Night Final Essay Religion can bring people happiness and a sense of security of life after death. people’s faith to their God can be strong, but that faith can be hard to maintain in unforgiving situation such as the Holocaust. Which is demonstrated in Elie Wiesel's Memoir “Night”. In the beginning Elie’s faith in his God is strong but throughout the book it grows weaker as the days go by in Auschwitz eventually his faith in his God dies out. In the beginning of the book Elie is extremely religious to the point of crying over a Jewish temple that had been destroyed ages ago “,By day I studied Talmud by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple.” (1)He has a very strong belief in God that he would want a Sighet master to teach him Zohar, the Kabbalistic works, and the secrets of Jewish mysticism which is usually taught at the age of 30. This just show how strong of a belief of God Elie once had. That all changes once Nazi Germany started to invade Romania where Elie and his family lived. They and many other …show more content…
There was barely enough room to move around; everyone had to stand up. They went days without stopping until finally they arrived at Auschwitz. Elie was separated from his mother and sister they were sent into the gas chamber. He and his father made it passed the first selection, now Elie begins to question his God “,why do I bless his name.” Elie began to become angry at God’s lack of action and how he allowed all this to happen, how he allowed all the Jews to suffer in Auschwitz. He and his father had been forced to work in the camps everyday they are worked to the point of exhaustion. Elie had still held on to hope but all that hope left when they hung the little boy.”Where is God now? Where is he ? Here he is, he is hanging here on this gallows.” (62) They had been stripped of their clothes, their names, their Humanity, and soon their
After being forced into concentration camps, Elie was rudely awakened into reality. Traumatizing incidents such as Nazi persecution or even the mistreatment among fellow prisoners pushed Elie to realize the cruelty around him; Or even the wickedness Elie himself is capable of doing. This resulted in the loss of faith, innocence, and the close bonds with others. Throughout his recollections, it is clear that Elie has a constant struggle with his belief in God. Prior to Auschwitz, Elie was motivated, even eager, to learn about Jewish mysticism.
He was always contemplating the existence of God. On page 69, while supper is being served and the Jews are supposed to be fasting because of Yom Kippur, this Jewish holiday would require them to fast, Elie’s father required him to eat because it was too risky for Elie to starve or become sick if he didn’t. Elie then says, “And then, there was no longer any reason for me to fast.” “I no longer accepted God’s silence.” Elie here is giving up hope and showing signs of distress, which is completely reasonable considering all the deaths they are witnessing a day.
Due to the atrocities of the concentration camps, Elie lost his faith in God. Early on in the story, Elie used to leap over ancient temples and study the Kabbalah. In his old town, he used to complain to Moishe the Beadle “ I told him how unhappy I was not to able to find in Sighet a master to teach me the Zohar.”(Wiesel,5) This shows him complaining about not having a teacher. But as he started to go through the camps, he saw what was going on and started to
How does religion push people? How does it give people hope? Is there an extent to it? Elie Wiesel’s book Night he showed how through his experience on how tragedy can shape your faith in religion. While in Auschwitz his faith was beyond tested,it was stretched,lost then found. Elie uses faith in Night to show how it is key to survival whether it’s in god or other people.
However, there were warnings by some people that Jewish people were being deported and killed. Although no one believes these warnings, Elie and his family are taken to a ghetto where they have no food. After being in the ghetto, Elie and his father were separated from Elie’s mother and sister because of selection and were placed in cattle cars where they had no room. They are taken to Auschwitz where they suffer from hunger, beatings, and humiliation from the guards which causes Elie’s father to become weak. By now Elie has lost his faith in God because of all he has been through.
The Holocaust was a test of faith for all the Jews that were involved. There were several instances in the book Night when Elie’s faith was hindered. Not only was his faith in God tested, but also his faith in himself and his fellow man. Although the trials of the Holocaust were detrimental to Elie’s faith at the time, a number of the Jews’ strengthened by the test. Whenever the Holocaust began, Elie was very young and wasn’t sure what to believe or understand everything yet, causing him to go back and forth on how he felt and what he believed. The people around him were a tremendous impact on what he was thinking and believing. The state that people came out of the Holocaust heavily depended on who they were when they went in and what they
In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, religion plays an important role in the lives of the characters. As the story progresses, the characters all react to their situations with varying degrees of questioning their faith. Their reactions range from turning their back on religion completely to clinging to it in an effort to explain what is happening around them. Ultimately, this book shows that religion, although an important part of many people’s lives, can never explain why bad (or even good) things happen to people.
