Moishe is a crucial part to the story. We are introduced to him early because he witnesses the what the Nazis are doing. He literally told the town of Sighet what was going to happen to them. He basically told them the future and no one believed him. If they had believed any of his story, most of them probably could have not been moved into ghettoes, not been killed, and not have their valuables stripped from them. Moishe is important because he was right, and all he did was try to help warn others.
One theme that I noticed Wiesel has begun to establish is, the struggle of believing in a religion. Wiesel goes against his fathers wishes in learning more and more about his religion. It is obviously important to him. However, Wiesel has trouble answering the question :"Why do you pray". Wiesel cannot imagine living without his religion, yet he cannot answer why he is so devoted to it. He then asks "Why do I breath?". Praying and believing in his religion is just another part of life that he strongly believes in. He cannot define it.
Wiesel begins the memoir with Moishe the Beadle as a symbol of foreshadowing. Moishe was described as a poor man that was viewed as nothing. People did not care about him. This is the same way the Nazi would look at the Jews. They took all the wealth away from the Jews making them poor, then they started mass murdering them because they thought of them as nothing. This is kind of similar to the wars out in the Middle East. The Arabs do not think the Jews have the right to own the land of Isreal causing for all the violence.
One theme that is seen is the unwillingness to change can be harmful. The people of Sighet new about the actions of the Nazi party. They also had the ability to leave and assure the Nazi would not get them. But they did not want to leave Sighet. This allowed for the Nazi to get to them. I had a co-worker over the summer who once overdosed on heroin. He went through rehab to get back on the right track, but he went back to it and overdosed again. He had to go back to the hospital and get many treatments done again. And also had a possible chance of death.
Wiesel opens the memoir with Moishe the Beadle because he foreshadows what is to come. Moishe warns everyone about what is coming due to his own experience from his escape back to Sighet. Wiesel was trying to show that the buoyancy others still had was blind and unrealistic. The Jews were overconfident that they were in a safe place when, as Moishe told, the time would come when they had to leave. Had his testimonies been listened to, everyone may have been able to get away, and their lives spared.
Wiesel has established two main themes so far in the story. The first is that human nature is optimistic under the bleakest circumstances. As previously mentioned, no one believes Moishe because they think everything will be alright. The people continue to fall into false hopes even when the German's arrive, and even when they are forced to move. The second theme is that family is essential to maintaining hope even in the worst of circumstances. In Wiesel's memoir, every family stays together the best that they could, because all they have left is each other. This theme is particularly evident toward the end of section 1 when Eliezer's family is preparing to leave. Their relationship with each other remains the last thing they have to hold onto.
Mary Crissman Pd. 5 1. I believe that Wiesel began the memoir with the story of Moshe the beadle because it is an example of the Jew's refusal to believe the depth of Nazi evil. Moshe gave the Jew's a warning that they needed to leave and they refused to believe him. I also believe it was a way for him to introduce religion, faith, and show that nobody listened when they were warned. 2. I think a theme that has started to develop in part one is the loss of faith. Moshe's lack of interest in religious discussion foreshadows Wiesel's own loss of faith when he witnesses the evil things the Nazis are doing. The Jew's didn't believe Moshe when he warned them about what was happening and told them they needed to leave Eastern Europe. This shows they had a hard time believing that Hitler could and would carry out his desire to eliminate the Jew's. Their unwillingness to believe Moshe and change became harmful to them.
Moshe the Beadle foreshadowed of what happened to Wiesel and the others in the story. He was deported for being a foreign Jew, and everyone from the Sighet just completely underestimated what he had said and what was going on by saying "it's war". But, Moshe the Beadle escaped and came back to Sighet a very different man. When he would share his experiences everyone thought he was lieing or exaggerating everything he said. By doing this Moishe starting the memoir almost gave a flashback for the reader to understand Wiesels past.
Wiesel was trying to show how everyone, including his family, opitimism. Had they taken Moshe the Beadle's warnings seriously, they may have been able to go into hiding and his family's lives may have been spared. So in this section opitimism, hope, and empathy would be themes established.
1. He begins the memoir with Moshe to show how oblivious the people in the town were to what was going on in the outside world. Moshe was a way to show the reader how in denial they were. He symbolizes survivors. Not the good of surviving, but the horrible effects and aftermath the events had on these people. We see his life go from normal to pschychotic within days and how he will never be the same. 2. Through all horror, there is always hope. We see these people going through months of having a mindset Germany will be defeated and to not worry. The calmness they keep is incredible to me. The Germans finally enter the town, yet they still live their lives normally with peace at mind. It's not until they are stripped of their housing and personal items, forced to deport they start panicking. Even then, they still keep a positive mindset that good things will come. Fear of the unknown can be more terrifying than death itself. When these people are warned the night before of the transportation and that they are being forced to leave everything behind, the only questions in their mind are: "where are we going?". Some have come to the realization of what was going on, that death was coming their way. Even at this moment, they just wanted to know where they were going, or what they were going to do.
Moishe the Beadle seems to be a big role model to Elie Wiesel. Elie is fascinated with how Moishe acts such as how he can be completely invisible but when he does speak it is very intelligent and provides Elie with information about Shekhinah in Exile which he would love to know more about. Moishe resembles a Rabbi in Elie's eyes as he is very knowledgeable about the Kabbalah. Elie's passion is dedicated to his religion and shows that he might become a Rabbi himself when he is older.
One theme in section one of Night is power prevails over innocence. The Hungarian police have already stripped the Jews from their homes and have put them in ghettos. Along with taking away their housing they have also made them leave any of their valuables such as silver or gold. To make matters worse, they are taking the ghettos away from them day by day and putting them in small crammed trains with eighty people in each cart to working camps. The power of the Nazis is taking over the freedom that the Jews once had. The innocent are becoming corrupted by the powerful.
--- Wiesel begins the memoir with that story because it tells of a happier time where religion could be your guide and it could answer your questions. However, the events that are about to unfold cannot even be answered by God. Moshe was already rendered insignificant, so he may come as foreshadowing, as he is not believed when he returns. Basically, the key to escaping the events of the book was him, and the choice to ignore him was the fatal flaw.
--- I think a theme that religion cannot define and control life is beginning to emerge. For example, after Moshe the Beadle escapes and returns to Sighet, he lost his will to live and he does not rely on God anymore. His experience changed everything he knew about his religion. His questions could not be answered, and the same thing begins to happen to Wiesel and everyone around him. His life of preparing for God has come to an end and he could not even think about what his life could have been like if none of the events he went through ever happened.
1. Wiesel begins the memoir with the story of Moishe the Beadle to show the Jewish and their refusal to believe what is happening around them. Moishe had been the first of the Jews to be deported and escapes by a miracle. He has seen what the Nazi’s will do to the Jewish population and is coming back to share his knowledge. In the memoir, Eliezer explains that the townspeople believe that he is insane with his “made-up” stories. The people do not want to believe him because they know it is in their near future. They are trying to avoid the horror as long as possible. Eliezer tries to believe him, but has a hard time. Moishe represents acceptance of a horrific act. No one wants to accept and bear witness to something that involves the killings of millions of innocent people.
2. A theme that Wiesel has begun to establish in Section 1 is the struggle between religion and family values. It is very clear that Eliezer is curious about his faith. He asks many questions and wants to study various Jewish mysticisms. He has a faith and does practice it with his many trips to the synagogue. He prays, but when asked why, he doesn’t know the answer. He asks his dad to find him a teacher on the studies of Kabbalah and his father shuts him off with saying he is too young and shouldn’t be concerning himself with that. Eliezer’s view of God and religion are restricted by his family their beliefs. He believes in God, but has questions that his father will not answer for him. This first section showing that their will be a struggle with Eliezer’s faith as he continues his journey through the Holocaust.
