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The image above shows a classroom in prewar Munkacs,  a Ukrainian town with over 13,000 Jewish residents. Peretz Littman, a devout Hasidic jew from Munkacs, describes his education, saying "At first I learned the Hebrew alphabet, and at the age of 4, I could already read the prayers from the siddur [prayerbook], just like a big boy, without understanding the prayer. After that, I learned to write, and at the age of 6, I already knew chumash [the Five Books of Moses] with Rashi’s commentary. Every Thursday I recited verses from the Bible by heart, including the translation from Hebrew to Yiddish.”

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This footage sheds some light on what Jewish life was like before the Holocaust. Much of the footage and text shows a much more secular Jewish culture than the Hasidic community in Night, but 2:35 in the video is akin to something Elie might have experienced.

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Glimpses of Jewish Life before the Holocaust

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This journal entry, written by Jewish businessman August Tuchmann, discusses the birth of his grandchildren, the wedding of his niece, and the funeral of his brother-in-law.
The entry clearly emphasizes the importance of family in Jewish culture.

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This entry also gives a sense of family life in pre-war Jewish culture. He describes the confirmation of his grandchild, and the death of his brother Louis.

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This Hebrew "Tarbut" school opened in 1928 named Hinuch Yeladim allowed for the education of underprivileged Jewish children. Tarbut schools would teach about Hebrew and Judaism while providing it's students with hot meals and shelter.

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Klezmer music is an instrumental tradition that is typically played at social events due to it's upbeat melody. The music, meant for dancing along too, is from a Yiddish etymology and uses both string and brass instruments.

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This image shows a Jewish school called a Cheder, this religious elementary school would educate its youth primarily on the contents of the Torah although other secular lessons were taught as well.

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A nigunim is a Hasidic wordless melody, often used as a prelude or postlude to traditional prayers. This video is a modern example, and while it's over a 21st-century dance beat, it still gives a sense of what a nigunim sounds like.

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Benny Friedman Sings The Rebbe's Nigunim

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Sukkot, A jewish holiday commemorating the post slavery period in which Jewish children wandered the egyptian desert for 40 years. The man photographed here is seen preparing his sukkah for the week.

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This image includes a large Jewish family gathering around to enjoy Passover in Lodz, Poland. Their holiday festivities, spanning over 8 days, was celebrated with a meal of great significance called seder. The meal consisted of culturally symbolic foods to commemorate the liberation of Hebrews from Egyptian slavery.  In Night, the celebration is briefly mentioned as Elie Wiesel states how they would eat, drink and sing throughout the eight days.

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A Jewish holiday marking the deliverance of the Jews from a royal death. Typically celebrated in a lively manner with a feast, stories and an exchange of gifts.

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The Hakoach Jewish sports club located in Kalisz, Poland had been a organization for the youth that allowed for a stress free environment.

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The Zohar is the fundamental text of Kabbalah. In Night, Elie is driven to study Kabbalah and finds his mentor in Moishe the Beadle. Moishe teaches him the Zohar for a period of time until all foreign Jews are expelled from Sighet and Moishe is deported.

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This picture of a Kabbalistic prayer book taken in the Jewish Museum of Switzerland dates back to the early 19th century. Kabbalah, in the Jewish religion, is a school of thought pertaining to the mystical interpretation of the Bible. In Night, Elie Wiesel seeks someone to guide him in his studies of Kabbalah. Religion was an integral part of Wiesel's identity, as well as Jewish culture as a whole prior to the Holocaust, and this artifact highlights such importance.

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This attached image depicts an artist's rendition of an 18th-century shtibl. A shtibl, meaning "little room" in Yiddish, was a Hasidic religious building for prayer, gathering, and study. On the opening page of Night, Moishe the Beadle is described as being the "jack-of-all-trades in a Hasidic house of prayer, a shtibl."

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The setting of the photo appears to be a house, and the subjects of the photo are all teenage males, hinting at a bar mitzvah. Nobody is smiling, indicating the formality of such an event. The year is 1938, according to the poster on the wall.

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The photo shows two youths, a man and woman, smoking cigarettes. They seem to be lounging in a bedroom, and a poster of what appears to be Robin Hood. The photo sharply contrasts more conservative Jewish values, illustrating the yo

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The subjects in the photo are not Hasidic, as they aren't wearing Hasidic garb and the men and women are able to lie next to each other. In the background is a farm, hinting that these particular people in the photo lived in an agricultural community.

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This footage was taken in the Jewish-dominated town of Wielopole Skrzyńskie in Poland. Furthermore, names are provided in the video, a powerful reminder that the victims of the Holocaust were human. The dress in the video indicates the town to be Hasidic.

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Rare Color Footage Depicting Jewish Life in the Shtetl Before the Holocaust

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In 1921, 550 Jews lived in the town of Wielopole Skrzyńskie, constituting about half of the local population. At that time, some 20 small Jewish factories were in operation there. Full Article: http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/our_collections/teitelbaum_film/index.asp David Teitelbaum (1891-1972), an amateur filmmaker who was born in Wielopole, emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s and became a successful businessman.

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Goodbye Odessa is a Yiddish folk song that originated in Ukraine. The song laments the departure from the town of Odessa, in Ukraine. Its lyrics are a mix of Yiddish and Ukrainian, highlighting the mix of Jewish and European cultures.

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"GOODBYE ODESSA" - YIDDISH SONG - "Proshchay Odessa" / "Прощай, Одесса" - יהדות אוקראינה

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A "Rebbe", referred to on page 8 of Night, means a Jewish spiritual leader in Hasidic communities, such as Sighet. Wiesel writes that his grandfather visited the family during Rosh Hashanah "so as to attend the services of the celebrated Rebbe of Borsche." The Rebbe of Borsche would be the Hasidic leader of Borsche, which seems to be a neighboring town to Sighet. The mentioning of Rebbe indicates that religious leaders in European Jewish communities like Sighet were powerful figures, and once again drives home the importance of religion.

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This appears to be a family gathering. The setting is a family dining room, and no religious indicators can be found. There are 10 people in the photo, arranged by 5 couples. The photo shows the importance of family in Jewish culture.