ensure public safety.
“With broken windows, political slogans, and destroyed locks, the goal is to silence opposing voices and intimidate them with all the force possible,” Hermann said in a statement. “This is no longer a simple protest; it is a direct attack by extremists who have no regard for democracy or free discourse.”
In recent weeks, CDU offices in Hanover, Oldenburg, and other cities have also been vandalized. In Göttingen, additional buildings — including those of the Social Democratic Party of Germany — have been defaced.
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Democrats More Likely to Vote for Lawmakers Who Oppose US Military Aid to Israel, Poll Finds
US Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). Photo: Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
Voters who support the Democratic Party in the US are increasingly open to candidates who oppose American military assistance to Israel, according to a new poll from the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, an organization critical of the Jewish state and supportive of the Palestinian cause
The survey, conducted in partnership with YouGov, found that 57 percent of Democrats indicated they would be more likely to vote in the 2026 midterm elections for a member of Congress who opposed sending billions of dollars in weapons to Israel, while 9 percent stated they would be less likely and 34 percent said it would make no difference. The poll also showed that 55 percent of Democratic voters would look favorably on a lawmaker sponsoring the Block the Bombs Act, legislation aimed at restricting certain arms sales to Israel.
The Block the Bombs Act, sponsored by progressive Democratic Reps. Delia Ramirez (IL), Marc Pocan (WI), Sara Jacobs (CA), and Pramila Jayapal (WA), would restrict the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel. The legislation, if enacted, would only allow the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel if Congress passed a law outlining the scenarios in which they could be deployed. Jerusalem would also be mandated to provide written assurances that the weapons would be used in accordance with international law.
According to the new poll, a striking 71 percent of Democrats said they would prefer to support a presidential candidate in the 2028 election who “voted to withhold weapons to Israel. In comparison, 10 percent responded they would rather back someone who “voted against withholding weapons to Israel,” and 19 percent were not sure.
The poll, which was released on Friday, surveyed 1,221 registered voters who said they typically participate in Democratic primaries from Sept. 11–24, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
While the results pointed to growing opposition to Israel within the Democratic activist base, critics noted on social media that IMEU’s framing of the questions, such as invoking the South African apartheid analogy in related surveys, may misrepresent responses in ways that do not mirror broader public sentiment.
In Washington, support for Israel remains one of the few issues that consistently draws bipartisan consensus. Congress has continued to approve annual military aid packages to the Jewish state by wide margins, and US President Donald Trump has repeatedly affirmed his administration’s commitment to Israel’s security, describing the partnership as vital for both American interests and regional stability.
Polling from Gallup and Pew has also found that while Democratic voters are more divided over Israel than Republicans, the US public overall maintains a broadly favorable view of Israel and the US-Israel relationship.
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Hamas Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan, Seeks Negotiations Over Other Terms
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, started the current war in the enclave with its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel. The Islamist group said it would agree to some aspects of Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, including releasing hostages and handing over administration of the enclave, but that it would seek negotiations over many of its other terms.
In a copy of the statement seen by Reuters, Hamas issued its response to Trump’s 20-point plan after the US president gave the Palestinian terrorist group until Sunday to accept or reject the proposal. Trump has not said whether the terms would be subject to negotiation, as Hamas is seeking.
Notably, Hamas did not say whether it would agree to a stipulation that it disarm, a demand by Israel and the US that it has previously rejected.
In its statement, Hamas said it “appreciates the Arab, Islamic, and international efforts, as well as the efforts of US President Donald Trump, calling for an end to the war on the Gaza Strip, the exchange of prisoners, [and] the immediate entry of aid,” among other terms.
It said it was announcing its “approval of releasing all occupation prisoners — both living and remains — according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, with the necessary field conditions for implementing the exchange.”
But Hamas added: “In this context, the movement affirms its readiness to immediately enter, through the mediators, into negotiations to discuss the details.”
The group said it was ready “to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents [technocrats] based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic backing.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Hamas’s response to the proposal, which is backed by Israel as well as Arab and European powers.
Trump’s plan specifies an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas, and the introduction of a transitional government led by an international body.