Blog Post #1-Sydney

While I was reading the first chapter of the book Night I was surprised by how it started. I was confused while reading the first couple pages what relevance the character Moishe the Beadle had in the book. As I continued reading I learned that Elie at the time and I are the same age so that is the only connection I made with the book. While reading about the character Moishe the Beadle being taken away and moved somewhere else for “Better job opportunities”  I knew something good was not going to happen for Moishe and the other people transported with him. The people of the town were sad at the loss of Moishe but soon returned to lie as normal. I intrigued with the unexpected arrival of Moishe. When he was talking to Elie he told him about what happened on his journey. “ The train had stopped. The Jews were ordered to get off onto waiting trucks. The trucks headed towards a forest. There everybody was ordered to get out. They were forced to dig huge trenches. When they had finished their work, the men from the Gestapo began theirs. Without passion or haste, they shot their prisoners, who were forced to approach the trench one by one and offer their necks. Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns”(Wiesel P.6). This passage really made me think of how cruel those people could be to throw an innocent baby into the air and use them as a target. I couldn’t think of any possible reason nor is there a justifiable reason for anything they did. Although Moishe told these things to the people they didn’t believe him they said he was crazy or wanted something from him. Moishe pleaded for them to listen to him many times “Jews, listen to me! That’s all I ask of you. No money. No pity. Just listen to me!” (Wiesel P.7) His pleas were no use they still thought he was insane. As time seemingly goes by the Jews are forced into ghettos. They were fenced in. Elie’s faced the street so there was one window that could look out at life beyond the ghetto but that was soon covered. Even though they were now barricaded in these ghettos they slowly returned to normal life. “A Jewish Council was appointed, as well as a Jewish police force, a welfare agency, a labor committee, a health agency-- a whole governmental apparatus”(Wiesel P.12). When the first group of Jews were forced out of their houses in the ghettos in the early morning I felt extremely bad for them because they were innocent people who will be tortured and punished because of their beliefs. I bet the children were confused and when they were begging for water but were unable to get it because they were told to wait outside their homes as they went over role multiple times to make sure no one had escaped.