Night Study Guide

Night Reading Guide, Part 1 Name: ________________________________________

Due: ________________________________________
Section 1: Pages 3-22
Characters


Eliezer (Elie) Wiesel – author, protagonist, narrator

Moishe the Beadle – town resident, very wise, made fun of sometimes by townspeople for his eccentric ways and unusual practices, studies the Talmud and Kabbala

Shlomo Wiesel – Elie’s father and trusted advisor to Jewish townspeople

Sarah Wiesel – Elie’s mother

Hilda, Bea, Tzipora – Elie’s sisters

Vocabulary

Nazi – shortened form for a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party, which Hitler helped establish in 1920 and which came to power in 1932. The party blatantly showed prejudice against Slavs and Jews and promoted totalitarian government that squelched individual human rights
Hasidic – The movement founded in a time of persecution of the Jewish people, when European Jews had turned inward to Talmud study; many felt that most expressions of Jewish life had become too “academic,” and that they no longer had any emphasis on spirituality or joy; it is a very orthodox form of Judaism
Talmud – a 45 volume anthology of scriptural interpretation, commentary, and traditions, edited in 500 C.E. and used as a source book for Jewish wisdom to solve problems and settle disputes
Kabbala – a medieval system of interpreting scripture by the application of meditation, emotion, mysticism, insight, intuition, communion with God, and numerology; usually reserved for advance study
Synagogue – Jewish place of worship
Rabbi – spiritual head of a Jewish congregation
Gestapo – the official secret police of Nazi Germany
Fascism – a political movement supporting brutally oppressive, dictatorial control of public speech and civil rights and uncompromising adherence to inhumane laws; there were German Fascists under Adolf Hitler and Italian Fascists under Benito Mussolini
The Yellow Star – a palm-sized patch centered with a hexagram, or six-pointed star, called the Shield (or Star) of David; Jews were forced to wear a yellow star on their clothing to designate them as Jews
Passover – a Jewish holiday that commemorates the departure of Jews from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses
Ghetto – a section of a city in which an ethnic of religious minority, lepers, or outcasts are restricted; Jews were required to live in ghettos from medieval times until the French Revolution, which ended the practice in 1789; Hitler resurrected the concept of the ghetto during WWII.
Conflagration – uncontrolled burning that threatens life

Questions

1. 
   Where was Elie born (town and country)?
   

2. 
   What is Moishe the Beadle like?
   

3. 
   How old is Elie when the book begins? What year is it?
   

4. 
   What are Elie’s interests at this time?
   
5. 
   Why is Moishe forced to leave town? Where does he go?
   

6. 
   Describe Moishe’s experience in Poland.
   

7. 
   Describe Moishe’s behavior when he returns from Poland.
   

8. 
   How do the townspeople treat Moishe when he returns from Poland?
   

9. 
   Why does nobody believe Moishe?
   

10. 
    What is the general attitude of the Jews of Sighet toward the war?
    

11. 
    Why does Elie’s father refuse to immigrate to Palestine when Elie urges him to?
    

12. 
    How do the German officers act when they first arrive in Sighet?
    

13. 
    What is the gift that Mrs. Khan received from a German officer?
    

14. 
    How did this reinforce the Jews’ attitude toward the war?
    

15. 
    List the five steps or decrees that led to the Jews’ containment in the ghetto.
    

16. 
    “‘The yellow star? So what? It’s not lethal…’ (Poor Father! Of what then did you die?)” (11).
    

Who spoke these words, and why is the quotation both important (how does it exemplify the Jewish attitude toward the restrictions) and ironic?

17. 
    Describe the ghetto.
    

18. 
    How many ghettos were in Sighet?
    
19. 
    What sort of life did the Jews establish within the ghetto?
    

20. 
    Elie believes, “The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion” (12). What does this mean?
    

21. 
    Wiesel said that the ghetto was not guarded. Why do you think the Jews did not flee?
    

22. 
    What is deportation?
    

23. 
    What were the Jews allowed to bring with them when they were deported?
    

24. 
    How old was Elie when he and his family were deported? What year is it now?
    

25. 
    How did the non-Jewish neighbors react to the deportation of their “friends of yesterday” (22)? Why do you think they acted that way?
    

26. 
    How many Jews are placed in each cattle car? What do the Germans threaten if anyone escapes?