The memoir began with the story of Moishe the Beadle, because he was Eliezer's mentor. A mentor is like a guru. He's a guide to someone in life as Moishe was to Eliezer. This story was used to show how important he was to Eliezer. Its also used to receive setiment from the reader. He is described so that he can take sympathy from the reader. He wants the reader to remember throughout the story that the people on the receiving end of these heinous acts are in fact human, because Wiesel wrote this to tell his story, and using the story about Moishe helped him do that. 2.) On a vague note, the most prominent theme which has begun to arise would have to do with the concept, hope. When Moishe told what happened to him, they disregarded it saying that they would soon be liberated by the Russians. When the Germans arrived on their streets and entered their homes they focused on how nice they were and threw out the stories of their cruelty, even referring to one of them as being charming. When they were thrown into ghettos, they said it was a good thing since they would no longer deal with the disgust and hostility from the other citizens in the town. If I had to find a specific theme in part one, it would be those experiencing darkness would cling to light found in hope, or one could argue that those in denial would cling to optimism rather than dismalism.
I think Wiesel begins the story with Moishe the Beadle because he wants to set a dark tone to the story and wants to exaggerate the reactions others had to Moishe. He also played a small but important role in Night. ( Moishe the Beadle is the one who teaches Eliezer the Cabbala.)
Wiesel establishes optimism the Jews had even when they were sent to the Ghettos . The people in the story have false hopes of the future and they don't know whats actually in store for them until its to late. No one in the story listens to Moishe the Beadle, but instead they think he's going mad.
1) Wiesel begins the memoir with Moshe because it demonstrates the understanding of 'Identity is not permanent and can change quickly based in circumstances'. Moshe used to be a religious man just as Eliezer and would be carefree and sing most of the time. After he returned to Sighet from being expelled, he was a changed man. He did not sing and was always telling of the horror he saw. Wiesel tells Moshe's story to foreshadow the events to come in the memoir. It is important to see that the Jews were completely oblivious to the terror happening in the world and were not prepared for their fate. 2.) So far, Wiesel has established various themes in section one. The first being that ignorance of evil is a recurrence of that same evil. This is introduced whenever Moshe returns and tried warning the Jews about the Nazis. Instead of being empathetic to him and listening, many Jews ignored him and called him a madman. Another theme presented in the loss of devotion to religion in difficult times. Again, when Moshe returns he lacks the same spark of religious discussion with Eliezer. This is a result of the horrible murders he saw happening to the Jews. The change in Moshe's religious devotion most likely is also a foreshadowing of what will happen to Eliezer.
Being that the lengthy, original manuscript was cut down considerably before publication, it was a conscious decision to introduce the revised novel with the careful description of Moishe the Beadle. Eliezer, as the stand-in representation of the author Wiesel, faced a conflict in his youth between his passion to study his faith, and the reluctance and disapproving behavior of his father for him to do so that young. He found respect for Moishe the Beadle who, although the poorest in Sighet, devoted himself to everything religious that Eliezer wished to behold. From the first question that Beadle posed to Eliezer, he was intentionally, albeit subtly, mentoring him in religious teachings. They spoke almost every evening, posing inquiries back and forth to explore their faith further, such as "Why do you pray, Moishe?" to which he replied, "I pray to the God within me for the strength to ask Him the real questions." This newfound meaning opened up Eliezer's mind in terms of his religion, and it gave him sanctity and encouragement for him to follow his faith as passionately as he desires. This will undoubtedly have traceable effects later in the story, as the Holocaust unfolds and his faith is tested against man's ruthlessness. However, the reason for Wiesel's inclusion of Moishe's story is significant even further. He is a foreshadowing of the events to come in the story. Wiesel was one of the lucky ones to survive the Holocaust. As Eliezer narrates on page 6, Moishe survived an impending death at the hands of the Gestappo, managing to escape by what he calls a miracle. The meaning extends further into Eliezer's analysis of Moishe's changed appearance. Although he survived, a part of his being had been lost. His faith had diminished, and all traces of happiness had fled from his soul. This is another foreshadowing to Eliezer's fate and inevitable conflict with his religion as it becomes tested in Poland. Just as nobody believed Moishe, he made a clear statement to Eliezer. "You don't understand. You cannot understand. I was saved miraculously. I succeeded in coming back." Wiesel writes this and the rest of the work of literature to mourn the sufferance of the Jews that lose their lives in the Holocaust. Not a single person alive today that wasn't in the Holocaust can possibly understand the true incursions of the misery of those years under the Nazi regime. The story of Moishe the Beadle is an immediate reminder to the readers of this prospect, and that Wiesel wishes to spread his story as a testament to the nameless that fell before and after him that didn't make it out alive. He wishes to honor them and make history known to all about the darkest, ancestral cause of human catastrophe to date.
Wiesel makes a significant point in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech that really stuck with me. He says, "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere." This theme is evident in the earliest sections of this novel, showing through the consequences that neutrality can bring. The Jews living in Sighet did anything but stand up against the oppression, if even to escape themselves while they had time. It is an enduring theme that neutrality in any vein of human existence aids the oppressor, never the victim. One must always take sides if there is to be a change in the course of human events, whether for the better or for the worse. Therefore, chance becomes a critical component of the sanctity of human conservation toward the prospect of achieving eventual peace on earth. Another clear theme illustrated in its early development is that of denial, in which denial breeds consequence through the reluctance of people to accept reality, thus disabling their approach to an invoked response to that occurrence. Throughout this entire section, the Jews of Sighet developed new modes to cope with their approaching fates before they even knew what it was. And perhaps they were fully aware, but fear captivated them and prompted them to turn a blind eye, so to speak, from the necessity to retaliate or flee. This theme will only grow from this point on as the story of lost souls unfolds.
The beginning of “Night” starts with Wiesel describing Moishe the Beadle. Eliezer admires Moishe and shares some of his most intimate religious thoughts; he trusted him. Shortly after giving a brief overview of who Moishe was, he transitions into the beginning of his story. Moishe’s more significant role in this first section and perhaps the entire book, is the tale he tells when he returns from his captive escape. He attempts to warn the people of Sighet that the Germans were committing mass murder and inflicting pure evil upon the Jews. No one believed him and all comments regarding this first hand account was ignored. Wiesel says, “He… spoke of divine suffering… [which] awaits its redemption linked to that of man.” He foreshadows the regret he and many others feel about ignoring Moishe’s claims. He begins this memoir with Moishe as to warn people to not ignore his first hand testimony in the same sense. Their own ignorance led to their fate, and he encourages mankind to raise their awareness so the event has no chance of reoccurrence.
A prominent theme that can be used in support of question one, is mankind’s failure to acknowledge the human capability of evil. No one in Sihget trusted what Moishe had said. They were so optimistic in thinking that they were in a safe place and in a matter of days their lives were taken over. An overarching question in society is “Could the Jews have escaped their fate had they listened to the warnings?” Refusal to believe the Germans could commit such acts of evil directly contributes to Wiesel’s purpose of writing this memoir. He desires to caution humans so nothing like this event happens again. Even when the Jews were thrown from their homes and forced to do what the Gestapo said, they remained hopeful that conditions would remain as is until the war was over. Wiesel comments on this hopefulness and begins establishing the second theme, the persistence of hope even in the worst situations. Each theme is supported in the text thus far through the Jews of Sighet.
Wielsel begins the memoir with the story of Moishe the Beadle because he uses Moishe as a foreshadowing character but also to show how religious Wielsel is as he was their mentor. The struggles that Moishe goes through are used to foreshadow the events soon to come. I personally think that Wielsel started the memoir like this because he said in the book he himself did not believe Moishe which leads me to think that in a way he is apologizing to Moishe for not trusting and listening to him.
The themes that are revealed in section 1 of Night are things such as the inhumane way of treating humans. This theme is shown through the way that the Gestapo and the German police officers treat the Jews. The ways of getting them out of their town and the names that they would call them were awful and were just a total injustice to the Jews. A second theme that is shown a lot is the religious views that Wielsel has. For being only thirteen, he knows more about religion than an adult at this time most likely would have. He believes so strongly in his faith right now at the time of depair even being made to leave the town is not bothering him as much as it should be.
1. I believe that Wiesel begins the book with a story of Moishe the Beadle to establish how important religion and faith is to his identity. Moishe the Beadle could have been an idol in his life. Because Wiesel wasn't very close to his father, Moishe could have provided him with a father figure and someone to look up too. Also I feel that opening the memoir with the story of Moishe the Beadle can be a form of entertainment. It can be used just to gain the readers attention so he can start the book with more of a positive feeling. I think he does this because most readers know that the book isn't going to be pleasant or talk about pleasant encounters so he opens it with something positive and pleasant to grab the readers attention.
