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Filled with Fire and Light: Portraits and Legends from the Bible, Talmud, and Hasidic World
Magnificent insights into the lives of biblical prophets and kings, Talmudic sages, and Hasidic rabbis, from one of the world's most honored and beloved teachers.
From a multitude of sources, Elie Wiesel culls facts, legends, and anecdotes to give us fascinating portraits of notable figures throughout Jewish history--from the Kingdom of Israel in the ninth century B.C.E. to nineteenth-century Eastern Europe. Here is the prophet Elisha, the beloved disciple of Elijah--wonder-worker and advisor to kings, whose deep compassion for those in need is matched only by his fiery temper. Here is the renowned scholar Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, whose ingenuity in escaping from Jerusalem on the eve of its destruction by Titus's Roman legions in 70 C.E. laid the foundations for the rabbinic teachings and commentaries that both revolutionized the practice and study of Judaism and sustained the Jewish people for 2,000 years of ongoing exile. And here is Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chabad Hasidism, languishing in a Czarist jail in St. Petersburg in 1798 for 53 days, the victim of a false accusation, engaging in theological discussions with his jailers that would form the basis for Chabad's legendary method of engagement with the world at large.
The contributions to the Jewish experience made by these and other spiritual masters profiled in this book have been profound and eternal. In recounting their life stories, and in delving into the struggles of human beings trying to create meaningful lives touched with sparks of the divine, Wiesel challenges and inspires us all to find purpose and transcendence in our own lives.
From a multitude of sources, Elie Wiesel culls facts, legends, and anecdotes to give us fascinating portraits of notable figures throughout Jewish history--from the Kingdom of Israel in the ninth century B.C.E. to nineteenth-century Eastern Europe. Here is the prophet Elisha, the beloved disciple of Elijah--wonder-worker and advisor to kings, whose deep compassion for those in need is matched only by his fiery temper. Here is the renowned scholar Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, whose ingenuity in escaping from Jerusalem on the eve of its destruction by Titus's Roman legions in 70 C.E. laid the foundations for the rabbinic teachings and commentaries that both revolutionized the practice and study of Judaism and sustained the Jewish people for 2,000 years of ongoing exile. And here is Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chabad Hasidism, languishing in a Czarist jail in St. Petersburg in 1798 for 53 days, the victim of a false accusation, engaging in theological discussions with his jailers that would form the basis for Chabad's legendary method of engagement with the world at large.
The contributions to the Jewish experience made by these and other spiritual masters profiled in this book have been profound and eternal. In recounting their life stories, and in delving into the struggles of human beings trying to create meaningful lives touched with sparks of the divine, Wiesel challenges and inspires us all to find purpose and transcendence in our own lives.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published November 2, 2021
34 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
About the author
Elie Wiesel
278 books4,599 followersEliezer "Elie" Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
In his political activities Wiesel became a regular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust and remained a strong defender of human rights during his lifetime. He also advocated for many other causes like the state of Israel and against Hamas and victims of oppression including Soviet and Ethiopian Jews, the apartheid in South Africa, the Bosnian genocide, Sudan, the Kurds and the Armenian genocide, Argentina's Desaparecidos or Nicaragua's Miskito people.
He was a professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He was involved with Jewish causes and human rights causes and helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Wiesel was awarded various prestigious awards including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and remained active in it throughout his life.
In his political activities Wiesel became a regular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust and remained a strong defender of human rights during his lifetime. He also advocated for many other causes like the state of Israel and against Hamas and victims of oppression including Soviet and Ethiopian Jews, the apartheid in South Africa, the Bosnian genocide, Sudan, the Kurds and the Armenian genocide, Argentina's Desaparecidos or Nicaragua's Miskito people.
He was a professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He was involved with Jewish causes and human rights causes and helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Wiesel was awarded various prestigious awards including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and remained active in it throughout his life.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 29, 2024
This was a really interesting read! I liked the essays in the section about Biblical figures the most, maybe because I am more familiar with the source material. It'd be interesting to read a similar collection but through a Sephardic lens.
February 21, 2022
Another excellent collection of Biblical, Talmudic and Hasidic portraits by the late Elie WieselElie Wiesel. It was bittersweet reading this final collection, edited and published posthumously, but it succeeds in bringing to life characters from tales and history, making them more real. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is it rambled in sections, not surprising since some of it was taken from lectures and not edited by the author. Nonetheless, it's a valuable addition to my Judaica library and my collection of Wiesel tales going back to Souls on Fire.
