Set in a medieval European village where three itinerant Jewish actors put God on trial to answer for His silence during a pogrom, a powerful drama considers historical and especially post-Holocaust issues surrounding faith.
While interred in Auschwitz, Elie Wiesel witnessed a trial. While such things are not unusual, this trial was. It was unusual because of the defendant: God. God was tried for violating the covenant by turning his back in silence on the Jewish people in their greatest hour of need. God was tried in absentia, without anyone present being willing to take on the role of God’s defense attorney. God was declared guilty, after which the “court” prayed. Contradiction? Perhaps. But this incident, which served as the inspiration for The Trial of God, is part of the long Jewish tradition of arguing with God.