People exit the Fifth Avenue Synagogue during the funeral for Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel in NY on July 3, 2016.
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Among the attendees was Abraham Foxman, former national director of the Anti-Defamation League. Through his speeches, achievements and example, we were honored to have Elie Wiesel as a loved and revered leader of the Jewish people, and a persistent, eloquent voice on behalf of the human rights of all.
Wiesel shared the harrowing story of his internment at Auschwitz as a teenager through his classic memoir “Night”, one of the most widely read and discussed books of the 20th century.
Wiesel was vice chairman of the council of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
“Today, we mourn the loss of legendary New Yorker, author and activist Elie Wiesel”, Cuomo said in the news release.
He died on Saturday, aged 87.
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Wiesel is best known for his groundbreaking work Night, a book describes the horrors he experienced as a Jewish survivor of the Nazi death camps of the Holocaust during World War II. Like Wiesel, he was 87. “But those who knew him in private life had the pleasure of experiencing a gentle and devout man who was always interested in others, and whose quiet voice moved them to better themselves”, he said in a statement. “Now he can challenge the Almighty much closer and maybe he’ll get some answers, which he asked, but never got the answers to”.