April 4, 2022
Ta shema, come closer and listen. Listen to tales and legends about ancient teachers and their immortal teachings. Listen to their words filled with fire and light, words they have received and transmitted across centuries of exile and longing.
Read at the same time with several books about wisdom traditions, which felt like an extending mind exercise, weaving all these disparate threads or songs together into a symphony. Annie Dillard revealed the Hasidic prayer I have adopted as mine: When you walk across the field with your mind pure and holy, then from all the stones, and all growing things, and all animals, the sparks of their souls come out and cling to you, and then they are purified and become a holy fire in you. I cared for many Hasidic Jewish people in New York at the beginning of my career, and feel a deep affinity for some of the mystical ideas. I apologize if I am de-sacralizing or offensive, but they speak to my heart and I honor their place in the canon of wisdom of humans.
This book was a dense, tough look at history and storytelling, not for everyone. I recommend Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of The Hasidic Masters Hardcover by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi for a more lyrical, expansive view if interested.
Did prophets reveal the future? No. The present occupied them more deeply than the future. What they did was unravel the significance of the present so as to understand its consequences for the future.
Despair never was—never will be—a Jewish answer to adversity.
Truth remains true even if we do nothing. Rabbi Uri of Strelisk, the Seraph
I know nothing, nothing at all, he said. All I know is that I must envelop myself in the here and now and shout Shema Yisrael! Hear, O Israel! Rabbi Uri of Strelisk, the Seraph
We know of God only what He wants us to know, only what He reveals to us. God himself will forever transcend human comprehension and philosophical formulations.
For a believer, God is and therefore is everywhere—in every being, in every sight, in every sound. For a nonbeliever, it is the absence of God that fills the universe. And yet, even the nonbeliever is compelled to admit that there is one place from which God cannot be removed: the Bible. There is no other book so inspired, so dominated by God as the Book of Books. Some thinkers may imagine man or the cosmos without God, but not the Bible. Remove God from Scripture—and there is no Scripture.
As a Jew, I believe that it is possible to be a Jew with God or against God—but not without God. He is kind and harsh, demanding and forgiving, friendly and authoritarian, pleased and disappointed, and sad. At times, He sobs. A Midrash: When God sees the suffering of His children scattered among the nations, He sheds two tears that fall into the great ocean, producing mighty sounds that reverberate from one end of the world to the other.
So explain to me this passage from the Book of Genesis: Adam is running away from God and God asks him, ‘Ayeka, where are you?’ Now, how can that be? Is it conceivable? God who sees and knows everything does not know where Adam is?” “May I ask you a question first?” says the prisoner. The warden nods. “Do you believe in the Bible? Do you believe that it is divinely inspired? And that it transcends individuals just as it transcends time?” The warden nods again. “Then this is how one must read that passage. God is asking this question to all of humanity, throughout all of history: What is your place in this world? What have you done with the forty-six years that you have already lived?”
The fact that we wake up every morning, remember, fulfill our daily responsibilities, weep, laugh, and sing—is that not a miracle? The fact that we are given the power—and the right and the privilege—to question heaven and question ourselves, isn’t that both awesome and beautiful? The tree that grows and the person who watches it grow, the birds that fly and the person who listens to their song, the solitary wanderer and the silent companion who chooses to walk alongside him for a day, for an hour—are they not to be considered sources of wonder?
Read at the same time with several books about wisdom traditions, which felt like an extending mind exercise, weaving all these disparate threads or songs together into a symphony. Annie Dillard revealed the Hasidic prayer I have adopted as mine: When you walk across the field with your mind pure and holy, then from all the stones, and all growing things, and all animals, the sparks of their souls come out and cling to you, and then they are purified and become a holy fire in you. I cared for many Hasidic Jewish people in New York at the beginning of my career, and feel a deep affinity for some of the mystical ideas. I apologize if I am de-sacralizing or offensive, but they speak to my heart and I honor their place in the canon of wisdom of humans.
This book was a dense, tough look at history and storytelling, not for everyone. I recommend Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of The Hasidic Masters Hardcover by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi for a more lyrical, expansive view if interested.
Did prophets reveal the future? No. The present occupied them more deeply than the future. What they did was unravel the significance of the present so as to understand its consequences for the future.
Despair never was—never will be—a Jewish answer to adversity.
