It is reported that Eli Wiesel is to receive an honorary knighthood next November in recognition of his services to Shoah education in the UK.
While it is important for us to always remember and educate about the Holocaust, we as Jews need to remember that everyday there are people suffering at the hands of tyrants around the world. If we don't speak up, if we don't pressure our governments to do everything in their power to try and stop these people, whether in Iran, Iraq, Darfur, Cosovo or wherever in the world it is happening, then we are no better than the Germans and its' allies were in the 1930's and 40's.
As Eli Wiesel said:
"How can a citizen of a free country not pay attention? How can anyone, anywhere not feel outraged? How can a person, whether religious or secular, not be moved by compassion? And above all, how can anyone who remembers remain silent? As a Jew who does not compare any event to the Holocaust, I feel concerned and challenged by the Sudanese tragedy. We must be involved. How can we reproach the indifference of non-Jews to Jewish suffering if we remain indifferent to another people's plight?"
