Elie Wiesel: Hope Is The Memory Of The Future
The memory of the future is knowing that something is coming, something that is better than anything we’ve ever seen
In Elie Wiesel’s speech winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, he talks about hope, despair, and memory. The speech begins with a Hasidic legend about Rabbi Baal-Shem-Tov, or Besht, who took on the mission of hastening the coming of the Messiah. “The Jewish people, all humanity…had to be saved, and swiftly.” In trying to interfere with history, Besht was punished and banished to an island with his servant. The servant asked Besht to use his powers to take both of them home, and when asked to recite a prayer, Besht had forgotten everything. Both Besht and his servant wept.
Then Besht asked his servant what if he remembered anything, and the servant said that he’d forgotten everything, except the alphabet. Besht cried out: “Then what are you waiting for? Begin reciting the alphabet and I shall repeat after you.” The two of them recited their alphabet, first quietly and then louder and louder. They did this until, somehow, Besht regained his powers, after regaining his memory.
Friendship is one of life’s most valuable things because in friendship is “man’s ability to transcend his condition.” Friendship, to Wiesel, demonstrated…
