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Examples Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

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Elie Wiesel, the author of the memoir, Night, recounts his experiences mainly as a teenager in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. Elie’s battle to keep faith in his religious belief was a common theme throughout the book. As he began his journey to understand the faith to which he had been born, he eventually needed a mentor to guide him throughout the faith-filled process. At certain times, Elie struggled to keep true to his benevolent God when he witnessed the atrocities of the Germans on the Jews. But he managed to dig deep and muster up some courage to seek his true faith. In the end, enduring the trials and tribulations, he held firm to his beliefs. Born from Jewish parents in the town of Sighet, in Transylvania, where Elie …show more content…

At one point, Elie uttered, "Oh God, Master of the Universe, in your infinite compassion, have mercy on us. . .”(p.20). Grounded by the idea of faith in his God, that He is everywhere, and that His divinity touches every aspect of his life. However, he was forced to witness the brutal reality of evil and suffering that the Germans were doing to the Jews. When he began to question his faith in his loving God, “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes”(p.34). His struggles became particularly evident when he witnessed the hanging of the pipel, what he saw that day rattled his faith to its core. Subsequently, he felt abandoned by his God, “What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery?”(p.66), “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him?” (p.67). Furthermore, he wondered why God would allow such suffering and remained silent in the face of evil. Another time Elie’s faith was tested was on Yom Kippur, “And then there was no more reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence”(p.69), the Jewish prisoners had to decide if they would fast or not since the lack of food given to them was already more than a fast for the holiest

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Eleven million people were murdered in the Holocaust, six million of which were Jews who were killed solely for their beliefs. This terrible genocide is recounted through the eyes of Elie Wiesel in his memoir, Night. As the novel progresses, Wiesel's faith in his God falters, due to the physical and emotional suffering he endured as a Jew in the Holocaust. During the first couple of chapters of Night, Wiesel’s faith and dedication to his religion are very strong.

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833 Words | 4 Pages

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).

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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.

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565 Words | 3 Pages

He is then relocated to Auschwitz, a concentration camp where Death's presence is everywhere. He is starved and forced to work. He loses everything, including his faith in God, during the process of being in the camp. His relationship with his God changes from a loving, trusting relationship to a relationship without trust and then ultimately to a hateful relationship.

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770 Words | 4 Pages

It may seem like the best place to be, but the men were given small rations of food. Elie starts to think of God differently when everyone starts to praise Him on the day of Yom Kippur,” I did not fast... And then, there was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him,” (Wiesel 69).

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915 Words | 4 Pages

Every fiber in me rebelled. Because he caused thousands of his children to burn in his mass grave?...”, and in page 69 he said,”I did not fast”, which meant that he didn’t want to follow the religion and believed there was no point to praying or doing the traditional practices. Elie simply believed that praying to God wasn’t going to help him survive the

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504 Words | 3 Pages

Additionally, while others were fasting, Elie decided he no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him” (pg 69). Elie no longer supported the indifference of others and God. To show that he no longer cared about his faith, he decided not to participate in the practices of the holiday by refusing to fast. Elie preferred to put his own survival over preserving his beliefs.

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1359 Words | 6 Pages

Night Many times as Christians or Jews, we find ourselves or others to be in rough situations that make us question God. When it comes to this topic, one event in human history stands clearly above the rest: the Holocaust. From an outsider’s perspective, believers understandably question why God would allow something so terrible to happen, but seeing the perspective of someone who experienced these horrors is a whole other level. Elie Wiesel in his book “Night” shows the world how the Holocaust caused him and others to question God.

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The same can be said for Elie Wiesel. As he has time to think about his current situation, he starts to feel as if God is at fault for this injustice which has fallen upon his and his Jewish allies. A boy who once was one of the most religiously devoted youth in his town was now giving up all hope that there is even a god at all. While being surrounded by death and sorrow, Wiesel comments, “Where is God?’ ‘Where is he” (86)?

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932 Words | 4 Pages

In their time of despair, as hundreds of helpless people were burned, God did nothing to assist them. As a result, Elie reaches the conclusion that “[he] had become a different person. The student of the Talmud, the child [he] once was, had been consumed by the flames. All that remained was a shape that resembled [him]” (37). As his stay in Auschwitz progressed, so did the deterioration of his faith.

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249 Words | 1 Pages

It is difficult for a person to have strong faith while they are going through something so traumatic. It was beginning to get difficult for Elie to have faith in God. “For God’s sake, where is God?” Elie and many other prisoners began questioning their God.

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711 Words | 3 Pages

Elie Wiesel was a survivor of the holocaust, nobel peace prize winner, and an author of many books including ‘Night’. Night is about Elie's experiences in Auschwitz. Elies spent nearly one year in the concentration camp, he was deported in May of 1944 and was liberated in April of 1945. Elie throughout his teenage years had an up and down relationship with his faith. Elie's faith before the concentration camps was very strong, he was very concerned about his studies of his faith.

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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.

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863 Words | 4 Pages

Elie Wiesel is not only a talented author but a survivor of the holocaust who documented his horrific experiences in his memoir “Night”. In the beginning of the book Elie Wiesel was one of the most religious people in his town of Saghet who had a dream of living a monastic life. However, as a result of the harrowing injustices he endured he continuously lost faith in his religion. Within the book the reader is reminded again and again that when extreme adversity is experienced, faith is often lost.

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1705 Words | 7 Pages

Many people throughout the world hold religion and beliefs close to them, but how many of them stay true to their faith when innocent people are dying all around them. You and many others might question what terrible things must have been done for any of you to deserve this, or if there will be a savoir to rescue you all. These were the thoughts of many in the concentration camps of Auschwitz. Night is a Memoir of Elie Wiesel written in 1956 about his survival of these camps and the struggles he has faced. Wiesel shows how hope and belief can be shredded by strife and struggle for survival.

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