Posted on 9/16/08, after use in Prof. David Eckel's CC101 lecture on Exodus.

In the following interview with Ronald Eyre, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Nazi concentration camp survivor Elie Wiesel comments on the distinctive character of Jewish tradition and its relationship to the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

As you listen to Prof. Wiesel's words, consider the following questions: What was the purpose of the revelation of the Torah? In what way does the Torah make it possible for people to be free? In what way does the Torah involve constraint? What does Prof. Wiesel mean when he says that Judaism involves “an aesthetical approach to life”? The complete video is on reserve at the Geddes Language Lab. If you would like to correspond or talk about any of these questions, feel free to contact Prof. Eckel by email.

This clip provided under fair use guidelines as a supplement to the study of Exodus in CC101: The Ancient World. From Judaism: The Chosen People, part 4 of the 13-part The Long Search series produced as a motion picture between 1973-1977 for transmission on BBC-2.