Living Torah Archives

Elie Wiesel, an author, Nobel Prize laureate, and Holocaust survivor, recalls seeing the Rebbe for the first time, and the profound impact it had on the rest of his life. (1960's)

There are certain principles that are so central to the foundation of the United States that they were engraved on its coins and printed on its currency – two fundamental principles: “In G-d We Trust” and “E Pluribus Unum – Out of many, one.”

All human beings are commanded to believe in G-d. But must they “trust” in Him, as well?

Classic Torah sources teach two conflicting ideas when it comes to “Trust in G-d”: On the one hand, a person is commanded to rest assured that G-d will deliver him from any predicament, in a way that will be openly and clearly good. On the other hand, he must joyfully acknowledge that G-d is the source of all good, and that everything He does is good - so the present state is also “good.”

Herbert Weiner is the author of Nine-and-a-Half Mystics. During his private audiences with the Rebbe in the mid-1950s, he raised some questions about the nature of faith in Judaism.