Holocaust survivor urges SEM students to 'listen'

by Julie Shallis news editor

In honor of the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as Shoah, we must remember. During a time when humans were inhuman and people exterminated solely based on their religious beliefs, we must remember. This was the message Professor Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate and renowned author, urged his audience to do on Sunday, April 18 at the Suburban Jewish Community Center-Bnai Aaron in Havertown.

The Cabrini community was able to attend l,,ypurchasing $5 tickets, which were originally $35-$55 per person. Seth Freebie, English/communication faculty member saw a flyer in a dry cleaners' window about Wiesel's visit.

Through efforts of Freebie meeting with Dr. Robert Bonfiglio, vice president for student activities and Emma Legge, director of student activities, the college subsidized $1000. The college was supplied with 40 tickets and all were sold.

Elie Wiesel Wiesel's novel "Night" is used as a primary text in the eight sections of the SEM 100 classes, according to Freebie. Some classes have added a collection of his essays, "From the Kingdom of Memory."

"I consider this to be an extraordinary event; to allow our students to explore for themselves and gain their own understanding," Freebie said.

The remembrance ceremony began with a Jewish tradition of lighting a candle in honor of those who have parished. Six candles were lit by survivors of the Shoah in memory of the six million Jews murdered. Wiesel, who at the age of 1S was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp from his home in Romania, lit the sixth candle. A memorial prayer was sung by Cantor Steven Friederich during the event.

Father Joseph T. Marino of St. Denis Roman Catholic Church, who spoke before Wiesel, said he was there to remember and it is important for the Roman Catholic Community to be involved and work with the Jewish community and fight against evil so "the unspeakable will never again be possible."

After the Shoah, the survivors were encouraged to not tell their stories and swal- lowed their tears. If they cried then, they would have cried their whole lives. Every life is sacred and during this "eclipse of humanity" they were left in the dark, according to Wiesel.

"I cannot understand it. Why were we forgotten? Why were we neglected?" Wiesel said.

He briefly spoke of the events in Kosovo. He posed the question of hate. Was there so much hate then that it has not disappeared?

Very few cared during the Shoah; he said we must show we care now and they are not forgotten.

Wiesel questioned God's place during this time. He said that when a person dies, God sheds a tear. So he wondered were he was when six million were murdered? He first felt that perhaps God did not shed any tears.

"I now know that he did shed tears, but nobody listened."