All Rivers Run to the Sea, Elie Wiesel

 

This book is volume one of Elie Wiesel's memoirs. Certainly it feels an incomplete book. I would describe it as a rope which frays and you are left with lots of strands.

Certainly the beginning of the book feels solid his childhood, war years and then internment in German labour camps, It felt that like the expanded version of his book 'Night'; it filled in much of the gaps of that brief book.

Unfortunately when Weisel became a journalist characters, influences, generals, politicians all became blurred to me. It was appeard just a name dropping exercise. The majority of name of which I had no idea of who they were! But then again I'm in Australia, miles away from the epicenter of Israel.

The beginning of the book I enjoyed his struggles with faith and the world around him. A constant theme early in the books where you are brought into the struggles of a teenager and a bachalour. His opportunities of love which he stopped because of his deep religiousness. I was dissapointent at only the small references to his wife. (Maybe more of this is mentioned in the 2nd book) It was as if many of those tensions were unresolved.

2/5

 

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Mordechai Rosenbaum

With my continued reading of Elie Wiesel's All rivers run to the sea: Elie writes about his mentor "Shushani". His real name according to Wiesel is "Mordechai Rosenbaum". He is a mystery figure, nobody knows much about him, other than he looks like a tramp. Yet he is brilliant, a genuine polymath from science to mathematics but especially the Talmud; of the many Talmud texts he knows many of them off by heart. Elie believes that part of his brilliance was his ability to read and retain word for word what he read. (Interesting this is reminicent of the character Danny Saunders in Chaim Potock's "The Chosen") Yet Elie never seen Rosenbaum read a book!

Rosenbaum's influence was throughout the Jewish disporia after World War Two. Throughout professions scientists, authours, philosophers many professed to to have been touched in some way by him, according to Wiesel. Yet he never wrote or published anything!

He is an interesting character this Rosenbaum; I cannot help think there is an element of the messianic about him. He is undoubtedly 'mysterious', like I find in Jesus. He never spoke about himself, and actually shuned those who asked. He had a profound effect on those who he mentored, like Jesus and his disciples.

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A disturbing prayer

 

Reading 'Twilight', by Elie Wiesel, I came across a disturbing prayer by a 'madman'

"Lord, since I am suffering, I not only accept my suffering. I yearn for it, I invoke it. Lord, since suffering exists, give it to me so that I may understand those it strikes. God of my fathers, throw me into the flames so that I may emerge at peace with myself. Break me in tow so that I may become whole. Push me towards darkness so that I may discover your hidden face."

 I could understand this prayer sneaking upon someone without them noticing it. Yet to wish for it....