ipl-logo

Religion And Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

841 Words4 Pages

The holocaust is among the most gruesome genocides to this day. On the flip side, this makes it a great time period to observe how faithful individuals can stay, in the most troublesome situations imaginable. In Night, by Elie Wiesel, the author details his own experience in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. Throughout the story, it is evident that many individuals in the camps desired that religion and faith would come to their rescue. Despite Elie’s religious background, due to the horrors the holocaust is famous for today, his own relationship with god, and his own Jewish identity became rather foggy.
When Elie and other Hungarian Jews were officially sent to Auschwitz, they were greeted with flames, and the smell of burning …show more content…

He states “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?” (Wiesel 33). In his real-life-nightmare, he does not hold back to put God on the spot. He does not say anything all that definitive, but he certainly prevails his frustration with his new life. He did not understand how God could just sit back, watching his people be decimated. In such a traumatic situation, it seems understandable that one might question the faith that has guided them their entire …show more content…

At this barrack, they receive simple yet diminishing advice. Essentially, they are told that their future will consist of hard work, or death. During the night in these barracks, prayer was common amongst victims. In such an agonizing situation, it seems as though prayer would be vital to any religious individual. Elie, however, chose not to engage in the shared prayer. He explained, “I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (Wiesel 44). This explains exactly where Elie stood with God, in the midst of the holocaust. Truthfully speaking, I can understand why Elie may feel this way, as he cannot see any possible explanation for the way his people are being treated. It is important to note that Elie’s physical and mental health at this point had to have been at rock bottom. As a result of malnutrition, it can be implied he faced hefty neurological changes as well. With that being said, his tinted state of mind might have played a substantial role in his thoughts and feelings, particularly those towards

Show More
Related

  • Loss Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

    329 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, Night, by Elie Wiesel faith was a main theme. Eliezer loses faith in his family as well as in God and many other things. He loses faith as he experiences from the Nazi concentration camp. Eliezer struggles both mentally and physically in life and he no longer believes there is a God. "

    Read More

  • Religion In Night By Elie Wiesel

    1597 Words  | 7 Pages

    I was not denying his existence, but I doubted His absolute justice.” (pg. 45) Elie was starting to experience new things with God, and responded to such things in a certain way. One day when Elie returned from work, there, in the middle of the camp was a dead boy hanged. They were forced to look at him squarely in the face.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

    484 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his memoir, Night, author Elie Wiesel describes with vivid details the horrors he and other inmates endured while prisoners in concentration camps during the Holocaust. One major theme of the work at large, and particularly of the middle section of the memoir, is loss of faith. In the beginning of the memoir, Elie presents himself as a precocious child, deeply interested in the complex mystical aspects of Judaism. However, after enduring time in Auschwitz and Buna concentration camps, he can no longer accept the notion of an omnipotent and forgiving god. He describes his thoughts hearing his fellow prisoners pray on Rosh Hashanah, one of the most holy days of the Jewish year, saying, “Why, but why would I bless Him?

    Read More

  • The Role Of God In Night By Elie Wiesel

    248 Words  | 1 Pages

    As Elie and the other prisoners were in line for what they think is for them to be incinerated the prisoners say prayers. Elie “for the first time, felt anger rising within [him]”(33).

    Read More

  • Change Of Religion In Night By Elie Wiesel

    777 Words  | 4 Pages

    Religion, it may not be for everyone. Some may not care or believe in it, however to many it is. It's often the most important thing to some and what keeps them going to live a happy life. They say it's a part of them and that they will never stop believing and lose their faith.

    Read More

  • Change Of Religion In Night By Elie Wiesel

    563 Words  | 3 Pages

    He was originally an incredibly dedicated religious believer and followed every custom in the book. He even went against his father’s wishes and found a master to further his devotion to God (4). As the Holocaust went on, however, Wiesel simply could not believe that God would allow this sort of thing to happen, and accused Him of it, then lost his faith (68). He even did not fast on Yom Kippur to please his father and rebel against God (69). But, even after all that happened, there was still a part of him who believed in God, and that part showed itself when he prayed to God to “give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done” (91).