2. A very obvious theme established in Section 1 is hope and determination can stay apparent when things get bad. No matter what the people of Sighet are told, they still hold onto the small ounce of hope they have left. Even when the German officers come and evacuate the towns and ghettos, they still have hope that something good will happen. This shows that when people are pushed to the limits, we can learn to pull through and become stronger to fight until the end.
1. “They called him Moishe the Beadle, as if his entire life he had never had a surname” is how Wiesel begins the book. He does this to establish the main themes in the memoir and to expose the purpose. Continuing off the quote is explaining how Moishe was a quiet, poor Jew however still has an awful story about what happened to him. This story is relevant to the memoir in how the Jews are treated. What happened to him foreshadows the ending of the book. Moshe’s example in this section is a reminder that the expense of ignoring witnesses to evil is a recurrence of that evil. This story is the most painful example of how these people were treated in this time period by the Nazi’s. It is also an admonishing tale about the danger of refusing to need firsthand testimony. 2. The first section of the memoir has developed themes within Eliezer struggling with his faith. He is from a Jewish community where they all study their religion and express their trust in God. He looks up to his father who is described in the story as a “cultured man, rather unsentimental … The Hewish community of Sighet held him in highest esteem”. His father being so religious makes him the same way however Eliezer’s faith lowers because in the first section he begins to wonder why God would allow such suffering if he continues to pray and believe in him.
Moishe the Beadle is important to the story because it shows how even the most devout of Jews faith was tested during the Holocaust. Moishe the Beadle was a well respected man who devoted his life to leaning the Zohar and spreading his knowledge of Kabbalah. He began to question his faith, however, when he saw what the Germans had planned for the Jews. He was taken from his home and witnessed a massacre of his people where they were forced to dig their own graves and shot. When he returned to his town he had lost the joy in his eyes, no longer sang, and no longer spoke of God or Kabbalah. His story was also used to show how blind the Jews truly were to what was occurring in the country. Moishe experienced the evils of the Nazi army but the people still refused to believe him.
One theme that Wiesel begins to establish is the struggle to maintain faith in the most evil of situations. Moishe the Beadle starts off the story as a devout Jew who everyone loves in his town. Once he is sent out of his town and witnesses the capabilities of the Nazi army, his view of life changes. He no longer talks about God or the Kabbalah. The story of Moishe the Beadle establishes what is to come for Eliezer as his faith is tested by the German army. The other theme established in Section 1 is people's refusal to accept the truth could mean their destruction. The people of Sighet refuse to believe Moishe the Beadle's warning of what the German army had planned to do to the Jews. If they would have listened to him, they could have fled the country and saved themselves.
Moishe the Beadle is a poor, simple man. He is well liked by all of the townspeople. He helps Elizer to study the cabala, and he teaches him that it is more important to ask god the right questions than to try and find the correct answers. Early in the story and the war, Moishe is taken to a Nazi concentration camp because he is foreign. He manages to escape and tries to warn the townspeople of the horrors that the Nazis are committing to the Jewish people. They ignore him and think he's crazy. Moshe foreshadows the horrors that are soon to come, but also highlights the complacency of the Jew's in Seighet.
The theme of witness can be seen many times in chapter one. The most evident example is the townspeople of Sighet. They are witnesses to Moshe the Beadle and the stories he tells about what he experiences. They witness him telling his story of Nazi abuse and they ignore what he has to say. Moshe the Beadle embodies the theme of witness because of what he has seen. He witnesses Nazi atrocity after atrocity. He sees children being used as target practice and people being forced to dig their own graves. Moshe witnesses these things and rushes back to Sighet to tell what he has seen to others. For Moshe, the purpose of him being spared was for him to be a witness and warn the others of what is to come. It becomes even more frustrating for him when this purpose is completely ignored by the townspeople.
- Wiesel begins the memoir with the story of Moishe the Beadle because he stands almost like a teacher to Elie and helps him stay connected and close to God and the Jewish faith through this rough time. Even though Moishe is irrelevant to every one else but Elie, he is actually right and has the right answers. Wiesel`s involvement in the Jewish faith is most likely caused by Moishe the Beadle. He gives him strength to worship and stay connected. He refers back to Moishe the Beadle throughout the memoir because he reflects back and tries to find the answers. -One major theme that Wiesel establishes in section 1 is the importance of bonding. Wiesel`s bond with God is so important to him to the point that he gets emotional. His family seems to not care so much about his connection with God while Moishe the Beadle is the only thing strengthening him. Also Wiesel loses his bonding with his family. Not so much his father but his mother and his sisters. It seems as if he wants to follow in his fathers footsteps but his father has no interest in what he does.
1. I believe Wiesel starts off with with the story of Moishe the Beadle because it represents multiple things. First, he shows Wiesels community is deeply tribal, for lack of a better term, and unwilling to accept change or facts of a stark and appalling nature. Moishe was rounded up and atrocities were committed in front of his very eyes, and even though it is coming from a primary source, Sighet still chooses to cast him aside and say all he wants is pity and money (7). The second reason is to show that what the Nazis did changed people to their core. Moishe, we learn very quickly, is a devout Jew and had devoted quite a lot of time to learning Jewish texts like the Zohar and deeply complex ideas like Kabbalism (4,5). He teaches Wiesel for a while until he is rounded up by the Hungarian police and taken to Galicia (6). When Moishe comes back he speaks very little, and when he does, he never speaks of his religion. He only speaks of what he's seen (7). What Moishe saw changed him, and Wiesel makes this evident. There is even possible foreshadowing, meaning Wiesel may do the same with his religion after being abducted by the Nazis. 2. Wiesel has begun to establish that the Jews are being put down. From Moishe's abduction in the very beginning, to the Hungarian police beating and pummeling Jews doing nothing wrong, AFTER theyve been forcibly relocated into ghettos and been heavily restricted. Everything from ownership of certain items to being allowed information was taken from the Jews. This is a theme Wiesel drives home.
Wiesel uses the story of Moishe the Beadle at the beginning of the memoir for several reasons. Moishe helps establish character and plot line. As a child, Wiesel was very religious, but his father did not support his devotion. Wiesel wanted someone to teach and guide him in the jewish religion, and he found that in Moishe. He uses Moishe to help establish his identity and his great observance. He also uses Moishe as a plot catalyst. The plot doesn't truly pick up until Germany enters Sighut. Moishe helps give readers background about what's truly going on and what is going to happen to the Jews. After Wiesel tells about Moishe and his warnings, readers see them come to life along with the plot.
One theme that has begun to emerge is people find the most optimism in times of greatest despair. This them is very apparent in the first section. As Wiesel begins to explain the start of persecution of the Jews, the story becomes grim. The Jews are about to face despair, death, and absolute horror, but somehow they stay positive. They have heard the stories from Moishe, have listened to the Budapest radio tell them the Germans have entered the country, but still they seem to think they are indestructible. Even after they are moved to ghettos and given restrictions to follow, they are positive they will be able to stay there until the war ends. In these times of great despair and, the Jews have found nothing but optimism.
Wiesel began the memoir with the story of moishe the beadle to start a prolog. To tell about his past and how his life was before the war and concentration camp. The theme in section one would be that tradition was good for them and how there daily routines were the same
He starts with the story because he wants to show that the Germans were actually doing the things he said and even though he was the lowest of the low he still wanted to help his fellow Jews.
I believe that one of the themes he is establishing the theme that even if the worst is happening, having hope, and remaining faithful can help you get through almost anything.
--- Wiesel begins the memoir with Moishe the Beadle because that is what molded him in his beliefs. He is the only one that would take him in to teach him how to be closer to god. Moshie also plays an important role in section one since he escaped the Nazis but no one believes him. This shows how stubborn people in the community are but it wouldn't be understood if we didn't know who Moshie was before then. --- The theme we see being established in section 1 is that people can deal with bad things happening until it happens to them. As I said in part 1 the community completely ignored Moishes warnings because they didn't want to accept it. Then when they were moved to the ghettos they belived that was the worst it could get. Even when the ghetto was being liquidated they stayed optimistic thinking it may not be them who went. People can stay optimistic in the worst of times just to suppress their fears.
