‘The Holocaust Did Not Begin with Killing; It Began With Words.’

“I would say to young people a number of things, and I have only one minute. I would say, let them remember that there is a meaning beyond absurdity. Let them be sure that every little deed counts, that every word has power, and that we can do — every one — our share to redeem the world despite of all absurdities and all the frustration and all disappointments. And above all, remember that the meaning of life is to live life as it if were a work of art. You’re not a machine. When you are young, start working on this great work of art called your own existence.”

— Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel in 1972, quoted from this 2012 On Being Interview

Untitled (jew) William Anastasi. 1987. The Jewish Museum.

In the week since 11 were slain at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, I have thought a lot about Rabbi Heschel, about the power of words and art for healing, about what is the place of a writer or a storyteller; someone who is an outsider to a…