VOCABULARY – SECTION 1
Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Context Clues
Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find
in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean.
1. They called him Moshe the Beadle, as though he had never had a surname in his life.
Surname – A persons last name, inherited from their mother or father.
2. Nobody ever felt embarrassed by him. Nobody ever felt encumbered by his presence.
Encumbered- to have fear of or be embarrassed by
3. He was a past master in the art of making himself insignificant, of seeming invisible.
Insignificant- Of little matter
4. I was twelve. I believed profoundly. During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the
synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple.
Profoundly- With great remark or security
5. The train full of deportees had crossed the Hungarian frontier and on Polish territory had been taken in
charge by the Gestapo.
Deportees – People that are being removed from a country
6. At that time, it was still possible to obtain emigration permits for Palestine.
Emigration – To move legally
7. With some of my schoolmates, I sat in the Ezra Malik gardens, studying a treatise on the Talmud.
Treatise – Some kind of religious text that is studied by Jews
8. My father was telling them anecdotes and expounding his own views on the situation.
Anecdotes – Stories of exciting detail
9. At dawn, there was nothing left of this melancholy.
Melancholy – A sad story
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Type your answers in the table/box below the questions.
1. Describe Moshe the Beadle.
He was a bare foot homeless man who wasn’t paid any mind.
2. Describe Elie Wiesel's father. What was his occupation?
Elie’s father was the owner of a shop and was held with high regards in the Jewish community.
3. Why was Moshe the Beadle important to Elie Wiesel?
He, was willing to teach Elie the Zorah, unlike his father who refused to do so.
4. Summarize the story Moshe the Beadle told on his return from being deported. Why did he say he had
returned to Sighet?
He described an execution camp where several people, families, were killed.
5. What was the public reaction to Moshe's story?
Most people thought that he was crazy because he was homeless and not very known.
6. What was the setting & the year for the first section of the book? What was the world condition at the
time?
This was happening during WWII where Jews were persecuted in Germany and surrounding areas.
7. Describe, in order, the events that happened from the last day of Passover until Pentecost. Jewish
leaders were arrested, people weren't allowed to leave their homes, people were wearing yellow stars,
got moved into ghettos and finally they got deported.
8. How did Wiesel say he felt about the Hungarian police? He hated them because he felt oppressed
9. Who was Martha?She was a servant for the family. What happened when she visited the Wiesel family in the
ghetto? She offered them a place to stay, in her village.