He begins the story with Moishe's memoir to establish his character. Moishe play's an important role in the beginning and without knowing his mannerisms/physicality/basic life we would not have a good understanding of his role in society. But through describing him in the beginning, Wiesel sets the memoir's tone and also sets the tone for Moishe and explains why he is treated later on when no one takes his warning seriously. One theme we see is the looseness in their faith. All of the people, mainly Eliezer, express how important their faith in God is to them. They continually show how they prey and worship. They even keep the faith as they begin to be put in ghettos. But as time goes on they loose faith quickly and question why a God would treat them so. Then they go back and try to reason why they are being treated like this. They can never seem to make up their mind about their faith and it is a hot topic within their society.
Moishe is the image of what will happen to all the people later in the memoir. He is said to be loved by many yet no one will accept him into their family although he struggles. “His presence bothered no one and he mastered the art of rendering himself insignificant, invisible.” Moshie upholds the image of a similar life all the Jews in Europe would be experiencing soon. They would help him although the Jews did not really favor it in general even though they cared for him. They did it because they had to just as the German soldiers would be doing to them. He did not bother anyone around him; his presence was insignificant to all those around him and spoke the true word of god. The Jews were insignificant to the Germans, their presence was not intolerable in the camps but they were just in their presence. Although the Jews were taken to such vulgar conditions, they still believed some and questioned where god was. They may have been stripped of everything but, like moshie, they still practiced the little faith they had left. A theme that has emerged is that the inhumanity of individuals is enough to make the most avid believer falter in his faith. This theme means that when the evil done among fellow human beings the belief that a higher power is there and would stop such hysteria is gone. Before moshie was taken, he only spoke of the word, the gospel of the greatness of God. When moshie returned from the first deportation he spoke of the horrors of what he had seen. It was stated in the book that the glimmer he had in his eyes was gone and that he did not speak of the greatness of God anymore, he only spoke of the evil of his fellow humans.
1. Wiesel tells the story he trusted him and he shares some of his religious thoughts. An important part is when Moishe tells the story of what the Germans were doing to inisant people. After he tells the story nobody believes him and they act like it wont ever happen. Their own ignorance let to their own fate.
2. From question one a theme is the belief that mankind cant be so evil. When Moishe tells the story of the Germans killing people for no reason, people don't believe him. They believe that something like that could never happen to them. It will later come back to determine their fate and may will regret their decision.
I believe he starts the memoir off with Moishe the beatle because it shows how Wiesel felt alone when it came to his faith because his father disapproved of studying it. He needed someone to confide in and he had Moishe the Beadle. He would come to Moishe for spiritual guidance and advice and developed a friendship based on faith. When Moishe was captured under Nazi control, he managed to survive and returned to tell of the horrors that happened. Nobody believed him though, not even Wiesel. This shows how Wiesel along with others felt no panick during this time period and rejected any reality of fear.
I believe Wiesel has already showed that silence plays a large part of the peoples thoughts and emotions in the story. The silence shows that they are trying to disregard the fact of what is happening and trying to hold onto optimism. By being silent, they are trying to not let themselves give into the growing fear that is among them.
Moshe the Beadle would foreshadow of what was to happen of Wiesel and the others. When he was deported because of his status as a foreign Jew, the people of Sighet just shrugged their shoulders and sighed "it's war" Somehow, Moshe the Beadle miracuously escaped and returned to Sighet as a different person. His warnings were met with pity and denial as everyone thought he was perhaps exaggerating his experience.
One theme that i think he is showing in the first section of the Memoir is silence Eliezer states, “Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live.”
Wiesel begins the book with Moshe the Beadle to show how even deeply religious people can be torn from God or partially separated from Him. This just shows how powerful, controlling, and scarring the Holocaust truly was. Moshe before he is taken says that the God within him gives him strength and Moshe asks Him the questions, but after he returns he rarely prays and his joy/love is gone. This is also a foreshadow for the struggle Eliezer and the other Jews will face with their own faith and hope once they are taken by the Germans.
One theme that Wiesel has started to establish is the struggle to maintain faith in trying situations when a person feels hopeless. I believe this is an emerging theme because as I said in the previous response, even someone with as strong of faith as Moshe can have their faith ruined by one terrible event. I believe that Wiesel sets up the beginning of his memoir with Moshe and their relationship to show how Moshe was someone who Wiesel looked up to. Moshe had such a close faith and love for God, young Wiesel wanted to trust in God and know God as well as Moshe. Seeing him come back so damaged and shaken either made a lasting impression on Wiesel or Wiesel was using this story just to foreshadow his own struggle with faith, either way it is a theme that can even be seen in modern day times. When someone experiences loss, especially, they seem to lash out at God for allowing their loved one to die. It's like when a child gets cancer parents say, "Why not me, God? Why would you do this? Who would do this to someone?" Difficult situations test a persons faith because God is supposed to love His children. For example, if a person is good then why do bad things happen to good people? Questions like that and difficult times cause people to struggle with faith.
He starts off with Moishe the beadle because it is foreshadowing what will come later in the story. It shows how no one cares so much about what he says but everything he has said was true. The Jews thought it wasn't going to happen to them.
One theme is seen is the unwillingness to change can be harmful. The people of Sighet new about the actions of the Nazi's and had the ability to leave but They did not want to leave Sighet.
1.The story starts with Moshe the Beadle, as he has a first hand account of how brutal the Nazis were to Jews before anyone else within the town did It foreshadows how the town would be treated as the story progressed.
2. A theme being established is that of preconceptions being harmful. The Nazis when the arrive in the town appear to be fine, and the townspeople are happy, but then the Nazis enact anti-Jew laws and force them into Ghettos. The townspeople still feel they will be fine, but then they are evicted, or as the Nazis put it, "Liquidated". Their preconceptions were wrong, and they suffered due to it.
-- He started off the story with Moshe the Beadle because it captures how heavily he relies on his religion and this is a major part of his identity. He went to Moshe for many things and they always went to religion for the answer he asked so many questions about the religion and thats all they talked about and Moshe was genuinely happy. Then the nazis came and did horrific things and Moshe tried warning the town and all the jews but no one would listen. Eliezer even is in disbelief when he hears all of this. After this happens Eliezer points out Moshe no longer talks about god or religion anymore it seems that he has lost faith and i feel as though this is very important because it is foreshadowing.
-- The theme is that people will try to find the good even when it is bad. Many people try to look for any kind of sign that things will get better no matter how hard the times are. Even when we need comforted we tend to tell people what to look forward to or what there is to be happy about. This is highly important in the circumstances they are under.
This realization of Rabbi Eliahou’s son’s betrayal causes Eliezer to become closer to his father. He wants to protect his father and ensure that he stays close to his father. Eliezer even prays that he will never do such a terrible thing to his father, that he will never wish his father away. He sees how cruel and inhumane Rabbi Eliahou’s son acted and he decided from that moment on, he did not want to be that way.
One theme within the memoir is the struggle to maintain faith in trying situations when a person feels hopeless. This theme shines throughout the memoir and effects every character in some way. Even someone with as strong of faith as Moshe can has their faith ruined by one terrible event. Eliezer clearly struggles with his faith, and even says he no longer believes in a God. However, at a couple instances, we see Eliezer pray. Whether it be to stay kind to his father or to just wish for strength, he prays. This theme is not limited to just this story, this situation, or just these people. This theme is something everyone struggles with at least once in their life; whether they have trouble maintaining faith in God, themselves, or in some other entity. When someone experiences loss or difficult situations, they often blame God or outside forces for the situation they face which causes a strain in their faith.
Moishe is a crucial part to the story. We are introduced to him early because he witnesses the what the Nazis are doing. He literally told the town of Sighet what was going to happen to them. He basically told them the future and no one believed him. If they had believed any of his story, most of them probably could have not been moved into ghettoes, not been killed, and not have their valuables stripped from them. Moishe is important because he was right, and all he did was try to help warn others.
