All the religion's are based on methodology. Some religions believe that by praying once a day will bring them closer to God, and some think praying five times a day will bring them closer to God. For example, Hindus have a day called Carva Choth, Muslims have Ramadan, and the Jews have Yom Kippur. They all have different purposes for fasting, but there is one thing in common, which is a connection through humans to God. In World War Two, the Nazi Germans captured all the Jewish people and put them in concentrations camps, also known as the "Holocaust." By Fasting and linking to God by prayers, they asked God for forgiveness for all their sins they have committed. At that time Fasting had multipurpose, it showed the Germans that not everything can be taken away from the Jewish people, because they believe in God.
By Fasting, it would show the Germans, that not everything can be taken from the Jewish people. The Jewish people said in the novel," We should Show God that even here in this enclosed hell, we were capable of singing His praises." (page 66) This is significant because this would not only show God but would show their oppressors, that faith in God can not be taken away from the Jewish people. Chlomo says to his son Elie "Look, take this knife, I don't need it any longer. Take what I'm giving you, the inheritance."(page71)This clearly proves that even though Germans took everything from the Jewish people, they could not take Elies inheritance. Elie says" He played a fragment from Beethoven's concerto" . It was Juliek playing the violin. There is an old motto which relates to Juliek. " You can take the boy ( Juliek ) away from music, but you can not take the music away from the boy." This quote simply expres...
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...ot forgotten. This helps me understand the conflict of Jews in the middle East today. We are all different and we all have traditional backgrounds with special believes. We have too much indifferences in the world, to the others, it is far from being possible to have one religion or to compare religions, because there are too many of them, that is what the fight is about in the middle east, one religion thinks it's better then the others. This is my great disappointment. We have not changed from the past, we have not learned from our mistakes. We still go on by killing our fellow humans, just the ways of killing has changed from fifty years ago. Is the world going to change in the future? Is there such a thing, "Learning from the past and do not make the same mistakes our elders made."? Believing in God is one good thing we have learned from our elders. Appropriate
“Blessed be Gods name? Why? But why would I bless him?” Elie says that on page 67 of this book. To me, when Elie says this, he shows his anger towards God and about everything that he is letting happen. He began to wonder, if he was God, why he was letting all the Germans do horrible things to them. However, this never made any sense to Elie. 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 to 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 ...
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.
Due to the cruel punishment Elie endures from the Nazi Army and other prisoners that he comes
The Jews were only fed bread and soup. It gets to the point where everything revolves around food and each person’s own survival. For example, on page 104, Elie’s father claims that the other prisoners were beating him. Elie’s then says, “I began to abuse his neighbors.
Wiesel tells the story of how Eliezer and his families physiological and physical journey through the Holocaust, which parallels Elie’s own story. “Anguish. German soldiers—with their steel helmets, and their death’s head emblem. Still, our first impressions of the Germans were rather reassuring. The officers were billeted in private houses, even in Jewish homes. Their attitude toward their hosts was distant, but polite” (Wiesel 9). This shows how the people in the ghettos had no idea what the Germans goal was they entered the community. Their first impressions were of relief, not horror and fear. This creates a false sense of security and does not foreshadow what the Jews are about to endure from the Germans. At first, all Hitler wanted
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
When the sirens went off, the prisoners were commanded to abandon all activities and take a position. A cauldron of soup is left in the middle of the eatery. Hundreds of Jews stared at the food with immense hunger, but no one dared try to get some. One man fell victim. "Poor hero, committing suicide for a ration of soup!" (57). The Jews are so poorly treated that the man was willing to risk his life for some food. The act cost him his life. Another Jewish boy was found beating his father for bread crusts. The treatments the Jews received made them turn against their own. They did everything for their well-being. Elie did a remarkable job on Night to reveal the dehumanizing procedures they experienced. It is something that the Nazis plotted against the people they imprisoned. The tattooing of numbers on the arms of the prisoners, something that Eliezer notes, is of extreme importance. The beatings, the commands to do the irrational thing, as well as forcing them to believe that they were of no value are examples of dehumanization. The Nazis did not overpower the Jews because they were better than them or stronger than them. They beat the Jews because they were able to silence them with the way they were treated. Whether it is neglecting their opinions, or treating them with disrespect. Just like the Germans did to their prisoners. Wiesel's work reminds us that anytime a voice is silenced, dehumanization is the
