Rabbi Ariel Burger, a student of Elie Wiesel, says that Wiesel literally did not sleep well at night because he was so aware of the suffering of people in the world at that moment. Burger goes on to say that, while he never wishes insomnia on anyone, at least when we are awake, we should be insomniacs.
We can practice being awake when we are awake. We can practice sensitizing ourselves to the fact that people are suffering, and there’s something we can and need to do about it – even if it is something small.
Without succumbing to madness or despair, we can practice being witnesses, not spectators.
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