Wisdom Lost, Wisdom Found: Sophia’s Presence in the Camps
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Abstract
“Where shall Wisdom be found,” asks Job (28:12), “and where is the place of understanding?” It is Divine Wisdom which is meant here, and understanding of that Wisdom. According to Biblical tradition, this question is the important one, much more so than the speculative question: What exactly is Divine Wisdom, or Sophia. In the book of Job it is stated that Wisdom cannot be bought – that “gold and crystal can’t equal it, neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. . . . The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold” (Job 28:17, 19) – and it is not to be found at any particular place, however remote or difficult to reach: “The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’ The sea says, ‘It isn’t with me’” (Job 28:14). But where is it, then, to be found? In this article I argue that Wisdom can be found in bearing witness to and remembrance of major catastrophes in the history of mankind, in particular the Shoah. Bearing witness to the dehumanization of the death camps of Nazi Germany and life under the circumstances of humanization are in certain situations the only possible way to protest the dehumanization. Thus what seems to be the death of Sophia can be revealed as a hiding place of Sophia in a world reigned by the folly of evil.