When March of the Living national director Eli Rubenstein shares inspirational stories about Holocaust survival later this month, he hopes to inspire people to put their empathy to good use.
Eli Rubenstein
Rubenstein said he will use the chassidic Jewish tradition of storytelling during the March 30 lecture titled “Stories to Heal a Broken World,” which is sponsored by the University of Toronto’s Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies.
“I’m using storytelling because there is a chassidic idea that the act of telling a story itself can save the world,” Rubenstein explained.
“When you hear a story you become part of the story. You place yourself in the shoes of the person in the story and you develop, probably the most important human quality, which is empathy. If you have empathy, that is the key to making the world a better place.”
Rubenstein, who is also the founder of the Canadian March of Remembrance and Hope program, said that storytelling is a powerful tool because it can inspire people to act.
“When you tell a story, people are drawn into the characters, drawn into the narrative and they may ask themselves, ‘What would I have done and what can I do in some small way to emulate the heroism and the courage of the people who resisted during those times of darkness?’” he said.
Rubenstein said that through March of the Living, he has been exposed to “exceptionally moving and touching moments of reconciliation and healing,” and he hopes to share those stories with the gathering.
“These are stories of heroism and courage and righteousness and bravery that existed in the Jews who resisted the Nazis and the Jews who saved each others’ lives.”
Rubenstein said he recently heard an idea from Naomi Azrieli, the executive director of the Azrieli Foundation which publishes Holocaust testimonials, that resonated deeply with him.
“Nobody survived the Holocaust without the help, sacrifice and courage of somebody else. Somebody had to open a door for you, someone had to give you a smile, give you hope, give you shoes, bread, a helping hand,” Rubenstein said.
“So much of the Holocaust [narrative] is tied up with understanding the barbarian cruelty – That is real and we have to understand that… but there isn’t a single survivor today who isn’t alive because of the heroism of either his fellow Jews or… people who are righteous among the nations who risked their lives to save them.”
Rubenstein referred to the controversy that arose last year following the publication of Jenny Peto’s master’s thesis titled “The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education,” which accused Jews of using Holocaust education to maintain a victim identity and promote their Zionistic ideologies.
Rubenstein called the allegations “harsh and unfounded,” and added that he hopes the stories he shares at the lecture will help people better understand the goal of programs like March of the Living.
“[The goal is] to heal ourselves and the world of the wounds of the past, by confronting humanity’s tragic history in the very places where the actual events unfolded.”
Ato Quayson, an English professor and the director of the centre, said he wanted Rubenstein to be a part of the upcoming event because “he is a great collector of stories and a storyteller himself. He is such a great communicator.”
He said he hopes the stories will be used for “healing purposes” and will “help us understand the world and how to live in it.”
He added that the purpose of story telling is “to give the listeners a chance to pause and wonder about the degree of inhumanity” that humans are capable of.
“Man is capable of all kinds of beauty, but they are also capable of the worst damnation,” Quayson said.
“It doesn’t matter whether I’m Jewish or not… it doesn’t matter whether I’m African and I’m familiar with African slavery. All that matters is that I’m human and that I’m sensitive to the pain of others.”
