Tag: Jews

Ponderings

Holocaust Remembrance Week 🕯️✡️

Peregrine Arc: An Author's Scratchwork

I’m a bit late, but wanted to do at least a small remembrance on my blog. Never forget.

NEVER SHALL I FORGET – BY ELIE WIESEL

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for ever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live
as long as God Himself.
Never.

Never Shall I Forget from Night by Elie Wiesel.
Copyright © 1958 by Les Editions de Minuit.
Translation copyright © 2006 by Marion Wiesel.

https://www.ushmm.org/remember/days-of-remembrance/resources/calendar

Ponderings

Thoughts on Hate: Antisemitism

Peregrine Arc: An Author's Scratchwork

Humans are very good at killing each other. They’re also very good at justifying why they kill. I believe in order to kill a person, the human mind must firmly believe the other is exactly that–an other. The other is a stranger, different from you, and therefore inherently wrong because of their differences. The other’s existence is perceived as competition for resources that enable your “right” way of living.  The other, therefore, becomes unworthy of resources, any semblance of mercy or even existence.  This “reasoning” quickly snowballs into hatred, takes root in the soil of self-righteousness and grows tall and strong. Pretty soon the other is blamed for peripheral things, such as lack of work, a lack of prosperity or a lack of notice and regard that you clearly deserve.  The act of killing is just a short step behind this hatred, patiently waiting to leap down from the rafters.

I think this is why the rabbi in the dusty sandals said murder begins in the heart. He knew; he told us. And yet we’re not listening. We’re killing, instead. Why? Because people who hate believe they are right to hate. And people don’t like to be told they’re wrong.

Continue reading “Thoughts on Hate: Antisemitism” →

Take A Book, Leave a Book

A Brief Book Review: The Devil’s Arithmetic

Peregrine Arc: An Author's Scratchwork

The Devil’s Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen was a book recommended to me recently by a friend. The title both put me off and intrigued me. I’m not a huge fan of math nor of the Devil, to be quite frank. When I was struggling with geometry in high school, I would have assumed both were from Hell. But after learning Yolen’s novel was a fictional, time travel piece about the Holocaust, I decided to give it a go.

After all, I want to visit Auschwitz one day. The Devil’s Arithmetic was a way to do this from my living room couch.

Continue reading “A Brief Book Review: The Devil’s Arithmetic” →