Before his deportation, Moche was "a man of all work at a Hasidic synagogue". He was poor, but the people loved him; "nobody ever felt encumbered by his presence". Moche had "great dreaming eyes, their gaze lost in the distance". In the absence of a proper master of the cabbala, Moche becomes a teacher of sorts to Elie. Moche is profoundly spiritual, and he teaches Elie that "man raises himself toward God by the questions he asks Him", and that although man cannot understand them, the answers to man's questions come from God, who lives deep within his soul.
Moche is much changed when he returns after his deportation. There is "no longer any joy in his eyes...he no longer (talks) about God or the cabbala, but only of what he had seen". Moche has returned to warn the people of Sighet of what is happening beyond the sheltered confines of their village so that they can prepare themselves while there is still time, but no one will listen. Whereas before he was beloved, now Moche is pathetic, "a madman".
The change in Moche is illustrated in his eyes. Before his deportation, he had always gazed into the distance. His eyes were focused on spiritual things, and the things he spoke of were not of this earth. After his deportation, he speaks "only of what he had seen", and from his eyes tears fall, "like drops of wax". Moche weeps, and "close(s) his eyes, as though to escape time". His gaze has been turned from the spiritual to the real, and he has found that the two are not compatible. Elie discovers the same thing later when he loses his faith in the brutal reality of the concentration camps (Chapter 1).
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