When Elie learns that the dentist has been murdered and his gold crown is safe for another day, his thoughts immediately turn to the possibility that he can trade the gold for food. "The bread, the soup - those were my whole life. I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less: a famished stomach. The stomach alone was measuring time." (Wiesel, 52). As the conditions Elie was subjected to start to take a toll on his body, he becomes less human and more animal. Without basic necessities it was impossible for him to be concerned with maintaining a positive mindset, all that mattered was having a surviving body, not necessarily a surviving soul. When German enemies bombed a nearby area, the concentration camp went on lock down. Two cauldrons of hot soup were left unattended, easily in view of all the prisoners. Elie recounts the event, saying “poor hero committing suicide for a ration or two or more of soup…” (Wiesel, 59). Although everyone knew that the man would be shot for leaving his block, hunger and primal instincts led him to abandon all rational. First and foremost, humans are animals, and animals want to survive. When most freedoms are taken away the focus shifts back to these animalist rationales and we abandon the part of us that makes us human. Once the camp has been liberated, Elie
The determining concern of survival confronts both Elie and Chlomo throughout Night. The concept of survival is illustrated by the complications brought upon Elie and Chlomo. Elie and Chlomo believe they could only survive the concentration camps with one another; the father-and-son link was held together for the survival of each other. One complication in particular, was the i...
...tions for them. Just as the Christians fought the Muslims fueled by this prejudice and greed, the historical pattern has been shown to recur frequently throughout history -- whether the slave issue of the nineteenth century United States or the Nazi treatment of Jews in the twentieth century -- man takes the unknown and distorts it into hatred rather than seeking enlightenment. This is the true tragedy of The Song of Roland and man's unwillingness to learn from history.
The greatest breach of faith of all time was committed against us Germans. Let us take care that our people internally are never again in a position to be broken. Then no one in the world will threaten us. Then peace will either be maintained for our people or, if necessary, peace will be enforced. Then our people will bloom and flourish. Our people will be able to put their geniality, their ability, their diligence and steadfastness into the works of peace and human culture. This is our desire. We hope for it and we believe in it.”
...f society. The second point of view held that Jews were inherently bad and can never be salvaged despite any and all efforts made by Christians to assimilate them. These Christians felt that there was absolutely no possibility of Jews having and holding productive positions in society. All the aforementioned occurrences lead to the transformation of traditional Jewish communities, and paved the way for Jewish existence, as it is known today. It is apparent, even through the examination of recent history that there are reoccurring themes in Jewish history. The most profound and obvious theme is the question of whether Jews can be productive members of their country and at the same time remain loyal to their religion. This question was an issue that once again emerged in Nazi Germany, undoubtedly, and unfortunately, it is not the last time that question will be asked.
The Jews have deserved the catastrophe that has now overtaken them. Their destruction will go hand in hand with the destruction of our enemies. We must hasten this process with cold ruthlessness. We shall thereby render an inestimable service to a humanity tormented for thousands of years by the Jews. This uncompromising anti-Semitic attitude must prevail among our own people despite all objectors. (www.virtual.co.il,1)
Self-sufficiency was encouraged throughout the concentration camps, therefore Elie was forced to grow up and leave his innocence behind. Because of this self-reliance, many started to view their friends and family as a burden rather than a motivation.
For more than two thousand years anti-Semitism has plagued the Jews, however, the term has only been around for about thirty years (Strack 594). Due to the hateful accusations and of those who did not understand their religion, Jews, as a scorned people, gradually became more exclusive and intolerant of other religions. Because of Judaism’s strict adherence to their own beliefs and unwillingness to consider any alternatives, Muslims and Christians have scorned and persecuted Jews.