A new essay from Cleary Vaughn-Lee’s Go Project:
Our core mission as an education organization is to highlight our common humanity. How can we learn through stories from individuals and communities around the world experiencing social, cultural, and environmental change? What does it mean to be human?
It is with great pleasure to share a new essay that expresses our mission so beautifully by author and artist Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger, “Learning and Teaching from the Heart in Troubled Times.” Ideas for the essay originate from Burger’s book, Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, which I highly recommend.
Burger was a friend and apprentice of Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, author, activist, and Nobel Prize winner. His book explores their unique relationship and the teachings of Wiesel, who was a professor at Boston University for close to four decades. Burger captures Wiesel’s love of learning, which he describes is what saved Wiesel and what compelled him to teach. Professor Wiesel once said, “that education, when designed with a focus on morality and humanism, could change the course of human history.”
“Can we fight against injustice with moral ferocity? And yet, keep our hearts open?” Burger explains that this is a great challenge for students and teachers today, and while we live in such divisive times, it is more important than ever.
Wiesel emphasized that “Questions connect us to one another, while answers separate us. Questions open us, while answers close us. There is quest in question.” I wonder how students will respond to this thought.
“It is not enough to know the facts. We must take things—history, current events—personally,” said Wiesel. When we do, writes Burger, we can “embrace new ways of thinking, learn new habits of questioning, and ultimately, find a deeper sense of common humanity.”
I hope you enjoy the essay. And, as always, we’d love to hear from you.
All the best,
Cleary Vaughan-Lee
Executive Director