ReplyDeleteOne theme that I noticed Wiesel has begun to establish is, the struggle of believing in a religion. Wiesel goes against his fathers wishes in learning more and more about his religion. It is obviously important to him. However, Wiesel has trouble answering the question :"Why do you pray". Wiesel cannot imagine living without his religion, yet he cannot answer why he is so devoted to it. He then asks "Why do I breath?". Praying and believing in his religion is just another part of life that he strongly believes in. He cannot define it.
Wiesel begins the memoir with Moishe the Beadle as a symbol of foreshadowing. Moishe was described as a poor man that was viewed as nothing. People did not care about him. This is the same way the Nazi would look at the Jews. They took all the wealth away from the Jews making them poor, then they started mass murdering them because they thought of them as nothing. This is kind of similar to the wars out in the Middle East. The Arabs do not think the Jews have the right to own the land of Isreal causing for all the violence.
ReplyDeleteOne theme that is seen is the unwillingness to change can be harmful. The people of Sighet new about the actions of the Nazi party. They also had the ability to leave and assure the Nazi would not get them. But they did not want to leave Sighet. This allowed for the Nazi to get to them. I had a co-worker over the summer who once overdosed on heroin. He went through rehab to get back on the right track, but he went back to it and overdosed again. He had to go back to the hospital and get many treatments done again. And also had a possible chance of death.
Wiesel opens the memoir with Moishe the Beadle because he foreshadows what is to come. Moishe warns everyone about what is coming due to his own experience from his escape back to Sighet. Wiesel was trying to show that the buoyancy others still had was blind and unrealistic. The Jews were overconfident that they were in a safe place when, as Moishe told, the time would come when they had to leave. Had his testimonies been listened to, everyone may have been able to get away, and their lives spared.
ReplyDeleteWiesel has established two main themes so far in the story. The first is that human nature is optimistic under the bleakest circumstances. As previously mentioned, no one believes Moishe because they think everything will be alright. The people continue to fall into false hopes even when the German's arrive, and even when they are forced to move. The second theme is that family is essential to maintaining hope even in the worst of circumstances. In Wiesel's memoir, every family stays together the best that they could, because all they have left is each other. This theme is particularly evident toward the end of section 1 when Eliezer's family is preparing to leave. Their relationship with each other remains the last thing they have to hold onto.
Mary Crissman Pd. 5
ReplyDelete1. I believe that Wiesel began the memoir with the story of Moshe the beadle because it is an example of the Jew's refusal to believe the depth of Nazi evil. Moshe gave the Jew's a warning that they needed to leave and they refused to believe him. I also believe it was a way for him to introduce religion, faith, and show that nobody listened when they were warned.
2. I think a theme that has started to develop in part one is the loss of faith. Moshe's lack of interest in religious discussion foreshadows Wiesel's own loss of faith when he witnesses the evil things the Nazis are doing. The Jew's didn't believe Moshe when he warned them about what was happening and told them they needed to leave Eastern Europe. This shows they had a hard time believing that Hitler could and would carry out his desire to eliminate the Jew's. Their unwillingness to believe Moshe and change became harmful to them.
Moshe the Beadle foreshadowed of what happened to Wiesel and the others in the story. He was deported for being a foreign Jew, and everyone from the Sighet just completely underestimated what he had said and what was going on by saying "it's war". But, Moshe the Beadle escaped and came back to Sighet a very different man. When he would share his experiences everyone thought he was lieing or exaggerating everything he said. By doing this Moishe starting the memoir almost gave a flashback for the reader to understand Wiesels past.
ReplyDeleteWiesel was trying to show how everyone, including his family, opitimism. Had they taken Moshe the Beadle's warnings seriously, they may have been able to go into hiding and his family's lives may have been spared. So in this section opitimism, hope, and empathy would be themes established.
1. He begins the memoir with Moshe to show how oblivious the people in the town were to what was going on in the outside world. Moshe was a way to show the reader how in denial they were. He symbolizes survivors. Not the good of surviving, but the horrible effects and aftermath the events had on these people. We see his life go from normal to pschychotic within days and how he will never be the same.
ReplyDelete2. Through all horror, there is always hope. We see these people going through months of having a mindset Germany will be defeated and to not worry. The calmness they keep is incredible to me. The Germans finally enter the town, yet they still live their lives normally with peace at mind. It's not until they are stripped of their housing and personal items, forced to deport they start panicking. Even then, they still keep a positive mindset that good things will come.
Fear of the unknown can be more terrifying than death itself. When these people are warned the night before of the transportation and that they are being forced to leave everything behind, the only questions in their mind are: "where are we going?". Some have come to the realization of what was going on, that death was coming their way. Even at this moment, they just wanted to know where they were going, or what they were going to do.
Moishe the Beadle seems to be a big role model to Elie Wiesel. Elie is fascinated with how Moishe acts such as how he can be completely invisible but when he does speak it is very intelligent and provides Elie with information about Shekhinah in Exile which he would love to know more about. Moishe resembles a Rabbi in Elie's eyes as he is very knowledgeable about the Kabbalah. Elie's passion is dedicated to his religion and shows that he might become a Rabbi himself when he is older.
ReplyDeleteOne theme in section one of Night is power prevails over innocence. The Hungarian police have already stripped the Jews from their homes and have put them in ghettos. Along with taking away their housing they have also made them leave any of their valuables such as silver or gold. To make matters worse, they are taking the ghettos away from them day by day and putting them in small crammed trains with eighty people in each cart to working camps. The power of the Nazis is taking over the freedom that the Jews once had. The innocent are becoming corrupted by the powerful.
--- Wiesel begins the memoir with that story because it tells of a happier time where religion could be your guide and it could answer your questions. However, the events that are about to unfold cannot even be answered by God. Moshe was already rendered insignificant, so he may come as foreshadowing, as he is not believed when he returns. Basically, the key to escaping the events of the book was him, and the choice to ignore him was the fatal flaw.
ReplyDelete--- I think a theme that religion cannot define and control life is beginning to emerge. For example, after Moshe the Beadle escapes and returns to Sighet, he lost his will to live and he does not rely on God anymore. His experience changed everything he knew about his religion. His questions could not be answered, and the same thing begins to happen to Wiesel and everyone around him. His life of preparing for God has come to an end and he could not even think about what his life could have been like if none of the events he went through ever happened.
1. Wiesel begins the memoir with the story of Moishe the Beadle to show the Jewish and their refusal to believe what is happening around them. Moishe had been the first of the Jews to be deported and escapes by a miracle. He has seen what the Nazi’s will do to the Jewish population and is coming back to share his knowledge. In the memoir, Eliezer explains that the townspeople believe that he is insane with his “made-up” stories. The people do not want to believe him because they know it is in their near future. They are trying to avoid the horror as long as possible. Eliezer tries to believe him, but has a hard time. Moishe represents acceptance of a horrific act. No one wants to accept and bear witness to something that involves the killings of millions of innocent people.
ReplyDelete2. A theme that Wiesel has begun to establish in Section 1 is the struggle between religion and family values. It is very clear that Eliezer is curious about his faith. He asks many questions and wants to study various Jewish mysticisms. He has a faith and does practice it with his many trips to the synagogue. He prays, but when asked why, he doesn’t know the answer. He asks his dad to find him a teacher on the studies of Kabbalah and his father shuts him off with saying he is too young and shouldn’t be concerning himself with that. Eliezer’s view of God and religion are restricted by his family their beliefs. He believes in God, but has questions that his father will not answer for him. This first section showing that their will be a struggle with Eliezer’s faith as he continues his journey through the Holocaust.
The memoir began with the story of Moishe the Beadle, because he was Eliezer's mentor. A mentor is like a guru. He's a guide to someone in life as Moishe was to Eliezer. This story was used to show how important he was to Eliezer. Its also used to receive setiment from the reader. He is described so that he can take sympathy from the reader. He wants the reader to remember throughout the story that the people on the receiving end of these heinous acts are in fact human, because Wiesel wrote this to tell his story, and using the story about Moishe helped him do that.
