In this lecture, Dr. Alan Rosen, who has written extensively on the life and writing of Elie Wiesel, explores a theme central to many of the Nobel Peace laureate’s works, that of becoming a “soul on fire.” Drawing upon Chasidic tradition and masters, Professor Wiesel counters the enveloping fire of the Holocaust with the visionary fire of the Jewish tradition. Dr. Rosen will discuss how capturing the fire becomes a means of transforming the evil of the Holocaust—and, in the end, transforming our world as well.

Dr. Rosen is the author of Sounds of Defiance: The Holocaust, Multilingualism, and the Problem of English and the editor of Approaches to Teaching Wiesel’s Night. His most recent books, Elie Wiesel: Jewish, Literary, and Moral Perspectives, co-edited with Steven T. Katz, and Literature of the Holocaust, were published in 2013. Dr. Rosen lives in Jerusalem, where he lectures frequently at Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Education.