Witness

By: Ariel Burger

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Length: 8 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

The world remembers Elie Wiesel - Nobel laureate, activist, and author of more than 40 books, including Oprah's Book Club selection Night - as a great humanist. He passed away in July 2016.

Ariel Burger first met Elie Wiesel at age 15. They studied together and taught together. Witness chronicles the intimate conversations between these two men over decades as Burger sought counsel on matters of intellect, spirituality, and faith while navigating his own personal journey from boyhood to manhood, from student and assistant to rabbi and, in time, teacher.

In this profoundly hopeful, thought-provoking, and inspiring audiobook, Burger takes us into Elie Wiesel's classroom, where the art of listening and storytelling conspire to keep memory alive. As Wiesel's teaching assistant, Burger gives us a front-row seat witnessing these remarkable exchanges in and out of the classroom. The act of listening, of sharing these stories, makes of us, the listeners, witnesses.

©2018 Ariel Burger (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

The heartfelt story that I needed

The story that I didn't know I needed. I'm grateful for the healthy tears, for feeling less alone, for the lesson in how to be a slightly better person, and for being able to know this irreplaceable man a little bit better.
Thank you.

Truly Wonderful!!!

This is my third listen. It is truly a wonderful story offering much to think on & consider. I love the reader. When he reads as Eli I feel like I am sitting in Eli’s classroom. Ariel does a fantastic job of bringing us into dialogue with Eli, a true prophet.♥️ I like to fall asleep listening to it because it allows my mind to find rest in the ideals of a humanity which I believe is possible if we learn to ask the correct questions. 🙏🏽 Thanks Ariel for writing & sharing this!!🙏🏽💕🙏🏼 A real gift!! Just like Eli said, “Your story is as important as his.”

GREAT

This is such a tribute to Elie Wiesel, a great human being.
I highly recommend listening, making me go back to listening to “Night” once again, JK

Great

This is a fantastic book. It is a great and inspiring story of love, faith, and passion.

Many jewels here, but....

While I am happy I audibled this book because of its insights about a truly great man, it was bogged down by entirely too many references, stories, and lectures about the author and his experiences. The word “I” appears in nearly every sentence. While the author does a fine job giving great insights into the life of a great man, the book needs editing taking out irrelevant facts and the author’s obsession about his own feelings and experiences.

Inspiring

Excellent reading of an inspirational memoir full of wisdom and moral guidance. A great introduction to Elie Wiesel the teacher.

Insightful Read

I now understand the story behind the man much better. iInsightful read and a good book

Touching and enlightening

This is one of those books you will not want to stop listening to until it’s over! The content was extremely engaging and I not only learned so much but was also extremely touched time and time again. A must read/listen!

Fitting Tribute for a Beloved Teacher and Friend

I had the tremendous good fortune of studying with Professor Wiesel as an undergraduate. The experience was profoundly transformative for me and for my classmates, many of whom have gone on to teach, to serve, and to organize on behalf of the voiceless. This book is a fitting tribute to a great humanitarian and masterful teacher – someone who knew intimately what it meant to lose everything, and yet who insisted on keeping faith with his students, his maker, and humanity as a whole.

This book represents a durable contribution to Professor Wiesel’s legacy. Ariel Burger has done an admirable job capturing the alluring and ineffable quality of his master’s presence; listening to his stories from the classroom, I was transported back to that seminar where, so many years ago, Professor Wiesel turned to me, too, with that mischievous mix of seriousness and pleasure in his eye, to ask, “And where is God in all this? What do you think?” As if my thoughts and feeling carried real weight even for this great and learned man who had seen so much, written so much, done so much – a man who wrestled with God and leaders of men, trying to bring justice into the world, yet who cared intently about each student’s journey of moral and intellectual discovery.

It feels appropriate, too, that Rabbi Burger has put so much of himself into this book. As Professor Wiesel’s longtime student and teaching assistant, his own life reflects the great teacher’s contribution to the world every bit as much as do the prizes and foundations that bear his name. Indeed, I believe Rabbi Burger speaks for each of who were touched by Professor Wiesel’s teaching. For the essential thing about studying with him, no matter how brief or sustained the encounter, was the way he made you feel seen and heard. Not in the ordinary sense that any decent teacher will pay careful attention to his or her students, but in some deeper way – as if he somehow knew that each person contains a more authentic self inside them, and it is for want of this self that the world continues in darkness and oppression. I think he truly believed that each of us is, at bottom, wildly in love with truth and beauty and justice. And seeing this reflected in his eyes, we each felt that better person awaken in ourselves.

Maybe it woke a little and fell back asleep under the pressures and concerns of making it through adult life. But the memory is there, all the same. And that makes a difference.

Elie Wiesel is sorely missed. The world needs his voice more than ever, and we should all be lucky to have such a mentor in our lives. Yet he lives in the memory of his students – and now, in this delightful book, which really does bring his character to life. For that I am grateful.

Too much Ariel Burger, not enough Elie Wiesel

Author spends way too much time talking about his own life and challenges and superfluous information from classroom excerpts. I was expecting a lot more of Elie's wisdom. Slow reading, sounds find at 1.25X.