Night by Elie Wiesel Prereading Vocabulary By Ms

Night by Elie Wiesel Pre-reading Vocabulary By: Ms. Barbour

Night Pre-Reading Vocabulary Prejudice- an irrational hatred of a person, group, or race based upon a preconceived opinion or judgment n scapegoat- an innocent person, group, or race who is blamed for the general problems of society and punished harshly for them n

Night Pre-Reading Vocabulary Genocide- the mass extermination of a very large group of people because of their nationality, race, or religion. n Stereotype- a generalization of a person; a person who is regarded, not as an individual, but as a member of a group or nationality. n

Night Pre-Reading Vocabulary Nazi- Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party n 1. Required supreme devotion to German government n 2. Opposed communism, capitalism, and free intellectual inquiry n 3. Desired to form a master race n

Night Pre-Reading Vocabulary Anti-Semitism- ill feeling or hatred towards the Jews n Holocaust- the destruction of 6 million Jews in death camps during 1941 -1945. n Kapo- brutal Jewish prisoners who controlled concentration camp inmates for the Germans in exchange for special treatment n

Night Pre-Reading Vocabulary SS- Schutzstaffel - the elite guard of the camps or special force of the Nazis headed by a man named Himmler. n Gestapo -German secret police in ghettos n Passover –A seven-day festival commemorating the freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. n Rosh Hashanah -Marks the new year of the Jewish calendar. n

Night Pre-Reading Vocabulary Hanukah - “Festival of Lights” After a victory over Syrians, the oil in a jar for the temple miraculously lasted for eight days instead of just one. n Yom Kippur - This is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. This is considered to be the day in which every individual is judged by God. n

Night Pre-Reading Vocabulary n Torah – The primary source in the Jewish religion is the Hebrew Bible, consisting of twenty-four books divided up into three sections. The Torah includes the first five books of the Bible; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Night Pre-Reading Vocabulary Talmud – Next in importance to the Hebrew Bible is the Babylonian Talmud, a collection of teachings of early rabbis from the 5 th and 6 th centuries. n Cabbala – Hasidic Jews also read this mystical commentary on the Torah. They believed that every word, letter, number, and even accent contains mysteries interpretable by those who know the secret. n