How does The Seder's four questions, Reb Boruch, Commandant Breur and bearing witness relate to the story Devils Arithmetic?

The novel begins poignantly on the first night of
Passover. The Passover meal is called a Seder. Passover is the Jewish holiday when Jews
remember having been enslaved for 400 years and thank God for liberating them and making
them a free people. During the Seder, the youngest child at the table asks four
questions regarding Passover, primarily why this night is different from other nights,
why there is no leaven bread, etc. The oldest person at the table then responds to each
question.

The Four questions and the concept of bearing
witness are almost two sides of the same coin. Hannah states that all Jewish holidays
are about remembering and she is tired of it.

Bearing
witness is the act of remembering for those who can not remember for themselves because
they are no longer alive."Hannah tells the man who tattoos her that she cannot remember
anything; he tells her that she must try, for life cannot exist without
memory".

Reb Boruch is the son of teh previous
Rabbi and among Hassidic communities the title of Reb or Rebbi is a term of endearment
meaning more or less, dear Rabbi. The Rabbi (Reb Boruch) is the communities most beloved
religious leader and the Jews of the town trust him completely. His person in the novel
not only serves to ground the story in historical truths (he was an actual person), but
also to ground the story from Hannah's reality in modern times to her bizarre existence
in the Holocaust.It allows her to better understand her own religious beliefs and
feelings, not just her cultural connections to Judaism.

And
finally Commandant Breur, much like the Rabbi who was in charge of the Hasidic
communities spiritual lives, he is in charge of their physical lives while in the
concentration camp. Once his character comes into play, the leaders of the Jewish
community have either physically dies or spiritually died.Therefore, implying what so
many Jews felt at the time, that God was dead or nor present and that men like Breur who
used the Devil's logic (arithmetic) were devils
themselves.

All four categories are important to the story
because they assist the reader in understanding the story's theme that The
Devil’s Arithmetic is about the importance and power of
memory.