Change Of Religion In Night By Elie Wiesel

Edmund Burke once said, “Nothing is so fatal to religion as indifference”.

In the memoir, Night, by Elie Wiesel, Elie struggles to comprehend why God is letting such horrible things happen during the Holocaust, which in turn lessens his faith in God. He believes that no one, even God, should turn away, or show indifference to such a horrible situation. In this memoir, it is evident that Elie’s faith in God has changed. In the beginning of the memoir Elie has been very interested and dedicated to learning more about the Jewish religion. He has been told to pause his learning since he is just a kid, yet he still continues his education. At the beginning of Elie’s studies, he recalls, “...talked to me for hours of the revelations and mysteries of the cabbala. It was with him that my initiation began. We would read together, ten times over, the same page of the Zohar. Not to learn it by heart, but to extract the divine essence from it”(Wiesel 3). It is evident that Elie is very interested in learning much deeper into the Jewish religion than to just memorize the words. He would ask another man of the Jewish to learn with him even though his father disapproved.

In the beginning of Elie’s time at the first concentration camp, he recalls “Some talked of God, of his mysterious ways, of the sons of the Jewish people, and of their future deliverance. But I had ceased to pray. How I sympathized with Job! I did not deny God’s existence, but I doubted His absolute justice”(Wiesel 42). Elie stops praying since he cannot justify praying to a man who does not bring justice. He does not understand why He would just sit back and show indifference in such a horrific time, so why would he support Him if he does not agree with