Truth remains true even if we do nothing. Rabbi Uri of Strelisk, the Seraph
I know nothing, nothing at all, he said. All I know is that I must envelop myself in the here and now and shout Shema Yisrael! Hear, O Israel! Rabbi Uri of Strelisk, the Seraph
We know of God only what He wants us to know, only what He reveals to us. God himself will forever transcend human comprehension and philosophical formulations.
For a believer, God is and therefore is everywhere—in every being, in every sight, in every sound. For a nonbeliever, it is the absence of God that fills the universe. And yet, even the nonbeliever is compelled to admit that there is one place from which God cannot be removed: the Bible. There is no other book so inspired, so dominated by God as the Book of Books. Some thinkers may imagine man or the cosmos without God, but not the Bible. Remove God from Scripture—and there is no Scripture.
As a Jew, I believe that it is possible to be a Jew with God or against God—but not without God. He is kind and harsh, demanding and forgiving, friendly and authoritarian, pleased and disappointed, and sad. At times, He sobs. A Midrash: When God sees the suffering of His children scattered among the nations, He sheds two tears that fall into the great ocean, producing mighty sounds that reverberate from one end of the world to the other.
So explain to me this passage from the Book of Genesis: Adam is running away from God and God asks him, ‘Ayeka, where are you?’ Now, how can that be? Is it conceivable? God who sees and knows everything does not know where Adam is?” “May I ask you a question first?” says the prisoner. The warden nods. “Do you believe in the Bible? Do you believe that it is divinely inspired? And that it transcends individuals just as it transcends time?” The warden nods again. “Then this is how one must read that passage. God is asking this question to all of humanity, throughout all of history: What is your place in this world? What have you done with the forty-six years that you have already lived?”
The fact that we wake up every morning, remember, fulfill our daily responsibilities, weep, laugh, and sing—is that not a miracle? The fact that we are given the power—and the right and the privilege—to question heaven and question ourselves, isn’t that both awesome and beautiful? The tree that grows and the person who watches it grow, the birds that fly and the person who listens to their song, the solitary wanderer and the silent companion who chooses to walk alongside him for a day, for an hour—are they not to be considered sources of wonder?
October 16, 2023
I was wondering, as I began Filled with Fire and Light, why I feel so interested in Jewish literature at the moment. My reading selection is random, haphazard even. When I finish a book I'll take it up to the library, return it to its proper spot and then scan titles until I see something that looks compelling. I might hover over a big Thackeray book that I've carried from home to home, always intending to read, but more likely I'll choose a title from one of the three or four authors I'm enjoying at any given time. Right now that list includes Elie Wiesel and Chaim Potok, two Jewish authors. What makes them so attractive to me? I think my brain, or possibly my soul, responds to the rigorous scholarship that Torah demands of the Jews. I feel a sort of artificial nostalgia for the Talmudic debates in The Chosen or the great academies of learning in Babylon and Jerusalem described in this book. The reverence for truth, for painstaking interpretation, and generations-long debates strike a very pleasing note within me. Even the narrow fundamentalism of the Tzaddik is admirable because of the careful study and labor required to arrive at his beliefs.
I feel it all the more in contrast with the charismatic slant of my own church. My guard is raised when someone begins speaking in tongues, but not when I read about the different translations of a Hebrew word. I feel suspicious when a synthesizer begins to play softly underneath a prayer but not when a psalm is quoted. The historicity of scripture has long been more fascinating to me than its mysticism. I recognize that I am sympathizing with the pedants that Jesus rebuked, but my interactions with other believers has made me more mistrustful of those led by strong conviction and poor scholarship than the other way around. How often have I heard well-meaning people defend a point with scripture that, read correctly, proves the opposite? Or use Jesus' name to justify their own opinions?
It's little wonder that I unconsciously sought stories of academic theology, when my own faith is so wary of manipulation, real or imagined. Of course, my brain is capable of deception in the same way my heart is, and I would benefit from more passion in my belief. In the meantime, I feel closest to God when I witness the intricate beauty of study and devotion to His word.
I feel it all the more in contrast with the charismatic slant of my own church. My guard is raised when someone begins speaking in tongues, but not when I read about the different translations of a Hebrew word. I feel suspicious when a synthesizer begins to play softly underneath a prayer but not when a psalm is quoted. The historicity of scripture has long been more fascinating to me than its mysticism. I recognize that I am sympathizing with the pedants that Jesus rebuked, but my interactions with other believers has made me more mistrustful of those led by strong conviction and poor scholarship than the other way around. How often have I heard well-meaning people defend a point with scripture that, read correctly, proves the opposite? Or use Jesus' name to justify their own opinions?