ReplyDelete2.) On a vague note, the most prominent theme which has begun to arise would have to do with the concept, hope. When Moishe told what happened to him, they disregarded it saying that they would soon be liberated by the Russians. When the Germans arrived on their streets and entered their homes they focused on how nice they were and threw out the stories of their cruelty, even referring to one of them as being charming. When they were thrown into ghettos, they said it was a good thing since they would no longer deal with the disgust and hostility from the other citizens in the town. If I had to find a specific theme in part one, it would be those experiencing darkness would cling to light found in hope, or one could argue that those in denial would cling to optimism rather than dismalism.
I think Wiesel begins the story with Moishe the Beadle because he wants to set a dark tone to the story and wants to exaggerate the reactions others had to Moishe. He also played a small but important role in Night. ( Moishe the Beadle is the one who teaches Eliezer the Cabbala.)
ReplyDeleteWiesel establishes optimism the Jews had even when they were sent to the Ghettos . The people in the story have false hopes of the future and they don't know whats actually in store for them until its to late. No one in the story listens to Moishe the Beadle, but instead they think he's going mad.
1) Wiesel begins the memoir with Moshe because it demonstrates the understanding of 'Identity is not permanent and can change quickly based in circumstances'. Moshe used to be a religious man just as Eliezer and would be carefree and sing most of the time. After he returned to Sighet from being expelled, he was a changed man. He did not sing and was always telling of the horror he saw. Wiesel tells Moshe's story to foreshadow the events to come in the memoir. It is important to see that the Jews were completely oblivious to the terror happening in the world and were not prepared for their fate.
ReplyDelete2.) So far, Wiesel has established various themes in section one. The first being that ignorance of evil is a recurrence of that same evil. This is introduced whenever Moshe returns and tried warning the Jews about the Nazis. Instead of being empathetic to him and listening, many Jews ignored him and called him a madman. Another theme presented in the loss of devotion to religion in difficult times. Again, when Moshe returns he lacks the same spark of religious discussion with Eliezer. This is a result of the horrible murders he saw happening to the Jews. The change in Moshe's religious devotion most likely is also a foreshadowing of what will happen to Eliezer.
Being that the lengthy, original manuscript was cut down considerably before publication, it was a conscious decision to introduce the revised novel with the careful description of Moishe the Beadle. Eliezer, as the stand-in representation of the author Wiesel, faced a conflict in his youth between his passion to study his faith, and the reluctance and disapproving behavior of his father for him to do so that young. He found respect for Moishe the Beadle who, although the poorest in Sighet, devoted himself to everything religious that Eliezer wished to behold. From the first question that Beadle posed to Eliezer, he was intentionally, albeit subtly, mentoring him in religious teachings. They spoke almost every evening, posing inquiries back and forth to explore their faith further, such as "Why do you pray, Moishe?" to which he replied, "I pray to the God within me for the strength to ask Him the real questions." This newfound meaning opened up Eliezer's mind in terms of his religion, and it gave him sanctity and encouragement for him to follow his faith as passionately as he desires. This will undoubtedly have traceable effects later in the story, as the Holocaust unfolds and his faith is tested against man's ruthlessness.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the reason for Wiesel's inclusion of Moishe's story is significant even further. He is a foreshadowing of the events to come in the story. Wiesel was one of the lucky ones to survive the Holocaust. As Eliezer narrates on page 6, Moishe survived an impending death at the hands of the Gestappo, managing to escape by what he calls a miracle. The meaning extends further into Eliezer's analysis of Moishe's changed appearance. Although he survived, a part of his being had been lost. His faith had diminished, and all traces of happiness had fled from his soul. This is another foreshadowing to Eliezer's fate and inevitable conflict with his religion as it becomes tested in Poland. Just as nobody believed Moishe, he made a clear statement to Eliezer. "You don't understand. You cannot understand. I was saved miraculously. I succeeded in coming back." Wiesel writes this and the rest of the work of literature to mourn the sufferance of the Jews that lose their lives in the Holocaust. Not a single person alive today that wasn't in the Holocaust can possibly understand the true incursions of the misery of those years under the Nazi regime. The story of Moishe the Beadle is an immediate reminder to the readers of this prospect, and that Wiesel wishes to spread his story as a testament to the nameless that fell before and after him that didn't make it out alive. He wishes to honor them and make history known to all about the darkest, ancestral cause of human catastrophe to date.
Wiesel makes a significant point in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech that really stuck with me. He says, "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere." This theme is evident in the earliest sections of this novel, showing through the consequences that neutrality can bring. The Jews living in Sighet did anything but stand up against the oppression, if even to escape themselves while they had time. It is an enduring theme that neutrality in any vein of human existence aids the oppressor, never the victim. One must always take sides if there is to be a change in the course of human events, whether for the better or for the worse. Therefore, chance becomes a critical component of the sanctity of human conservation toward the prospect of achieving eventual peace on earth.
ReplyDeleteAnother clear theme illustrated in its early development is that of denial, in which denial breeds consequence through the reluctance of people to accept reality, thus disabling their approach to an invoked response to that occurrence. Throughout this entire section, the Jews of Sighet developed new modes to cope with their approaching fates before they even knew what it was. And perhaps they were fully aware, but fear captivated them and prompted them to turn a blind eye, so to speak, from the necessity to retaliate or flee. This theme will only grow from this point on as the story of lost souls unfolds.
The beginning of “Night” starts with Wiesel describing Moishe the Beadle. Eliezer admires Moishe and shares some of his most intimate religious thoughts; he trusted him. Shortly after giving a brief overview of who Moishe was, he transitions into the beginning of his story. Moishe’s more significant role in this first section and perhaps the entire book, is the tale he tells when he returns from his captive escape. He attempts to warn the people of Sighet that the Germans were committing mass murder and inflicting pure evil upon the Jews. No one believed him and all comments regarding this first hand account was ignored. Wiesel says, “He… spoke of divine suffering… [which] awaits its redemption linked to that of man.” He foreshadows the regret he and many others feel about ignoring Moishe’s claims. He begins this memoir with Moishe as to warn people to not ignore his first hand testimony in the same sense. Their own ignorance led to their fate, and he encourages mankind to raise their awareness so the event has no chance of reoccurrence.
ReplyDeleteA prominent theme that can be used in support of question one, is mankind’s failure to acknowledge the human capability of evil. No one in Sihget trusted what Moishe had said. They were so optimistic in thinking that they were in a safe place and in a matter of days their lives were taken over. An overarching question in society is “Could the Jews have escaped their fate had they listened to the warnings?” Refusal to believe the Germans could commit such acts of evil directly contributes to Wiesel’s purpose of writing this memoir. He desires to caution humans so nothing like this event happens again. Even when the Jews were thrown from their homes and forced to do what the Gestapo said, they remained hopeful that conditions would remain as is until the war was over. Wiesel comments on this hopefulness and begins establishing the second theme, the persistence of hope even in the worst situations. Each theme is supported in the text thus far through the Jews of Sighet.
Wielsel begins the memoir with the story of Moishe the Beadle because he uses Moishe as a foreshadowing character but also to show how religious Wielsel is as he was their mentor. The struggles that Moishe goes through are used to foreshadow the events soon to come. I personally think that Wielsel started the memoir like this because he said in the book he himself did not believe Moishe which leads me to think that in a way he is apologizing to Moishe for not trusting and listening to him.
ReplyDeleteThe themes that are revealed in section 1 of Night are things such as the inhumane way of treating humans. This theme is shown through the way that the Gestapo and the German police officers treat the Jews. The ways of getting them out of their town and the names that they would call them were awful and were just a total injustice to the Jews. A second theme that is shown a lot is the religious views that Wielsel has. For being only thirteen, he knows more about religion than an adult at this time most likely would have. He believes so strongly in his faith right now at the time of depair even being made to leave the town is not bothering him as much as it should be.
1. I believe that Wiesel begins the book with a story of Moishe the Beadle to establish how important religion and faith is to his identity. Moishe the Beadle could have been an idol in his life. Because Wiesel wasn't very close to his father, Moishe could have provided him with a father figure and someone to look up too. Also I feel that opening the memoir with the story of Moishe the Beadle can be a form of entertainment. It can be used just to gain the readers attention so he can start the book with more of a positive feeling. I think he does this because most readers know that the book isn't going to be pleasant or talk about pleasant encounters so he opens it with something positive and pleasant to grab the readers attention.
