Recognizing Elie Wiesel

Floor Speech

Mr. RIGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to enter a statement into the Record on behalf of my constituent, Dr. Israel Zoberman. Dr. Zoberman is the Founding Rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is also the president of the Hampton Roads Board of Rabbis and Cantors. Dr. Zoberman asked me to enter the following remarks into the Record recognizing Elie Wiesel. Dr. Zoberman's statement follows:

``With over 50 books to his illustrious credit, Elie Wiesel continues to bless us at age 84 with his multiple pursuits, including recently as a musician of his childhood songs and melodies. If anyone deserves the honorary appellation of ``Our Teacher and Rabbi'' these unsettling times of post-Holocaust perplexities for Jew and Gentile, it is this distinguished yet humble survivor of the Holocaust's unique tragedy, calling upon us to bear sacred witness with Zachor's undying remembrance. He emerged from the ``Kingdom Of The Night'' resolved to help save humanity, struggling with his shaken faith in his early classic ``Night,'' while contending with his brethren's fate in Soviet captivity in ``Jews Of Silence,'' ever faithful to his rich Jewish moorings as well as universal culture.

Wiesel, a 1986 Nobel Peace Laureate--he should receive one for literature too--is on the very short list of those serving as humanity's conscience. He courageously speaks out for human rights in addition to his ``Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity,'' and academic work as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University. Among many awards and honors, this great American and humanitarian is a recipient of the United States Congressional Gold Medal along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and is the 1980 Founding Chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, receiving on May 16th, 2011, the first U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Award, the museum's highest honor, now bearing Wiesel's name. He turned down, reportedly, in 2007 the sure opportunity to become Israel's President.
Wiesel's latest literary gem, ``The Sonderberg Case,'' is a suspenseful Holocaust related novel reflecting his being at home both in the vineyard of Jewish knowledge as well as general philosophy and literature. Wiesel is the Founding President of the Universal Academy of Cultures. In the book, Werner Sonderberg's grandpa, and unrepentant ex-Nazi officer of the notorious Einsatzgruppen, boasts to his grandson of his murderous record and only regretting that Hitler lost the war with hope of yet a future victory. My own maternal aunt, Bas-Malka Bobrov Gurvitz, husband Shachne and children Aharon, 14, Yisrael, 12, and Rochel-Leah, 2, were murdered in Sarny, the Ukraine, on August 27 28, 1942, among 14,000 Jews by the Einsatzgruppen and their collaborators.

My grandma Esther Bobrov was killed by German air bombs when on the run with my mother, Chasia, from their hometown Sarny. My great-grandparents, Rabbi Yaacov and Dena Manzies Zoberman from Zamosc, Poland, perished in the Belzec death camp and great-grandparents Yitzchak and Zipora Anker were also among the many victims from both family sides, of the 6 million martyrs with its million and a half children. Five million Gentiles were murdered by the Nazis with World War II claiming the lives of 50 million. My uncle, Emanuel Zoberman, who was a member of a Russian attached Polish commando unit, helped liberate Poland and was killed while crossing the Oder River.

My father, Yechiel Zoberman, served in the Russian Army for five years, fighting on the outskirts of Moscow and St. Petersburg (Leningrad), among other battles. We cherish the enormous sacrifices of the heroic American military and all the Allied Forces, along with Righteous Gentiles who stepped forward to protect human dignity and honor.

Wiesel applies the Holocaust's awesome lessons of guilt and responsibility, resonating in the anguished sharing of his German students at Boston University, as well as those of healing and hope, to the lingering conflict between Palestinians and Israelis while trying to acknowledge all concerned and seeking to protect the ``The Other'' that both sides have suffered from. He probingly reflects on the opposite polls and messages of Auschwitz and Jerusalem, altering and sensitizing us toward mutually respectful and professional relations, and that what we do bears moral consequence. Wiesel eases the burden of memory without diluting its sacred essence.

The outstanding Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater of which I have been a proud member for many years, sponsors this season the 15th annual Elie Wiesel Writing Competition and the 10th annual Elie Wiesel Visual Arts Competition. Teachers' Awards for Excellence in Holocaust Education are also given out at an inspiring annual gathering of commemoration. A new documentary, ``What We Carry,'' featuring four local survivors, Dana Cohen, Kitty Saks and of blessed memory David Katz and Hanns Loewenbach, has already received high acclaim.

So close to recalling the destruction of 2/3 of European Jewry--a 1/3 of world Jewry--which has reduced the potential of the Jewish people and humanity, we celebrate this year the 64th anniversary of the only Jewish state, The State of Israel, that is America's very special democratic ally in an uncertain world. With its deep historical roots in the Middle East from whence its prophets challenged humanity with the message of universal shalom, the reestablished Third Jewish Commonwealth absorbed the remnant of Holocaust survivors and dispersed Jews from over 100 countries and diverse cultures, bound together by shared faith and fate. It has set a high bar with its astonishing accomplishments in all fields of human endeavor in spite of mighty existential threats, as it rose from the ashes of a consuming Holocaust following a most trying history of exile and denial, with its survival vow, ``Never Again!''

In the midst of a still raging ``Arab Spring'' with the Syrian slaughter continuing and the international community doing so little, a reminder of the Holocaust's years of deafening silence, Israel's flourishing democracy and loadable stability stand out in a region lacking both, as a beacon of hope and noble example. Iran, whose theocratic leaders are Holocaust deniers calling for Israel's destruction, is a threat to the entire world. It is the world's largest exporter of terrorism seeking a nuclear capability to further its goals of de-stabilization and dominion, and being able to conclude what Hitler began.''

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