Jonathan Arkush pays tribute to Elie Wiesel

Board of Deputies President Jonathan Arkush has paid tribute to Elie Wiesel who died at the weekend aged 87.

He said: “Elie Wiesel was a powerful witness to the Shoah.  No-one who reads his personal experiences could fail to be affected by the searing prose about what the victims endured.  More than that, he was a towering voice of humanity, a visionary and a fighter for justice.  He was one of the first to call attention to the plight of Soviet Jews in The Jews of Silence.

“Suffering, he once observed, ‘gives man no privileges; it all depends on what he does with it. If he uses his suffering against man, he betrays it; if he uses it to fight evil and humanize destiny, then he elevates it and elevates himself.’

“Elie Wiesel’s life exemplified that cry for humanity against suffering.  We mourn his loss.”