'For God's sake, where is God?' And from within me, I heard a voice answer: 'Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows...'

Elie Wiesel 'For God's sake, where is God?'
And from within me, I heard a voice answer:
'Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows...'"

Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE was a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor.

Born: September 30, 1928, Sighetu Marmației, Romania
Died: July 2, 2016, Upper East Side, New York City, New York, United States

IIt was Martin Luther who first used the term the “Death of God” and it was the prophet jeremiah who first described himself as the breaker of idols. Neitzche took both these terms and looked into the future. He feared what was coming but Neitzche had been dead some 44 years before Elie Wiesel saw his father beaten todeath by Nazis and saw the young child hung by the SS within the camp he was a prisoner in he stated

“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”

And with the death of scriptural monotheism for Judaism in the camps we move forward another 60 or so years we see the death of scriptural monotheism for both Christian and Islam. The sacrifice of people on the altar of Assad, on the altar of Isis and , in the mushroom clouds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We experience our society as burnt offerings on the altar of economic necrssity and prejudice. We devide ourselves between those we know and the other. We call for the image of a little boy drowned on a beach. We request that we do not see it , that it be taken away from us. We turn our back , encouraged by the shark skinned suited politicians who them selves educated at public schools , trained as a stockbrokers aid us in our indifference. Unpleasant youthful “Libertarians deaden us further As Elie sais

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”

Faith politically declines in politics of the progressive thought and we begin to ask if the death of innocents and the death of the scriptural monotheisms will lead to a new faith in the possibilities of being human, of thinking of the possibility of forgiveness, For the rise of valuing human admiration , respect and profound compassion. We must take sides and work for a world where we are free from saviours and become the saviours ourselves. Elie Wisel says

“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the centre of the universe.

In a speech in 1986 he stated, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. The Talmud tells us that by saving a single human being, man can save the world. We may be powerless to open all the jails and free all the prisoners, but by declaring our solidarity with one prisoner, we indict all jailers. None of us is in a position to eliminate war, but it is our obligation to denounce it and expose it in all its hideousness. War leaves no victors, only victims. I began with the story of the Besht. And, like the Besht, mankind needs to remember more than ever. Mankind needs peace more than ever, for our entire planet, threatened by nuclear war, is in danger of total destruction. A destruction only man can provoke, only man can prevent. Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures, it is our gift to each other.