It's little wonder that I unconsciously sought stories of academic theology, when my own faith is so wary of manipulation, real or imagined. Of course, my brain is capable of deception in the same way my heart is, and I would benefit from more passion in my belief. In the meantime, I feel closest to God when I witness the intricate beauty of study and devotion to His word.
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February 14, 2022i wish i had read this a long time ago. It's fascinating to learn about the old prophets even if i don't agree or understand :) My impression of their worlds is that it's great they were able to study study study and teach but remember that while they were doing that, someone who apparently remained nameless! most of the time! was vacuuming the cave, as it were. i mean really. someone did the laundry, not only provided but did all the child care, rearing and let's face it risked their lives having children, and did everything else in order for these men to go off and do whatever they thought had to be done. It's all so patriarchal that it's hard to swallow. What words of wisdom did not get from all these women???
What could we have learned from them? just imagine.
What could we have learned from them? just imagine.
January 19, 2023
I did not realize Elie Wiesel gave talks and lectures up to his death in 2016. In this collection, a sampling of his talks was compiled that highlight some famous Jewish leaders as well as some general topics. I especially enjoyed his use of the Midrash and Talmud to supplement the stories. As a non-Jew I was not familiar with many of the figures and stories told in the book. I also recommend the audiobook to hear the correct pronunciation of the places and people discussed. I enjoyed all the stories from the middle section "From the Talmud" especially his discussion of Satan. It was a much different angle than many Christians are familiar with.
July 6, 2022
This was a lovely continuation in my Judaism studies. Wiesel & Fromm (the last book I read) have different takes, but not so different I felt conflicted. This is a look through the prophets - all their humanness and godliness. I liked the idea that man is supposed to talk to God himself - no intermediaries required. And that the texts are meant to be a debate among humans, not a debate with Heaven. Still don’t believe in a god, but I like when religion feels more rational to me. Or, if not rational, understandable.
June 25, 2023
Still diving into Talmud and the history of Judaism, so some of this was a little beyond my depth. Nevertheless, it was an informative read and a good introduction to well known figures in Judaic history.
July 2, 2023
This is the third work I have read by Elie Wiesel and I very much like his voice and storytelling ability. Ancient tales seem not to distant and long dead Jewish legends and masters come to feel like people you know well. I especially enjoyed the Talmudic section.
March 23, 2022
Elie Wiesel gives the reader a lot to think about. The only reason this book received a three was because I have a lack of background in the Jewish religion.
May 11, 2022
A very wise book, opening up an entire world I knew next to nothing about.
July 30, 2022
literally ate
August 21, 2023
Brilliant treatments of a variety of Biblical and Jewish characters
December 13, 2023
Fantastic way to get back into Jewish stories and studies
June 8, 2024
Very interesting
August 9, 2025
I was hoping for stories of the prophets. I got one. The rest were of rebbe’s
July 7, 2022
Unlike Elie Weisel's writings on the Holocaust, this book is summary of his favorites characters from his Judaic studies. If you enjoy studying Torah, you will want to read this book.
August 15, 2023
Wiesel's book "Filled with Fire and Light" provided depth to my scant knowledge about the Torah and the Talmud. He is remarkable in his ability to bring discovery into focus for the general reader.
February 7, 2025
I really enjoyed reading this, Elie Wiesel is an excellent storyteller, he paints beautiful pictures of his subjects. And his exploration of each legend and what we can glean from it is truly special.
January 28, 2022
Humans are storytellers and the stories we tell give insight into our particular culture. We use stories to teach lessons to the younger generations or offer quiet criticism of the status quo, in addition to their being an entertaining way to pass the time. Whether we’re talking about Aesop’s fables with their explicit morals or Homer’s poetry about Greek heroes whose deeds inspire emulation, storytellers and lecturers seek to engage, educate and amuse us. Examples of these types of works can be found in “The Angel and the Cholent: Food Representation from the Israel Folktale Archives” by Idit Pintel-Ginsberg (Wayne State University Press) and “Filled With Fire and Light: Portraits and Legends from the Bible, Talmud, and Hasidic World” by Elie Wiesel (Schocken Books).
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/past...
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/past...
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews