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Wise Men and Their Tales: Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Masters

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The name "Israel" means something like "he who wrestles with God". And one of the unique things about the Jewish faith, is that it is the only major world religion whose adherents feel free to dispute with their Maker.

After his horrible traumas in the Holocaust, Wiesel thought for a while that he was through with religion. But his own children came along, and he found himself teaching them Torah. So he has stayed connected with his tradition, however uneasily, and has produced some genuine Jewish classics over the years, questioning all the while.

This tradition of dispute is the real subject here, not so much the sketches of the minor Biblical characters. For each, Wiesel records their appearances in Scripture, and wonders why they meet the fates that they do. "Why" is the constant refrain. Why does Miriam get a harsher punishment than the others around her? Why does Lot's wife look back; and why doesn't Lot? Why is Aaron such a jellyfish? The Almighty isn't talking, so Wiesel just records his puzzlement and sometimes his dismay, and moves on.

This book isn't as rewarding as his first collection of tales of the Hasidim, _Souls On Fire_. Even the most goyish reader could feel part of the Hasidic family in that warm, wonderful book. This one isn't quite up to that level. But he does take the reader places, and it is good to more closely consider these lesser Biblical characters. Even if we don't get all the answers he asks for.

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel returns to thoughtful biography of major figures of Judaism in this fine collection. A modern-day prophet, Wiesel commands our attention because of his moving personal story of perseverance in the face of unspeakable horror (which he tells unforgettably in Night (Oprah's Book Club)), because of his wonderfully beautiful poetic prose, and because of his extraordinary insight.

In this volume, Wiesel addresses Ishamel, Hagar, Lot's wife, Aaron, Miriam, Nadab, Abihu, Esau, Jethro, Gideon, Samson, Saul, Samuel, Isaiah, and Hosea among Biblical characters, as well as Tarfon, Yehoshua ben Levi, Abbaye, and Rava among Talmudic sages and Zanz and Sadigur among the Hasidic masters.

This is territory that Wiesel has periodically explored before. He writes of other Biblical characters in Messengers of God: Biblical portraits and legends (where he tells of Adam, Cain, Abel, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Job), Five Biblical Portraits (where he tells of Joshua, Elijah, Saul, Jeremiah, and Jonah), Sages and Dreamers: Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Portraits and Legends (where he tells of Noah, Jephthah and his daughter, Ruth, Solomon, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther), and in his chapter in the anthology Congregation: Contemporary Writers Read the Jewish Bible (Ezekiel again). He also writes on Talmudic sages in Sages and Dreamers: Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Portraits and Legends. And he also writes of Hasidic Sages in Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters and Four Hasidic Masters and Their Struggle Against Melancholy (Ward-Phillips Lectures in English Language & Literature).

Wiesel repeatedly helps us to see surprisingly fresh perspectives in these long-examined vistas. His reexamination proves the enduring value of the great Biblical Texts. And with the significance of his contribution, he reassures us of the continuing worth of the human soul.