review
The beggar of Jerusalem is a book from 1968 (Dutch translation 1987) by Elie Wiesel. It is about the main character David who witnesses the capture of Jerusalem during the Six Day War of 1967. David reflects both the actual events and the conscience. At the Wailing Wall, which returns to Israel, old and new Israel meet. This is where the stories emerge of people reliving past events.
data
- title: The beggar of Jerusalem
- author: Elie Wiesel
- year: 1987 (1968)
- publisher: Gooi en Sticht
- ISBN: 90-304-0381-0
Contents of the book ‘The beggar of Jerusalem’
The book has two main themes:
- The people of Israel experiencing the 1967 war that will have a profound impact on all Jews both inside and outside Israel.
- The Jewish people who through the ages are calling for the completion of their religious mission.
Both meet at the Wailing Wall. Jerusalem is the meeting point where people relive the events of the past. All people arrive as a beggar but leave Jerusalem richer in faith and conviction.
Why should the 1967 war be deeply engraved in the memory of the Jewish people? Before the war, many Jews held their hearts again. Would they fall victim to another mass slaughter? Israel was a ghetto, the ‘Warsaw Ghetto’ that was to revolt again. In the first part of the book, different people come together to reminisce about the past when Jews were also constantly threatened and massacred. Israel needed the victory to stay alive. And that eventually worked. The second part of the book ends with that.
How did Elie Wiesel come up with the idea for this book? After the war he was in the Old City of Jerusalem and saw thousands of men and women marching along the wall. These were permeated with the strange, reflective ceremony. Wiesel thought he recognized them, the living along with the dead (from the Holocaust and other massacres). They had come out of exile, freed from all cemeteries and all memories. Some seemed to be from Wiesel’s childhood, others were a product of his imagination from all his books: silent madmen, dreamy beggars, masters and disciples, the cantors and their congregations, the righteous and their enemies, the drunken people and the storytellers , the dead and immortal children. They testified through Elie Wiesel. They parted and Wiesel called for them to unite.
View from Etsel
This is not an easy book to read. It is important to read the introduction first and to realize what thoughts Elie Wiesel played with before writing this book. When you realize this, you will read the book more easily, although many thoughts of figures are mixed up. Many memories emerge that often make it difficult to follow the storyline properly. You may have to read the book 2 or 3 times to realize how well it works. Wiesel understands the art of interweaving current events in modern Israel with the mission of the Jewish people. The old Wailing Wall is the meeting point of the ‘new’ people of Israel and the ‘old’ Jewish people. They are inextricably linked. Hence, among the people he observes, Wiesel also finds people from his own childhood who are no longer alive but who in fact also belong to the new Israel. This seems to be Wiesel’s fantasy, but it is not necessary at all. Judaism believes in reincarnation. So it is quite possible that the souls of people who were previously killed in massacres may have later returned to the bodies of other people who are now alive. It is therefore quite possible that the deceased of the Holocaust still ended up in Israel through another body.
A beautiful but difficult to read book that – as I mentioned earlier – should be read 2 or 3 times.