The Oath

When a Christian boy disappears in a fictional Eastern European town in the 1920s the local Jews are quickly accused of ritual murder. There is tension in the air and a pogrom threatens to erupt. Suddenly an extraordinary manMoshe the dreamer a madman and mysticsteps forward and confesses to a crime he did not commit in a vain attempt to save his people from certain death. The community gathers to hear his last wordsa plea for silenceand everyone present takes an oath: whoever survives the impending tragedy must never speak of the towns last days and nights of terror.. For fifty years the sole survivor keeps his oathuntil he meets a man whose life depends on hearing the story and one mans loyalty to the dead confronts head-on anothers reason to go on living.. One of Wiesels strongest early novels this timeless parable about the Jews and their enemies about hate family friendship and silence is as powerful haunting and significant as it was when first published in 1973.