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MEMORIES OF MY FATHER - ELISHA WIESEL

An Evening with Elie Wiesel’s Son

Adas Yeshurun Herzlia’s 4^th Annual Distinguished Lecturer Series keynote speaker will be Elisha Wiesel, who will appear via Zoom on Monday, May 3, 2021 at 7:00 pm.

Elisha is the only child of Elie z”l and Marion Wiesel. He was born and raised in New York where he attended the modern orthodox Yeshiva Ramaz on the Upper East Side. His early interests in computer programming were such that at one point he self-described as a “geek”.

He initially studied history and literature at Yale. However, one day he noticed a computer programming student who seemed to be having a much better time at university than he was. Elisha changed programs and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. After graduating from Yale in 1994, Elisha took a position with Goldman Sachs, and stayed with them for his entire career. He became a Managing Director and, in 2017, Chief Information Officer for the Company. Several years after his father's passing, Elisha retired from Goldman Sachs at the end of 2019. His varied interests include politics (he volunteered on Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign), heavy metal music, human rights, and the lessons of the Holocaust.

His father was renowned for bearing witness to the Holocaust and encouraging people to stand up against indifference. Elisha travelled widely with his father and notes that since everyone knew who his father was, people had expectations of him. However, his own father expected only two things: that he would marry Jewish and that he would recite kaddish for him.  Family is everything to Elisha Wiesel who is married and has two children.

Elisha has spent extended periods of time in Israel where much of his father’s family lives. He recently joined the board of Zioness, a coalition of Jewish activists and allies who are unabashedly progressive and unapologetically Zionist. He fills his days with Talmud study, electric guitar lessons and new business and leadership opportunities.

Adas Yeshurun Herzlia, Winnipeg’s modern Orthodox synagogue, plays an important role in Winnipeg’s Jewish community. Under the spiritual guidance of Rabbi Yosef Benarroch, it offers traditional services, a variety of classes, and Shabbat and holiday programming. Rabbi Benarroch oversees both community kashrut and the mikvah at the Asper Jewish Community Campus for the benefit of all Winnipeg Jews.