    Read More

  • Night By Elie Wiesel Research Paper

    963 Words  | 4 Pages

    Elie was not able to preserve his faith in God when he struggled to survive in the concentration camps. He started to question his faith by saying, “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why should I bless him? Every fiber in me rebelled.” In the midst of so much suffering, Elie finds it hard to bless God.

    Read More

  • Decay Of Religion In Night By Elie Wiesel

    588 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oftentimes, the effects of traumatic experiences can transcend the importance or the gravity of original beliefs. With every passing day, Elie is seeing more and more innocent infants, children, men, and women dying all around him, simultaneously. However, as the survivors around him congregate and continue to pray to God on their own volition he is thoroughly confused. With the amount of deaths around him, he questions everything, and thinks aloud.

    Read More

  • How Does The Perception Of Religion Change In Night By Elie Wiesel

    683 Words  | 3 Pages

    These two quotes from Elie Wiesel and Ruth Kluger, two holocaust survivors represent two opposing responses to the trauma of the holocaust. Both novels demonstrate the different religious struggles of two people of different backgrounds experiencing similar situations. Wiesel, a devout Jew, eventually rejects his faith altogether whereas Kluger, raised as a non-orthodox Jew, finds refuge in religion in the concentration camp. This essay will explore how Kluger and Wiesel’s perception of religion changes over the course of their experience in the holocaust.

    Read More

  • Loss Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

    1133 Words  | 5 Pages

    Elie is scarred and will forever have to live with the constant reoccurring thoughts about all of the infants, children, and adults being burned alive; however, Elie is also angered knowing while these unimaginable events is happening around the Jews, there is still nothing happening from Gods end. Nevertheless, as the Jews stood around discussing their views on God in this time, Elie states,” I had ceased to pray” (45 emphasis added). Evidently Elie is losing faith to the point where it even leads to him to stop praying, he believes as though we cant pray to someone we are starting to lose belief in. Another example, is when the prisoners went to participate in a a solemn service, as they are listening to the service a saying starts replaying in Elies head, “ "Blessed be the Almighty…”(67). Hearing this lead to Elie

    Read More

  • Examples Of Religion In Night By Elie Wiesel

    973 Words  | 4 Pages

    Religion is Lost Children are capable of phenomenal potential. However, for many children this potential was never achieved. Their flame of life was blown out, along with millions of other children. Jews knew that death would be coming, and their fate was inevitable. Nobel Peace Prize winner, Elie Wiesel, was able to escape death.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

    548 Words  | 3 Pages

    What was there to thank Him for?” (33). This quote explicitly states how, for the first time, Wiesel feels differently about his God. He even describes God as ‘terrible’. This fracture in his faith is a result of his fear that God will continue to ignore their pleas for help.

    Read More

  • Elie Wiesel's Transformation In Night

    487 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events in history. It just so happened to be the cause of six million deaths. While there are countless beings who experienced such trauma, it is impossible to hear everyone's side of the story. However, one man, in particular, allowed himself to speak of the tragedies. Elie Wiesel addressed the transformation he underwent during the Holocaust in his memoir, Night.

    Read More

  • Faith And Belief In Elie Wiesel's Night

    1331 Words  | 6 Pages

    Belief and Faith is a “double-edged sword” to the jews, it cuts both ways. It keeps them alive, and at the same time makes them oblivious, and leads to their suffering. Over time, Elie’s belief in god, diminishes and eventually he questions God’s existence extensively and at point, Elie is infuriated that even though they are being tormented and enslaved, the Jews will still pray to god, and thank him, “If god did exist, why would he let u go through all the pain and suffering (33). This is a major point in the ongoing theme of faith and belief, because for once he is infuriated with the thought of religion in a time of suffering. Throughout the book, with the nazis ultimate goal is to break the jews and make dehumanize them and if anything, their goal is take and diminish their belief.

    Read More

  • Effects Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

    1146 Words  | 5 Pages

    As for me, I had ceased to pray... I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (45). It is apparent here that the effect of the Holocaust on the Jewish people’s faith was delayed on some level. Elie refuses to pray to the God that apparently abandoned him. This is personified when he says he doubts that God has absolute justice.

    Read More

More about Religion And Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

Open Document