Elie's genuine belief in God helps him before being sent away to the concentration camps. On an average day-to-day basis, Elie "studied Talmud and by night ...would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple" (p.3). He is committed to his studies of Jewish mysticism and from this, is passionate about religion and God Himself. By embedding his life into God and religion, Elie puts his sense of comfort and security into Him, as well as his complete faith. Elie's faith in God is ...
Samuels starts out explaining the background of Elie, a child who has a great love for religion. Then, Nazis come and occupy his native town of Sighet. Although held captured and clueless to where they were going, the Jews were indeed optimistic. They had no reason not to be, the Nazis were treating them as they were of importance. However, the optimism was to come to a halt. After arresting the Jewish leader, the Jews were sent to ghettos, then into camps. It wasn't until they reached Auschwitz where Elie for the first time smelt burning flesh. Then the eight words that Elie couldn't forget, "Men to the left! Women to the right!" He was then left with his father, who for the whole trip he would depend on to survive. It was this, in which made him lose his religiousness. In the months to come Elie and his father lived like animals. Tragically, in the end his father past away, and to amazement Elie had not wept. Samuels did an overall remarkable job on this review; however, there were still some parts that could have been improved.
After a brief stay at Auschwitz, they are moved to a new camp, Buna. At Buna, Elie goes through the dehumanizing process of the concentration camps. Both he and his father experience severe beatings at the hand of the kapos. All the prisoners are overworked and undernourished. Many lose faith in God, including Elie. He witnesses several hangings, one of a boy with an angelic face, and sees him struggle for over thirty minutes fighting for his life. To a stranger's cry of "Where is God now?", Elie answers: "He is hanging here on this gallows...." (p. 62). As Elie witnesses the hanging of the young pipel, he feels that it is his God who is hanging on the gallows. Elie i...
“Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing...And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes.And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: "For God's sake, where is God?"And from within me, I heard a voice answer: "Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows..."That night, the soup tasted of corpses.” Elie and the other Jews are wondering where God is and why he is not saving the people who were hanged. Elie’s response of God is him on the gallows. It made Elie be very angry towards God. God has caused so many deaths that He could have recused from and to stop this nightmare.
Eliezer loses faith in god. He struggles physically and mentally for life and no longer believes there is a god. "Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my god and my soul and turned my dreams to dust..."(pg 32). Elie worked hard to save himself and asks god many times to help him and take him out of his misery. "Why should I bless his name? The eternal, lord of the universe, the all-powerful and terrible was silent..."(pg 31). Eliezer is confused, because he does not know why the Germans would kill his face, and does not know why god could let such a thing happen. "I did not deny god's existence, but I doubted his absolute justice..."(pg 42). These conditions gave him confidence, and courage to live.
Elie seems to lose faith in God. “"Yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba…May His name be celebrated and sanctified…" whispered my father. For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?” (33) The God Elie once prayed and cried out to before was allowing his people to die in horrible ways. God, a being who is supposed to be loving and merciful was allowing them to die alongside millions of other
Along with losing his feeling, and will to live, Elie loses faith in his Jewish religion. Before he resided in the concentration camps, his life revolved around his religion. His religion gave him comfort and something to rely on. But when he arrives in the camps, he witnesses death all around him and wonders why his God turns a blind eye to all this chaos. During one of the many hangings that occur in the dreaded camp, a voice behind Elie questions where is their God, and why is he not helping the man who is suffering. This generates new thoughts in Elie, thrusting doubts of his God in his mind. Elie decides on where his God must dwell, “he is hanging here on this gallows” (62). In his mind, he no longer believes in the powers of God, whom he
In only one chapter Elie lost his faith and made himself God. He started to understand that the only person that is always going to be there for you is yourself. Throw all of this He was always looking for answers to why this was happening to him and all of the Jews. At one point he even stated that Hitler was the only one keeping his promise to the