Elisha Weisel Interview on "Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire" (S3, E27)

In this deeply moving conversation, Rabbi Daniel Cohen sits down with Elisha Wiesel, son of Elie Wiesel, following the film Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire. Together, they explore what it means not only to remember—but to carry memory forward as a moral responsibility.Elisha reflects on the private side of his father: a man who treated every individual with dignity, who listened deeply, and who lived his values not just in writing, but in everyday human encounters. He shares the complexity of inheriting such a legacy—moving from the burden of being “the son of a witness” to embracing his own role as a witness in today’s world.The discussion wrestles with some of the most enduring questions of Jewish life and human responsibility: how to hold faith alongside doubt, how to resist indifference in a noisy and often desensitized world, and how each of us can create “messianic moments” through our actions. As Elisha recalls, his father believed that identity and responsibility are inseparable—“don’t separate yourself from the community”—a principle that continues to shape how memory lives on. At its core, this episode is not just about the past. It is about what we choose to do with it. In a world that risks forgetting, this conversation challenges us to become carriers of memory, transforming remembrance into action—and refusing, above all, the quiet danger of indifference.