On the eve of Yom Kippur, the solemn Day of Atonement, an aging Rabbi somewhere in Russia cries out against the State, exorting his people to defend their beliefs or surrender them to the soulless darkness. Now he must himself answer the State for his actions - and those of Zalmen, the half-mad visionary - and accept from his inquisitors a crushingly ironic decision.

Inspired by an incident from Elie Wiesel's own life, this haunting masterwork illuminates not only the plight of Soviet Jewry, but the anguish of all who must survive - yet long for something more then mere survival.