Summary

At the opening of the story, Elie Wiesel, adolescent son of a devout Romanian shopkeeper and brother to three girls (two older and one younger), pursues Hasidic Judaism and Jewish mysticism through study of the Talmud and the cabbala. Elie turns to the affable Moché the Beadle, a very poor and pious recluse, to mentor him in religious studies. After other parishioners depart the synagogue, Moché shares private time with Elie. He wisely encourages the impressionable youth to pursue God through questions, but to expect no understanding of God's answers, which remain unanswered in the soul until death. Moché insists each seeker must rely on innate intuition that will open the way to intelligible answers pertinent to the individual believer.

Inexplicably, Hungarian police arrest Moché and other foreigners and take them away aboard cattle cars. Elie weeps for the loss of his tutor. The citizens of...