num_pages: 161
description: It is Purim. Three players who have lost their way turn up an an inn to perform a Purim play for the Jewish community. They discover to their horror that they are in Shamgorod, which has suffered a pogrom. The only Jews left are the innkeeper, a withdrawn, embittered man, and his daughter, who was raped and tortured. Egged on by the innkeeper, they agree that instead of a Purimschpiel they will stage a mock trial of God for allowing such things to happen to His children. The innkeeper wants to be Prosecutor; the three players agree to be Judges. But who will be Defense Attorney? A Stranger, who looks oddly familiar to all of them, appears and offers to take the role. Meanwhile, the mob, unsatisfied with its previous violence, is planning a new assault on the inn.Against this backdrop, the trail proceeds--a setting and a plot that enable Elie Wiesel to pursue with irony, feeling, wit and a strong sense of drama the concerns that are central to all of his writing. The Trial of God is full of theatre; it also reads well. And it is an experience that one will not easily forget.
language: English
title: The Trial of God As It Was Held on 2/25/1649, in Shamgorod: A Play in Three Acts
titlecomplete: The Trial of God As It Was Held on 2/25/1649, in Shamgorod: A Play in Three Acts
genres: Fiction, Plays, Holocaust, Theatre, Classics, Religion, Drama, Historical Fiction, Judaism, Jewish
ratings_count: 1334
publisher: Random House