Bernie Madoff “made-off” with a bundle of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel’s money. Wiesel says (1) That he is unwilling to forgive Madoff and (2) That if he was going to forgive, Madoff would need to come begging.
What do you think? Does Wiesel have the right approach to forgiveness?
NEW YORK (CNN) — Elie Wiesel, the Nazi concentration camp survivor who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, showed little inclination this week to make peace with accused swindler Bernie Madoff, whom he called “one of the greatest scoundrels, thieves, liars, criminals.”
Then, once Madoff had gained his trust, Wiesel invested all $15.2 million that his foundation had amassed, he said.
Elie Wiesel called on the federal government to bail out charities just as it has bailed out carmakers and banks.
“Could I forgive him? No,” the 80-year-old told a panel assembled Thursday by Conde Nast’s Portfolio Magazine at New York’s 21 Club to discuss Madoff, whose alleged victims included Wiesel and his foundation, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.
“To forgive, first of all, would mean that he would come on his knees and ask for forgiveness,” the Auschwitz survivor said. “He wouldn’t do that.”
Madoff, 70, is accused of running a Ponzi scheme that may have cost investors up to $50 billion. He faces one charge of securities fraud in connection with an international scheme that has cost some investors their life savings and could land him in prison for up to 20 years.
Wiesel said a wealthy friend who has known Madoff for 50 years introduced them. The two men met twice over dinner, and Wiesel checked with financial experts whom he trusted before investing all of his and his wife’s personal money.
Read the whole thing here.
HT: Thanks to Mike Wittmer to pointing me to this story.
The short answer to this question is, “No”.
This is a hard one because I, like most people, have a tremendous amount of respect for Wiesel. He has come to represent the importance of not staying quiet in the face of evil & injustice. Wiesel said that even IF Mr. Madoff were to apologize he would NOT forgive. This response does NOT follow the biblical pattern of forgiveness that is laid out in the Bible. His comment about Madoff having to come begging on his knees is completely understandable but also NOT biblical.
The Bible gives us the model of forgiveness (Eph 4:32) and Wiesel’s stance allows no room for this. He’s indicated that even with repentance he would NOT forgive. So, as hard as it is to say, the answer is that Wiesel does not have the right approach to forgiveness…but then he doesn’t profess to be a Christian either.
I think Wiesel said that it’s not an issue because Madoff won’t ask for forgiveness. But I think he is implying that he wouldn’t forgive anyway.
Chris, do you know if Wiesel forgave any of the Nazi’s who killed Jews? It would be interesting to know if he forgave them but not Madoff.
You’re right. Wiesel did say that Madoff would have to ask. But, he didn’t commit if Madoff did ask that he would forgive him.
I don’t know of Wiesel forgiving any Nazis. I don’t get think he did, but wouldn’t want to say that categorically.
A certain Systematic Professor who called his students “Clyde” used to say that Americans would read the imprecatory Psalms a lot differently if we had lived through the Holocaust. . . which in many way was the beginning of my study in forgiveness.
Christina, I agree with your answer. Wiesel didn’t offer grace in any sense that I saw to Wiesel.