ReplyDelete2. A very obvious theme established in Section 1 is hope and determination can stay apparent when things get bad. No matter what the people of Sighet are told, they still hold onto the small ounce of hope they have left. Even when the German officers come and evacuate the towns and ghettos, they still have hope that something good will happen. This shows that when people are pushed to the limits, we can learn to pull through and become stronger to fight until the end.
1. “They called him Moishe the Beadle, as if his entire life he had never had a surname” is how Wiesel begins the book. He does this to establish the main themes in the memoir and to expose the purpose. Continuing off the quote is explaining how Moishe was a quiet, poor Jew however still has an awful story about what happened to him. This story is relevant to the memoir in how the Jews are treated. What happened to him foreshadows the ending of the book. Moshe’s example in this section is a reminder that the expense of ignoring witnesses to evil is a recurrence of that evil. This story is the most painful example of how these people were treated in this time period by the Nazi’s. It is also an admonishing tale about the danger of refusing to need firsthand testimony.
ReplyDelete2. The first section of the memoir has developed themes within Eliezer struggling with his faith. He is from a Jewish community where they all study their religion and express their trust in God. He looks up to his father who is described in the story as a “cultured man, rather unsentimental … The Hewish community of Sighet held him in highest esteem”. His father being so religious makes him the same way however Eliezer’s faith lowers because in the first section he begins to wonder why God would allow such suffering if he continues to pray and believe in him.
Moishe the Beadle is important to the story because it shows how even the most devout of Jews faith was tested during the Holocaust. Moishe the Beadle was a well respected man who devoted his life to leaning the Zohar and spreading his knowledge of Kabbalah. He began to question his faith, however, when he saw what the Germans had planned for the Jews. He was taken from his home and witnessed a massacre of his people where they were forced to dig their own graves and shot. When he returned to his town he had lost the joy in his eyes, no longer sang, and no longer spoke of God or Kabbalah. His story was also used to show how blind the Jews truly were to what was occurring in the country. Moishe experienced the evils of the Nazi army but the people still refused to believe him.
ReplyDeleteOne theme that Wiesel begins to establish is the struggle to maintain faith in the most evil of situations. Moishe the Beadle starts off the story as a devout Jew who everyone loves in his town. Once he is sent out of his town and witnesses the capabilities of the Nazi army, his view of life changes. He no longer talks about God or the Kabbalah. The story of Moishe the Beadle establishes what is to come for Eliezer as his faith is tested by the German army. The other theme established in Section 1 is people's refusal to accept the truth could mean their destruction. The people of Sighet refuse to believe Moishe the Beadle's warning of what the German army had planned to do to the Jews. If they would have listened to him, they could have fled the country and saved themselves.
Moishe the Beadle is a poor, simple man. He is well liked by all of the townspeople. He helps Elizer to study the cabala, and he teaches him that it is more important to ask god the right questions than to try and find the correct answers. Early in the story and the war, Moishe is taken to a Nazi concentration camp because he is foreign. He manages to escape and tries to warn the townspeople of the horrors that the Nazis are committing to the Jewish people. They ignore him and think he's crazy. Moshe foreshadows the horrors that are soon to come, but also highlights the complacency of the Jew's in Seighet.
ReplyDeleteThe theme of witness can be seen many times in chapter one. The most evident example is the townspeople of Sighet. They are witnesses to Moshe the Beadle and the stories he tells about what he experiences. They witness him telling his story of Nazi abuse and they ignore what he has to say. Moshe the Beadle embodies the theme of witness because of what he has seen. He witnesses Nazi atrocity after atrocity. He sees children being used as target practice and people being forced to dig their own graves. Moshe witnesses these things and rushes back to Sighet to tell what he has seen to others. For Moshe, the purpose of him being spared was for him to be a witness and warn the others of what is to come. It becomes even more frustrating for him when this purpose is completely ignored by the townspeople.
- Wiesel begins the memoir with the story of Moishe the Beadle because he stands almost like a teacher to Elie and helps him stay connected and close to God and the Jewish faith through this rough time. Even though Moishe is irrelevant to every one else but Elie, he is actually right and has the right answers. Wiesel`s involvement in the Jewish faith is most likely caused by Moishe the Beadle. He gives him strength to worship and stay connected. He refers back to Moishe the Beadle throughout the memoir because he reflects back and tries to find the answers.
ReplyDelete-One major theme that Wiesel establishes in section 1 is the importance of bonding. Wiesel`s bond with God is so important to him to the point that he gets emotional. His family seems to not care so much about his connection with God while Moishe the Beadle is the only thing strengthening him. Also Wiesel loses his bonding with his family. Not so much his father but his mother and his sisters. It seems as if he wants to follow in his fathers footsteps but his father has no interest in what he does.
1. I believe Wiesel starts off with with the story of Moishe the Beadle because it represents multiple things. First, he shows Wiesels community is deeply tribal, for lack of a better term, and unwilling to accept change or facts of a stark and appalling nature. Moishe was rounded up and atrocities were committed in front of his very eyes, and even though it is coming from a primary source, Sighet still chooses to cast him aside and say all he wants is pity and money (7). The second reason is to show that what the Nazis did changed people to their core. Moishe, we learn very quickly, is a devout Jew and had devoted quite a lot of time to learning Jewish texts like the Zohar and deeply complex ideas like Kabbalism (4,5). He teaches Wiesel for a while until he is rounded up by the Hungarian police and taken to Galicia (6). When Moishe comes back he speaks very little, and when he does, he never speaks of his religion. He only speaks of what he's seen (7). What Moishe saw changed him, and Wiesel makes this evident. There is even possible foreshadowing, meaning Wiesel may do the same with his religion after being abducted by the Nazis.
ReplyDelete2. Wiesel has begun to establish that the Jews are being put down. From Moishe's abduction in the very beginning, to the Hungarian police beating and pummeling Jews doing nothing wrong, AFTER theyve been forcibly relocated into ghettos and been heavily restricted. Everything from ownership of certain items to being allowed information was taken from the Jews. This is a theme Wiesel drives home.
Wiesel uses the story of Moishe the Beadle at the beginning of the memoir for several reasons. Moishe helps establish character and plot line. As a child, Wiesel was very religious, but his father did not support his devotion. Wiesel wanted someone to teach and guide him in the jewish religion, and he found that in Moishe. He uses Moishe to help establish his identity and his great observance. He also uses Moishe as a plot catalyst. The plot doesn't truly pick up until Germany enters Sighut. Moishe helps give readers background about what's truly going on and what is going to happen to the Jews. After Wiesel tells about Moishe and his warnings, readers see them come to life along with the plot.
ReplyDeleteOne theme that has begun to emerge is people find the most optimism in times of greatest despair. This them is very apparent in the first section. As Wiesel begins to explain the start of persecution of the Jews, the story becomes grim. The Jews are about to face despair, death, and absolute horror, but somehow they stay positive. They have heard the stories from Moishe, have listened to the Budapest radio tell them the Germans have entered the country, but still they seem to think they are indestructible. Even after they are moved to ghettos and given restrictions to follow, they are positive they will be able to stay there until the war ends. In these times of great despair and, the Jews have found nothing but optimism.
Wiesel began the memoir with the story of moishe the beadle to start a prolog. To tell about his past and how his life was before the war and concentration camp.
ReplyDeleteThe theme in section one would be that tradition was good for them and how there daily routines were the same
He starts with the story because he wants to show that the Germans were actually doing the things he said and even though he was the lowest of the low he still wanted to help his fellow Jews.
ReplyDeleteI believe that one of the themes he is establishing the theme that even if the worst is happening, having hope, and remaining faithful can help you get through almost anything.
--- Wiesel begins the memoir with Moishe the Beadle because that is what molded him in his beliefs. He is the only one that would take him in to teach him how to be closer to god. Moshie also plays an important role in section one since he escaped the Nazis but no one believes him. This shows how stubborn people in the community are but it wouldn't be understood if we didn't know who Moshie was before then.
