Examples Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

In Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, he shows his love for God is natural when Moishe the Beadle saw Eliezer in the synagogue and asked him “ Why do you pray?” and he responded “Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (4). The answer Eliezer gives shows how his faith in God is not something he has to think about, doing just like living and breathing which he compared it to. During his time in the concentration camp however, his faith becomes tested. He is treated brutally and struggles each day to live to see the next. The time he spent in the concentration camp made it hard for him to maintain his faith. Over the course of Night the Jews faith weakened due to the cruel treatment that the faithful Jews received in the

The end of the year was approaching and on the “eve of Rosh Hashanah” (66) tension was growing in the camp. The daily evening meal came but no one would eat it until after prayer had taken place. All the prisoners fled into the Appelplatz for mass. The mass began and the prisoners repeated “‘Blessed be God’s name…’” (67) Eliezer asked himself “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled” (67). Eliezer did not want to worship God because of all the bad events he has let go on in the concentration camp. The mass went on and Eliezer thought to himself “Yes, man us stronger, greater than God” (67). He went on to mentioning passed events that occurred where man was in need of help and God gave it to them, but in this case he was nowhere for the Jews. The Day of Atonement came and this is the one day a year when God commands his followers to fast. The idea of fasting was bubbling up in many of the Jews minds. Many Jews mindset was “We needed to show God that even here, locked in hell, we were capable of singing His praises” (69). On the other hand others thought it was unsmart because in the concentration camp food was not given in big portions so fasting would lead to a “rapid death” (69). Eliezer’s father “[forbid]” (69) him to fast and it bothered him at first then he came to realize “I no longer accepted God’s silence” (69). Eliezer’s faith did not

Eliezer recalls how Akiba had been walking around the camp “his eyes glazed, telling everyone how weak he was: ‘I can’t go on… It’s over…” (76). Eliezer and the other prisoners “tried to raise his spirits” (76) but nothing helped Akiba stop talking about how weak he was. Eliezer felt bad for Akiba and thought to himself that if Akiba had only held onto this test God was putting them through “ he would not have been swept away by the selection” (77). Akiba knew he was going to be gone so he asked Eliezer and the other prisoners to say Kaddish for him and they all promised to do so. Akiba reminded Eliezer of a rabbi he knew. The rabbi was a man of strong faith, “He recited entire pages from the Talmud, arguing with himself, asking and answering himself endless questions.” (76). One day that all changed when he said “It’s over, God is no longer with us.” (76) to Eliezer. He asked “Where is God’s mercy? Where’s God? How can I believe, how can anyone believe in this God of Mercy?” (77). He felt guilty for what he had said but he had been through so much in the concentration camp that he could no longer take it. The rabbi and Akiba questing God shows their loss of faith. Throughout Akiba Drumer’s life his faith was strong, but the life in the concentration camp was too vigorous for his faith to stay