Because as the story of the shooting of Jews in Montreal is still unfolding, I found myself turning to Elie Wiesel. Wiesel understood something many people prefer not to see: hatred does not begin with violence. It begins with words. With ideas. With the slow acceptance that one group of people is uniquely guilty, uniquely evil, uniquely undeserving of empathy. Reading these words, I am struck not by how old they are, but by how current they feel. We have watched Jews attacked in Washington. We have watched my Jewish community m@ssacred in Bondi. Now Montreal. My question is not why. The rhetoric that Israel—and therefore, too often, Jews—are uniquely evil has become increasingly acceptable in many circles. My question is: where does it lead? Wiesel spent his life warning us that the distance between words of hate and acts of violence is shorter than we wish to believe. This quote comes from his lecture on The Last Testament of Paltiel Kossover. Listen to his voice. He knew the worst of humankind, and he understood that “Never Again” was never a promise. It was a responsibility.
sarahsassoonwriter
