The Sunflower_ On the Possibilities and - Wiesenthal, Simon copy

there is much more here than a mere intellectual exercise which you have given us. It implies
that if we think we have answers or an answer, we are also offering assurances that what we
propose will somehow satisfy the moral dilemma. It also suggests that we who answer also
are prepared to engage ourselves in validating the accuracy (dare one say, the truth) of our
response. An answer involves our willingness to attest to or affirm, by our personal
involvement and commitment, the genuineness of our assertion. I dare not answer unless I am
also ready to act; that is reason enough for pause.
Your experience was part and parcel of a moment in history, as it is often observed, when
even God was silent! I am struck most by your recounting your conversation with Arthur
who tells you of the old woman in the Ghetto. When asked for news of when you and your
comrades might get out of the camp or when you might be slaughtered, she says in effect,
there is no news, for God is on leave. Perhaps there was a moment—one which you and
millions of others experienced—which was so beyond the pale of comprehension that even
God was silent. If God was silent, dare any of us speak?