Chapters 1-2

Reading Check

1. Kabbalism, or Jewish mysticism (Chapter 1)

2. He warns them about the atrocities of war that he experienced firsthand. (Chapter 1)

3. An area of a city where people of a certain religion are forced to live without access to the surrounding world (Chapter 1)

4. They eat their traditional Friday night dinner. (Chapter 1)

5. Auschwitz-Birkenau (Chapter 2)

Short Answer

1. Moishe the Beadle is a poor custodian of the Jewish temple. Wiesel and Moishe study the Zohar (the book of Kabbalism) together. He is well liked compared to other needy people because he is quiet and does not bother the townspeople. (Chapter 1)

2. At first, the Nazis seem polite and not harmful to the Jewish village’s way of life. However, the Nazis soon change their policies, imposing house arrest, banning Jewish people from owning gold, enforcing edicts that ban travel and require Jews to wear the gold star, and finally establishing ghettos. (Chapter 1)

3. She is a woman from Wiesel’s community who was separated from her husband and two older children. As a result, she suffers from mental health problems.