It’s not a binary choice between silent and strident

“What can I do” is a common question circling our collective conversations these days. From the bushfires, followed by Covid, followed by October 7, and all the wars and worries in between, there is a communal grappling of sorts, for wisdom, for guidance and for hope.

I met author and teacher Rabbi Dr Ariel Burger in 2019 at the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, when he was on tour for his book, Witness - Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, which chronicles the intimate conversations between himself and Wiesel over their decades-long friendship of studying and teaching together.

Following the book’s positive reception, Burger and Wiesel’s son Elisha co-founded The Witness Institute, a project dedicated to continuing the work of Elie Wiesel to build a more moral world.

Burger returns to Australia this weekend to feature at SJWF. Reflecting on 2019, he says “he felt such a sense of resonance and connection” with Australian Jewry. “And given everything that's happening in the world and in the Jewish world, it also feels important to weave connections wherever possible and bring whatever I can to people who are carrying so much.”

“It feels like we're in semi-biblical times,” says Burger, when I tell him that it feels like the world is moving from one unprecedented event to another. “We're going through a lot of eruptions and convulsions of history, and I'm sure there's more to come,” he says. “So we need to be focusing on the core existential questions of who we are, how we operate, how we can evolve and grow together.

“How do we tackle the issues and challenges in a way that keeps the long view very much in mind, that is as holistic as possible, that looks at contingencies and collateral damage and results, and not just at the next immediate problem and the next immediate step in isolation?”

Burger says when we look at Jewish history, we find a lot of hope and resilience. “We find the miracle of Jewish survival, the miracle of human survival, the miracle that there are still people who are working for peace and for hope and for kindness in the world.”

He says one of the core challenges and opportunities for us right now is to choose hope, “because we know from Professor Wiesel that hope is a choice”.

One of Wiesel’s most famous quotes ends with the line, “silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented”. I share with Burger how these words keep replaying for me post-October 7 and the difficulty and feelings of despondency in navigating silence and action, especially alongside a very volatile online world.

He says the question of how not to be silent is important, “because usually nowadays, in the way it's presented to us, we are either silent or we are shrill and strident”. Burger suggests there are other “options on the menu” and this starts with asking the question daily: What can I do?, ‘How can I do more?, as a kind of practice.

“Because every day you might have a new answer, or you might have no answer for weeks or months and then get an answer. But the question itself is a practice, it doesn't need to be answered right away. If we're not asking the question, we're not really moving. We're not open to an answer or a response. But if we ask the question over and over again, something might happen.”

Burger has been asking this question since October 7 and before. Sometimes the answer is reaching out to someone who is isolated, or befriending someone who is engaged in peacemaking activities.

“And it's not a binary choice between silence and a strident, angry social media post,” says Burger. There is an opportunity to keep asking, says Burger, “What can I say that hasn't been said that can play a role here in shifting things, in softening a conversation?

“Or creating a sharp edge to a conversation that isn't there, or breaking open a new possibility for thinking differently, or giving people an experience in their bodies of human connection, or allowing people to grieve together?”

This doesn’t rule out a place for boldness and clarity, says Burger. “I know many of us feel frozen or paralysed by the discourse and by the complexity and by the hatred levelled against us. But we have to really do the work of contemplative practice and small group conversations, to create real opportunities for clarifying our own thinking.”

The Witness Institute is currently working on a pilot program of this nature for the public.

One Wiesel quote that speaks to this is: “think higher and feel deeper”, says Burger. He points to the tension between head and heart, acknowledging that our vulnerability and openness to suffering can make it hard for us to think strategically. “But we have a responsibility to cultivate both and to integrate them.”

Burger adds that there is also a place for anger and says he is sometimes surprised by the absence of anger in the Jewish community. “I wish that at every gathering of Jews today, there was a moment where for 30 seconds we all screamed at the top of our lungs. Because each of us is carrying that scream in us.

“And what we're doing instead of screaming, is giving fairly polite speeches and talking about policy recommendations. And all of that has a place, but to give voice to that [anger] in a responsible way could be very healing.”

Moving from a reactive place to a more strategic place is at the core of Burger’s vision and crucial to the “thinking higher” part of Wiesel’s quote. “How are we going to hold a realistic vision of peace and accountability for our leaders and for the elements in Palestinian society who are against peace explicitly?

“How are we going to clarify the facts in a world of such misinformation and disinformation and propaganda? And how are we going to call out our own leaders when they fail us as well? All these things require a lot of clear-headed thought, but we're not able to think well if we have unprocessed emotion.”

Burger also refers to Wiesel’s notion of a “mystical madness” to counter the real madness of violence and hatred that we’re seeing in the world. He is adamant that we need to expand our repertoire to avert this cycle and have “a willingness to go outside of the normal bounds of politeness and social conditioning into places we don’t normally go.

“We're called to do that because if we keep throwing the same tools and methods at new, unfolding, life-changing, world-shaking problems, we are not going to address them.”

Rabbi Dr Ariel Burger will be in conversation with Michaela Kalowski on Ethical leadership in a complex world, at SJWF on Sunday, August 25, from 11.30am-12.15pm. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.