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CHARLOTTE, NC
The Charlotte
JEWISH
Vol. 29, No. 5
An Affiliate of the Jewis i Federation of Greater Charlotte
‘*God May Be Unjust and Unfair... But God Is Not h^fferent”
Elie Wiesel Comes to Charlotte to Commembrhte ECHO Foundation’s
Award Against Indifference
ECHO Foundation Celebrates A Decade Inspired by Elie Wiesel
By Amy Krakovitz
What suprises you is that this
giant is really a very small man.
Not more than 5’4”, his skin ruddy
and sun-touched, his shock of
white hair unkempt and wind
blown, he belies his largesse.
What doesn’t surprise you is
that almost everything he says is
quotable, a proverb, a motto to
live by. And live by it, he does. He
is not a phony, a charlatan, a scam
artist. He is truly everything repre
sented by his reputation and more.
He is Elie Wiesel, author,
activist, Nobel Peace Prize recipi
ent, scholar, teacher, and Jew. And
several of us in Charlotte were
fortunate enough to spend most of
two days in his presence.
Wiesel arrived in Charlotte at
the behest of the Echo Foundation,
an organization founded with his
help and encouragement. Ten
years ago, Wiesel spoke here and
on his trip back to airport after that
visit, he spoke to Stephanie
Ansaldo, then on the staff of
Charlotte Latin School, the spon
soring organization for his initial
visit. It can’t end here, he told her,
you have to continue to bring
Foundation began awarding
activists in Charlotte with the
Award Against Indifference.
This year’s recipient was Sally
Dalton Robinson. Additionally,
the Echo Foundation awards
the Young Heroes of Hope
Award to emerging humanitari
an leaders. This year’s recipient
was Benjamin Smolen, a gradu
ate of Myers Park High School,
and currently a senior at
Princeton University. Inspired
by the Echo Foundation’s 2003
program with Earth Institute
Director Jeffrey Sachs,
Benjamin creat^ed S.T.A.N.D.
(Student Tolerance and Non-
Discrimination), a coalition of
social and environmental issues
groups. At Princeton, Benjamin
organized a benefit concert for
the victims of Hurrican Katrina.
Benjamin’s grandmother is a
member of Temple Beth El.
Teach Your Children
A great deal of Wiesel’s short
time in Charlotte was spent among
students: high school, college and
elementary school. He believes
strongly that education is the key
to changing the world.
lyar-Sivan 5767
May 2007
Benjamin Smolen (center), recipient of the Young Heroes of Hope Award, with
his aunt, Sally Gehl, who travleed from Cleveland, and his mother, Wendy
Smolen. Photo by Bobby Cochran courtesy ECHO Foundation.
about change in Charlotte, to elim
inate indifference in this commu
nity. Charlotte was unique ampng
communities he had visited in the
past, he said, we appeared to have
the capacity to make major
changes in our community and the
world.
And so the Echo Foundation
was bom, a monumental effort of
both Ansaldo and Wiesel.
Beginning in 2000, the Echo
The morning of March 27 saw
him conducting an extensive ques
tion and answer period with more
than 1,000 high school students in
the auditorium at Myers Park
High School. The atmosphere in
the auditorium before he spoke
was surprisingly calm and orderly.
Dressed in their best for this spe
cial occasion, the students
expressed a combination of quiet
anticipation and tense expectation.
Henry Hirschmann with Elie Wiesel at the
Patron’s Reception. Photo by Bobby Cochran
courtesy ECHO Foundation.
“It will be a great experience to be
with someone outstanding like
him,” said Shayna Bernstein, a
sophomore from East
Mecklenburg High School, before
the program began. “I want my
peers to grasp what happened
[during the Holocaust] and help it
to never happen again.”
That seemed to be the general
attitude among the Jewish stu
dents in the auditorium. Their
focus on what they wanted to hear
from Wiesel was mostly directed
toward his Holocaust experience.
But as we learned when he
finally took the stage, he is so
much more than a Holocaust sur
vivor.
He was introduced by Rabbi
Judith Schindler of Temple Beth
El, who received a warm hug upon
Wiesel’s stage entrance. He was a
dear friend of her father’s, he said,
he so admired Alexander
Schindler. After a brief greeting,
he immediately began taking
questions from the high school
students.
The questions were thoughtful,
polite, and intelligent. The
responses were sincere and pro
found.
When asked what has touched
his heart the most, Wiesel replied,
“Seeing children oppressed by
poverty, starvation and pain.”
What can we do to keep the
Holocaust memory alive for new
and future generations? “I am not
worried that it will be forgotten. I
am worried that it will be trivial
ized, cheapened and commercial
ized.”
Asked about his support of
Israel and Zionism: “I am for
Israel. I am very sad for
' all the missed opportuni
ties by the Palestinians.”
Confronted by so many
places and people all over
the world needing help
from poverty, injustice,
and death, one student
asked how to decide on
what to focus their efforts.
“Choose one ... today my
focus is Darfur.”
Whose responsibility is
it to take care of global
issues? “All of us!”
When asked whether
he still resented Germans:
“I don’t believe in collec
tive guilt. The children of
the killers are not the
killers of children.”
The question and
answer period went on for over an
hour. The event concluded with a
presentation of gifts from students
in the area. One gift was 1,000
books to be presented to Beit
Russia are being suppressed,
groups disbanded and arrested ...”
Against Indifference Lecture
The evening at Founder’s Hall
began with a Middle East style
buffet and a roomful of people,
both elated and excited in antici
pation of Elie Wiesel’s upcoming
speech.
The Lead Program Sponsor
was The Leon Levine Foundation:
Sandra and Leon Levine. Sandra
and Leon were on hand to accept
the thanks of The Echo
Foundation’s chair, Mark Erwin. It
was during this time that Sally
Dalton Robinson was awarded the
2007 Echo Foundation Award
Against Indifference.
The program in the Belk
Theater began with a musical per
formance by the Charlotte
Children’s Choir joined by the
children from Temple Israel. They
performed an arrangement of Ani
Ma'Amin and “An Inscription of
Hope.” The introduction to the
With the students of the Charlotte Jewish Day School. Photo by Jejf Cravotta
courtesy ECHO Foundation.
Tziporah, a school for Ethiopian
immigrants in Israel that was
named for Wiesel’s sister who per
ished in the Holocaust.
The session with the students
was followed by a brief meeting
with members of the media. At
this event, this reporter was able to
ask questions that came from our
Hebrew High students. Kenny
Gould, a sophomore at Providence
Day, asked if there were any
aspects of the world that Professor
Wiesel still had a negative view
of When I asked him this ques
tion, Wiesel responded almost
softly, yet his voice was intense.
“Of course,” he said. “Darfur.
Russia. Organized protests in
“Inscription of Hope” was made
by Sarah Robins of Temple Beth
El, whose brother Harold had been
one of the twelve students who
followed “In the Footsteps of Elie
Wiesel” during his visit here in
Charlotte.
Wiesel began his presentation
with a discussion from the Book
of Job. “God can be unfair and
unjust. ... But God is not indiffer
ent. ...”
He illustrated the indifference
in human beings with a story of
his return to Auschwitz. He met
with a priest who lived in a house
in the town. In Wiesel’s memory,
the camp was isolated, far from
(Continued on page 6)