Group Reader Response LC #1: Dialectical Journal Practice

1. When Eliezer was warned to leave their town, him and the rest of the Jews didn’t believe it at first. Moshe the Beadle ran to Eliezer’s house, warning them to leave before it was too late, since he didn’t want them to go through the same thing he’s been through. But they just shrugged it off and went about with their own lives. The first decree was when the Jewish leaders were arrested by the Germans, and the first step for the Jews were that they couldn’t leave their house for three days on pain of death. The book didn’t really say much on how they felt with this part of the book, assuming that the Jews probably didn’t really feel the need to be concerned about it. On that same day, the second decree was made, which was that they could no longer own any gold, jewelry, or anything with some type of value, The Hungarian police took everything that they owned, leaving them with nothing. None of them showed signs of concern, but Eliezer’s father thought it was a good idea to hide their savings. When the three days were up, they had created a third new decree, saying that they must wear the yellow star. Again, the Jews showed nothing but ignorance. None of them had the mindset of anything dangerous happening, so they continued on with their lives. They’ve just been piling up new decrees, saying that they aren’t allowed to go to restaurants or cafes, to travel the railway, to attend the synagogue, and to go out into the street after six o’clock. Still showing nothing but ignorance, the Jews of Sighet were forced to live in the two ghettos that were created.

Quotes	Commentary
“I managed to get back here. Where did I get the strength from? I wanted to come back to Sighet to tell you the story of my death. So that you could prepare yourselves while there was still time.” (pg. 5)	This is an important part of the book, because Moshe the Beadle was warning Eliezer and the rest of the town to leave when they still had time.
“...They were issuing new decrees. We were no longer allowed allowed to go into restaurants or cafes, to travel on the railway, to attend the synagogue, to go out into the street after six o’clock.” (pg. 9)	The Jews were stripped of many privileges, making it very hard for them to live their lives. This led to the Hungarian police taking them in and handpicked people to work and for the rest to go to the crematory.
“There are rumors going around...that we’re going somewhere in Hungary to work in the brick factories.” (pg. 11)	The Jews started figuring out what the Hungarian police were up to, but they didn’t really believe it, as they only believed they were “rumors.”
“No one prayed, that so that the night would pass quickly. The stars were only sparks of the fire which devoured us quickly...There was nothing else to do but to get into bed, into the beds of the absent ones; to rest to gather one’s strength. (pg. 18)	They started to get concerned, and soon enough, they found out that there was something off. People started to just go straight to bed, without praying, “so that the night could pass quickly.”
“Yitgadal veyitkadach shme raba… May his name be blessed and magnified” (pg. 31)	His father whispered this saying under his breath, as he was just hoping that nothing wrong happens to the both of them. They were terrified, while Eliezer felt that he was facing the Angel of Death.