Moishe The Beadle In "Night" By Elie Wiesel
This character comes from the memoir “Night” by Eliezer Wiesel a survivor of the Holocaust. This book is a fist hand documentation of the Holocaust at the point of view of Eliezer. It tells the story of people he knew and how they and many others had suffered during the genocide. Among the people he knew there was person who had managed to escape the concentration camp. He was called Moishe, the Beadle.
Moishe the Beadle lived in Transylvania with Eliezer. Moishe was described as old and “awkward as a clown” and also known to be timid to the rest of the town. Eliezer himself has said he had “dreamy” eyes and mentioned he is a “jack-of-trades”. Unfortunately, Moishe was the poorest of the poor in the town for reasons unstated. However the people were still fond of unlike they were to others in poverty. Moishe the Beadle was a very religious man. Eliezer says he sang, chanted, and spoke of repentance. It would be revealed later the he prays to God for strength to ask the “real” questions as stated in the exposition of the book “I pray to the God within me for strength to ask Him the real questions. ” In the beginning Moishe was a very helpful friend Eliezer. Eliezer was very eager to progress on his religious trail. He was observant of the other Jews and studied very diligently at every evening. Being very persistent on finding a master he eventually turned to Moishe the Beadle to teach him after an encounter in the synagogue. It was there Moishe had questioned Eliezer’s reason for praying the and why he cries when he prayed. He answered both questions with “I don’t know” then he asked Moishe why he prayed. He replied with “I pray to the God within me for strength to ask Him the real questions. ” They had continued to meet with each other to discuss more on that topic and others. He gave him sage advice encrypted into metaphors and taught him the ways of Kabbalah. However all of this had ended when one day all the foreign Jews had to Sighet.
The Hungarian police had come with a train to collect any foreign Jews and pack them tightly into the cars. After a few tears were shed and a day had passed they had forgotten about the Jews that were deported. They had suspected nothing of the event saying “What do you expect? That’s war…” as said by one of the people in the town. They had no idea what was starting. A few months later Moishe had reappeared in the town sitting outside a synagogue. Eliezer approached him but then began to notice he had changed. He had been stripped of all joy and he had no longer projected a religious attitude. He was empty and traumatized by the events he had witnessed. He tried to convey the genocide and torture that befell his companions to the people of the town but no one believed him. They thought he was mad or only wanted their pity. A few years passed until the rest of the Jews were able to see what Moishe the Beadle.
In conclusion it can be said the Moishe the Beadle’s role was to warn the Jews of what was to come. He had miraculously survived where many haven’t. He even managed to escape the camp and have enough compassion for his friends to warn them about the camps. The fact that the other Jews didn’t believe Moishe only says they could never imagine something as gruesome as the Holocaust.