ReplyDelete--- The theme we see being established in section 1 is that people can deal with bad things happening until it happens to them. As I said in part 1 the community completely ignored Moishes warnings because they didn't want to accept it. Then when they were moved to the ghettos they belived that was the worst it could get. Even when the ghetto was being liquidated they stayed optimistic thinking it may not be them who went. People can stay optimistic in the worst of times just to suppress their fears.
He begins the story with Moishe's memoir to establish his character. Moishe play's an important role in the beginning and without knowing his mannerisms/physicality/basic life we would not have a good understanding of his role in society. But through describing him in the beginning, Wiesel sets the memoir's tone and also sets the tone for Moishe and explains why he is treated later on when no one takes his warning seriously. One theme we see is the looseness in their faith. All of the people, mainly Eliezer, express how important their faith in God is to them. They continually show how they prey and worship. They even keep the faith as they begin to be put in ghettos. But as time goes on they loose faith quickly and question why a God would treat them so. Then they go back and try to reason why they are being treated like this. They can never seem to make up their mind about their faith and it is a hot topic within their society.
ReplyDeleteMoishe is the image of what will happen to all the people later in the memoir. He is said to be loved by many yet no one will accept him into their family although he struggles. “His presence bothered no one and he mastered the art of rendering himself insignificant, invisible.” Moshie upholds the image of a similar life all the Jews in Europe would be experiencing soon. They would help him although the Jews did not really favor it in general even though they cared for him. They did it because they had to just as the German soldiers would be doing to them. He did not bother anyone around him; his presence was insignificant to all those around him and spoke the true word of god. The Jews were insignificant to the Germans, their presence was not intolerable in the camps but they were just in their presence. Although the Jews were taken to such vulgar conditions, they still believed some and questioned where god was. They may have been stripped of everything but, like moshie, they still practiced the little faith they had left.
ReplyDeleteA theme that has emerged is that the inhumanity of individuals is enough to make the most avid believer falter in his faith. This theme means that when the evil done among fellow human beings the belief that a higher power is there and would stop such hysteria is gone. Before moshie was taken, he only spoke of the word, the gospel of the greatness of God. When moshie returned from the first deportation he spoke of the horrors of what he had seen. It was stated in the book that the glimmer he had in his eyes was gone and that he did not speak of the greatness of God anymore, he only spoke of the evil of his fellow humans.
1. Wiesel tells the story he trusted him and he shares some of his religious thoughts. An important part is when Moishe tells the story of what the Germans were doing to inisant people. After he tells the story nobody believes him and they act like it wont ever happen. Their own ignorance let to their own fate.
ReplyDelete2. From question one a theme is the belief that mankind cant be so evil. When Moishe tells the story of the Germans killing people for no reason, people don't believe him. They believe that something like that could never happen to them. It will later come back to determine their fate and may will regret their decision.
I believe he starts the memoir off with Moishe the beatle because it shows how Wiesel felt alone when it came to his faith because his father disapproved of studying it. He needed someone to confide in and he had Moishe the Beadle. He would come to Moishe for spiritual guidance and advice and developed a friendship based on faith. When Moishe was captured under Nazi control, he managed to survive and returned to tell of the horrors that happened. Nobody believed him though, not even Wiesel. This shows how Wiesel along with others felt no panick during this time period and rejected any reality of fear.
ReplyDeleteI believe Wiesel has already showed that silence plays a large part of the peoples thoughts and emotions in the story. The silence shows that they are trying to disregard the fact of what is happening and trying to hold onto optimism. By being silent, they are trying to not let themselves give into the growing fear that is among them.
Moshe the Beadle would foreshadow of what was to happen of Wiesel and the others. When he was deported because of his status as a foreign Jew, the people of Sighet just shrugged their shoulders and sighed "it's war" Somehow, Moshe the Beadle miracuously escaped and returned to Sighet as a different person. His warnings were met with pity and denial as everyone thought he was perhaps exaggerating his experience.
ReplyDeleteOne theme that i think he is showing in the first section of the Memoir is silence Eliezer states, “Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live.”
Wiesel begins the book with Moshe the Beadle to show how even deeply religious people can be torn from God or partially separated from Him. This just shows how powerful, controlling, and scarring the Holocaust truly was. Moshe before he is taken says that the God within him gives him strength and Moshe asks Him the questions, but after he returns he rarely prays and his joy/love is gone. This is also a foreshadow for the struggle Eliezer and the other Jews will face with their own faith and hope once they are taken by the Germans.
ReplyDeleteOne theme that Wiesel has started to establish is the struggle to maintain faith in trying situations when a person feels hopeless. I believe this is an emerging theme because as I said in the previous response, even someone with as strong of faith as Moshe can have their faith ruined by one terrible event. I believe that Wiesel sets up the beginning of his memoir with Moshe and their relationship to show how Moshe was someone who Wiesel looked up to. Moshe had such a close faith and love for God, young Wiesel wanted to trust in God and know God as well as Moshe. Seeing him come back so damaged and shaken either made a lasting impression on Wiesel or Wiesel was using this story just to foreshadow his own struggle with faith, either way it is a theme that can even be seen in modern day times. When someone experiences loss, especially, they seem to lash out at God for allowing their loved one to die. It's like when a child gets cancer parents say, "Why not me, God? Why would you do this? Who would do this to someone?" Difficult situations test a persons faith because God is supposed to love His children. For example, if a person is good then why do bad things happen to good people? Questions like that and difficult times cause people to struggle with faith.
He starts off with Moishe the beadle because it is foreshadowing what will come later in the story. It shows how no one cares so much about what he says but everything he has said was true. The Jews thought it wasn't going to happen to them.
ReplyDeleteOne theme is seen is the unwillingness to change can be harmful. The people of Sighet new about the actions of the Nazi's and had the ability to leave but They did not want to leave Sighet.
1.The story starts with Moshe the Beadle, as he has a first hand account of how brutal the Nazis were to Jews before anyone else within the town did It foreshadows how the town would be treated as the story progressed.
ReplyDelete2. A theme being established is that of preconceptions being harmful. The Nazis when the arrive in the town appear to be fine, and the townspeople are happy, but then the Nazis enact anti-Jew laws and force them into Ghettos. The townspeople still feel they will be fine, but then they are evicted, or as the Nazis put it, "Liquidated". Their preconceptions were wrong, and they suffered due to it.
-- He started off the story with Moshe the Beadle because it captures how heavily he relies on his religion and this is a major part of his identity. He went to Moshe for many things and they always went to religion for the answer he asked so many questions about the religion and thats all they talked about and Moshe was genuinely happy. Then the nazis came and did horrific things and Moshe tried warning the town and all the jews but no one would listen. Eliezer even is in disbelief when he hears all of this. After this happens Eliezer points out Moshe no longer talks about god or religion anymore it seems that he has lost faith and i feel as though this is very important because it is foreshadowing.
ReplyDelete-- The theme is that people will try to find the good even when it is bad. Many people try to look for any kind of sign that things will get better no matter how hard the times are. Even when we need comforted we tend to tell people what to look forward to or what there is to be happy about. This is highly important in the circumstances they are under.
This realization of Rabbi Eliahou’s son’s betrayal causes Eliezer to become closer to his father. He wants to protect his father and ensure that he stays close to his father. Eliezer even prays that he will never do such a terrible thing to his father, that he will never wish his father away. He sees how cruel and inhumane Rabbi Eliahou’s son acted and he decided from that moment on, he did not want to be that way.
ReplyDeleteOne theme within the memoir is the struggle to maintain faith in trying situations when a person feels hopeless. This theme shines throughout the memoir and effects every character in some way. Even someone with as strong of faith as Moshe can has their faith ruined by one terrible event. Eliezer clearly struggles with his faith, and even says he no longer believes in a God. However, at a couple instances, we see Eliezer pray. Whether it be to stay kind to his father or to just wish for strength, he prays. This theme is not limited to just this story, this situation, or just these people. This theme is something everyone struggles with at least once in their life; whether they have trouble maintaining faith in God, themselves, or in some other entity. When someone experiences loss or difficult situations, they often blame God or outside forces for the situation they face which causes a strain in their faith.