In a move that surprises exactly no one, masterful writer Elie Wiesel turns out to be a masterful speech-writer. And he starts out this stunning, moving speech with a pretty much perfect anecdote: the story of the Bescht.

A Hasidic legend tells us that the great Rabbi Baal-Shem-Tov, Master of the Good Name, also known as the Besht, undertook an urgent and perilous mission: to hasten the coming of the Messiah. (1, 1)

Wiesel kicks things off with this story because it introduces the audience to his main point(s) in the speech: the mystical power of memory, through a Jewish cultural lens. It grounds us, Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike, in Wiesel's worldview. Because Bescht's world is fraught with peril due to Anti-Semitism, and because Bescht begins to recover thanks to the presence of his friend and the recuperation of his memory, we understand that Wiesel is making a statement about how the world can collectively heal from the wounds of the past.

Like the Bescht, we need a good buddy…and we need to both personally remember and listen to others' remembrances.