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Chloé Simone Valdary
[/h]July 2 at 9:34pm ·
New York, NY ·
I had been contemplating getting involved in the Zionist movement since I was 14. I had joined the Hebrew Culture Club in High school, read Jewish literature throughout those years, and tried to learn all I could. But it wasn't until I read 'The Town Beyond the Wall' by Elie Wiesel in Freshman year in college that I decided to change majors from Film to International Studies. The lesson in that novel that resonated with me the most was that indifference was not only immoral, but anti-human. The nature of human beings is to strive, to struggle, to wrestle, and in doing so, to act. That simple yet profound concept has informed what I have done ever since.
Elie Wiesel was many things: A survivor, an author, a peace activist. But though he may be remembered mostly for being a survivor and for ensuring we never forgot the Shoah, let us also never forget that Elie Wiesel was a Zionist. His passion for his people was such that he wrote that if he could have, he would have joined Lechi back in its day. His response to the Shoah was not merely the remembrance of the nightmare but the renewal of his people through self-actualization and self-realization, and the realization of the national expression of his people through the reestablishment of the state of Israel.
So that what would come after him would not be simply museums of dead Jews but a lasting legacy of Jewish life, and life abundantly.
With this in mind, its important that we not only "never forget" but live to sanctify life.