Elie Wiesel Tells Us About the Besht, Memory, and the Transcendent Power of the ABCs
- Elie Wiesel starts us off with the story of the Hasidic Rabbi Baal Shem Tov (his friends call him the Besht), who wanted to speed up the coming of the Messiah.
- The Jewish people had a mass of troubles, so getting the guy who's destined to deliver his people salvation sounded like a solid game-plan.
- However, for having tried to meddle with history, he and his servant got sent straight to the penalty box—a deserted island.
- His servant asked the Besht to use his magic powers to warp them off the island. Since we'd have no story if he could just whisk them away two seconds after showing up, the Besht informed his servant that he had his powers taken away from him.
- But hey: since they're stuck on that desolate rock, the least they could do is try lightening the mood. So the servant asked the Besht if he could recite a prayer for them.
- Sadly, the Besht had forgotten everything, including presumably where he left his keys and what appointments he had on Friday.
- Since misery is fond of company, the servant too had forgotten everything…except the alphabet. (The Jackson 5 was right: ABC is as easy as 123.)
- The Besht was thrilled. The two of them recited their ABCs over and over again, until it kickstarted their memories and gave the Besht his powers back.
- Elie Wiesel loves the story of the Besht for a couple of reasons.
- He, like the Besht, hopes the Messiah will return one of these days.
- The story also shows the power of friendship, and how you can get out of problems with the help of a buddy.
- Most importantly, it shows how powerful a thing like memory can be.
- Memory is what connects us to the world around us, to ourselves, and to the people around us. Without it we'd be leading lives with no perspective and no context.
- Memory saved the Besht, and Elie Wiesel hopes it can save everyone too.