Hundredth Lecture, With More to Come

The line outside Metcalf Hall started forming at 5 p.m. on Monday evening, and seven or eight elderly people occupied the few chairs in the lobby on the second floor of Boston University’s George Sherman Union. Half an hour later, the size of the line had tripled, to include students and older folks alike. The doors did not open until six, but the queue waited patiently for the first lecture in a series by Professor Elie Wiesel.

Professor Wiesel is one of BU’s most famous faculty members. The 81-year-old Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities is a Holocaust survivor, published writer, activist and Novel Prize winner. His open lecture series is a BU tradition that began 34 years ago. It has touched on many historical themes and events, drawing from the Bible, the Holocaust and contemporary issues.

In his introductory speech to Monday night’s lecture, President Emeritus John Silber noted that it was Wiesel’s hundredth lecture since beginning the annual tradition over three decades ago for BU students. “Those young, eager students are now parents and grandparents,” Silber said from the stage. “It is interesting to recall what has happened in these intervening 34 years.”

The theme of Monday’s lecture was “A Judge Named Deborah,” and discussed Deborah and other women who were involved in her story. In his lecture, Wiesel said that he chose to discuss Deborah because of all the great matriarchs in Jewish history, “she, Deborah, alone, was appointed by God to be his messenger and spokesperson.”  The lecture was a straightforward discussion of Deborah’s narrative, broken occasionally by commentary and context.

While he did not glamorize or exaggerate the role of women in biblical history, he did indicate the possibility of a theme in a future lecture series.

“On day I hope we can devote a session to the role of women in Judaism,” he said.

Wiesel closed by challenging the audience, leaving the listener to infer from the lecture what, exactly, the lesson was.

“If we, here and elsewhere, are to grow from biblical memories… if we are here to learn a lesson… then what is this lesson?” asked Wiesel.

Professor Wiesel’s lecture series will continue next Monday, November 1, and will discuss “The Rebbe of Ger: A Tragedy in Hasidism.” The final lecture will take place on November 8, and will cover “Ethos and Contemporary Issues.” Both lectures will take place in BU’s Metcalf hall, beginning at 7PM. Doors open at 6PM.