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Why does Moshe return to Sighet in Night and how is he treated upon his return?
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In Night, Moshe the Beadle returns to Sighet in order to warn the Jewish citizens of their impending fate if they do not flee before the Nazis invade their town. Unfortunately, people dismiss Moshe's warnings and believe that he is deranged. Elie mentions that some people thought Moshe was only imaginings things and that he simply wanted their pity and attention.
Moshe the Beadle was Elie's teacher of the Kabbalah. He was a sensitive and kind man. When the Hungarian authorities began to expel all foreign Jews from Sighet, Moshe was one of them. He leaves and Elie thinks he will never see him again. However, Moshe soon returns with horrific stories to tell.
At first, the town is outraged that all the foreign Jews are being forced to leave, but they soon forget about what has happened, thinking that it really doesn't affect them. When Moshe returns, the people of the town are less than willing to entertain his stories. Moshe begins to tell the people that the deportation trains were handed over to the Gestapo at the Polish border. The trains themselves were so overcrowded and there was not enough food to eat. They had to dig mass graves for themselves and the Gestapo would kill them. All of...
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the people of Sighet think that Moshe is crazy. They will not listen to what he has to say.
"Moshe the Beadle...madness in his eyes. He talked on and on about the brutality of the killers. "Listen to me!" he would shout. "I'm telling the truth. On my life, I swear it!" But the people were deaf to his pleas. I liked him and could not bring myself to believe him."
What is interesting about Moshe is that he stands for the faith that Elie had. Moshe was Elie's teacher and taught him that questions were more important than their answers. When Elie starts losing his faith in God, we see Elie having more answers than questions. When Moshe returns to Sighet to warn everyone, we see the people ignoring his warnings and not taking him seriously. If only people had taken him seriously enough, maybe things would have turned out differently, but then again, we will never know. As Elie has taught us, we will never forget.
How do the townspeople react to Moshe's return in Night by Elie Wiesel?
In Night by Elie Wiesel, Moshe the Beadle is a very poor, but well loved, man. He is the one Elie goes to when he wants to learn Cabbala (Jewish mysticism). Moshe is also a foreigner, and the foreigners are the first Jews to be deported by the Nazis. Moshe is taken away, and the people of Sighet, his former town, soon forget him.
However, Moshe escapes the Nazis and returns to town with horror stories of what happened to the Jews who were with him. Even Moshe had been shot in the leg after he and the others were forced to dig a trench for their own grave and summarily shot. Most of them died there, but miraculously Moshe survived and came back to warn the townspeople.
Sadly and to their peril, his neighbors will not believe him. They think he has lost his mind. Even Elie is not sure of Moshe anymore. What Moshe describes to them is just too difficult to fathom. How could something like that happen? They decide it couldn't have happened and dismiss Moshe as a crazy person.Â