Faith And Belief In Elie Wiesel's Night

“You don’t understand...You cannot understand. I was saved miraculously. I succeeded in coming back. Where did I get my strength? I wanted to return to Sighet to describe to you my death so that you might ready yourselves while there is still time...I wanted to come back to warn you. Only no one is listening to me...This was towards the end of 1942”(7). The pattern of faith and belief in Elie Wiesel’s Night is intertwined with the pattern of denial the Jews have throughout the book. In Night, Wiesel has times where the Jews are very optimistic of situations they 're in, even though they shouldn’t be, and the reason for most of their optimism comes from their belief in a god, which is a curse and a blessing.
During the start of the book, the

The Jews realize that the possibility of being burned or killed was very likely. Wiesel writes, “We stood stunned, petrified. Could this be just a nightmare? An unimaginable nightmare? I heard whispers around me: “We must do something. We can’t let them kill us like that, like cattle in the slaughterhouse. We must revolt.” ...There were, among us, a few tough young men. They actually had knives and were urging to attack the armed guards...But the older men begged their sons not to be foolish: “We mustn 't give up hope, even now as the sword hangs over our heads” (31). Even after experiencing the harshness of the situation, some of the Jews still think they can defeat and escape the German Concentration Camps, even though they don’t understand that there is no escaping, and resistance is futile . Rebelling would’ve been the most naive thing to do, since it would’ve failed, and would have had every Jew on that train car killed. This shows that even when the Jews see the reality of the situation, they don 't want to believe it and choose to be optimistic, which could be blamed on their religion, which grants the Jews a very positive and optimistic outcome on living. However, the Jews and Elie’s belief and faith throughout the book slowly dissipates, as they continue living under the control of the Nazis. On the other hand, some

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. The torturing and suffering caused is what widdles down the belief, and this present throughout the novel. Only the strong and the ones who have most faith would survive, yet at the same time, if they didn’t originally have faith, they could’ve avoided the concentration camps