56 pages 1 hour read

Simon Wiesenthal

The Sunflower

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1969

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Chapters 21-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 21 Summary: "Theodore M. Hesburgh"

Theodore Hesburgh begins by claiming no right to give opinion on a person of another opinion with regard to the question of forgiveness. At the request of Wiesenthal, he continues by stating that, as a Catholic priest, his instinct is to forgive, because that is the basis upon which his entire religious movement is built, “God as the forgiver of sinful humanity” (169). 

Chapter 22 Summary: "Abraham Joshua Heschel"

Abraham Joshua Heschel uses a parable to illustrate his response to Wiesenthal’s question. A rabbi is treated with disrespect by a man who doesn’t know he is the rabbi. When the man learns the rabbi’s identity, he begs for forgiveness, and the rabbi refuses. The rabbi’s reason for not giving forgiveness is that the offence was committed against a common man, albeit one who doesn’t exist, whom the offender first thought the rabbi to be. Heschel’s summation is that “no one can forgive crimes committed against other people” (171). 

Chapter 23 Summary: "Susannah Heschel"

Susannah Heschel begins by stating that she “would have done exactly as Simon Wiesenthal did” (172).

 

She explains that the sins of the Nazis fall under the two categories of sin for which, under Judaism, no

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