Many Jews who considered themselves staunch believers in G-d, even in the face of tragedy, had their faith tested, and often destroyed, after experiencing the Holocaust. Many could not sustain faith in a G-d who would allow the Jews to suffer such horrific events on such a large and organized scale. The world knows Elie Wiesel, one of the most famous and prolific Holocaust survivors, for his brave and candid writings about the Shoah. His book Night documents his experience in Nazi concentration camps as a teenager during the Holocaust. Before the war begins, Wiesel is a devout Jew who refuses to defy or even question G-d. Throughout the novel, his faith stretches, morphs, and almost disappears.
“We are never defeated unless we give up on God” (Ronald Reagan).When no faith remains, it makes one a soulless man. Elie Wiesel uses Night to comment on the effects of the unforgettable experiences and grisly events that he has encountered during the Holocaust. Though Elie Wiesel was once a devoted Jew, when he experienced the gruesome treatments and witnessed the undeserved suffering in the concentration camps, he ultimately succumbed to the destruction of his faith and the ruination of his identity. Religion had always been an indispensable part of Elie Wiesel’s life, but the Holocaust prompted the faltering of his faith. Before his days at the concentration camps, Elie Wiesel was a fervently devout child who, unlike most kids , preferred
In the memoir Night, the narrator Elie Wiesel recounts a moment when he questioned God, ¨Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless him? Every fiber in me rebelled, he caused thousands of children to burn his Mass graves?¨(Wiesel 68). Overall, Wiesel does not follow the words of God and is not believing in him anymore because he thinks God is the one thatś letting all the inhumanity occur. One theme in Night is that inhumanity can cause disbelief or incredulity.
In the Old Testament Book of Job tries to answer the question, why is there evil, when God exists? Job endures intolerable misery by Satan, Job eventually does not curse God and is in the course of time, awarded twice of the blessings he had in the beginning of these trials. However, the main question is still left answered: why did God grant Job to suffer if he did nothing wrong? In Night, Elie Wiesel lost his faith throughout the trials of the concentration camp, Auschwitz. Wiesel and the Jewish community was and still are perplexed on what could have they done for millions of families were separated, children murdered, and thousands of souls lost.
The Holocaust was an period of time where Nazi Germany committed an act of genocide against Jewish people. During the Holocaust Jews from Germany, Poland, and other countries in Europe were deported to concentration camps throughout Germany where they received brutality, dehumanization, and loss of faith everyday. Night, by Elie Wiesel is a record that recounts the atrocities he experienced during the Holocaust. The book describes the harsh conditions of the concentration camps, including the brutal treatment of prisoners and the horrific acts of violence committed by the anti semitic SS officers. Through his personal experiences, Wiesel highlights the devastating impact of systematic oppression and dehumanization, ultimately leading to a profound loss of faith in humanity.
The memoir “Night” is a recollection of a tragic series of events that the author, Elie Wiesel went through. Elie was put into the Ghetto in Sighet on April 18th, 1944, and was then transported to a concentration camp, when he was then moved to two others during the years he was imprisoned. He was liberated in Buchenwald on April 11th, 1945. Throughout Elie’s time in the concentration camps he lost his faith. At first, Elie wanted to study the Kabbalah and become a mystic.
At the beginning of Night, Elie was someone who believed fervently in his religion. His experiences at Auschwitz and other camps, such as Birkenau and Buna have affected his faith immensely. Elie started to lose his faith when he and his father arrived at Birkenau. They saw the enormous flames rising from a ditch, with people being thrown in.
Lynna Xu David Hyde Humanities II 11 March 2024 Loss of Faith - Humanities Memorial Paper Ein Volk, ein Reich, an Führer. The Holocaust not only caused over 6 million deaths from starvation and gassing, but also resulted in families being separated, Jews migrating, and being forced to wear the yellow star of David. Jewish people were sent to concentration camps and were tortured, killed, and burned to death alongside hundreds of thousands of others. The motive behind this mass murder is linked to Nazi ideology, which suggests that there is no equality between people, but only a racial hierarchy: the strongest race would survive and the weaker ones would perish.
God’s perceived silence during a time of desperate need can lead to the lost of faith or doubt within oneself. In Elie Wiesel’s Night, the narrator struggles to maintain his faith and his identity he witnesses the dehumanizing acts being inflicted upon him and many other Jews. As he experience more and more atrocities in the camps, Elie begins to rebel against his religious upbringing. Elie survives the Holocaust through a battle of conscience: first believing wholeheartedly in God, then resisting that faith, and finally reclaiming that faith.
Throughout the book Elie talks about his faith and relationship with God. He slowly loses faith as the torment of the Jewish people goes on. At first he studied about Kabbalah and loved his god, though he started losing his faith as the pain and suffering continued for years. His faith disappears when the little boy is hung from the gallows. At the end he states that he has a little glimmer of hope left in his God.
In another scenario, when Wiesel first gets to Auschwitz, he hears a veteran prisoner yelling at all of the newcomers, “He [veteran prisoner] was growing hysterical in his fury. We stayed motionless, petrified. Surely it was all a nightmare? An unimaginable nightmare?” (28).
Night first documents loss of faith due to tragic experiences when Elie thinks, “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify his name? the almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent.
In the book “Night” it represents a strong connection between a father and his son. It shows that when something traumatizing happens, people do change. No matter what happens faith and hope are all you can hang onto. You have to keep faith and hope at the lowest point because that will most likely always be what gets you past the hardships that you face. Americans today tend to believe that the littlest things are the end of the world.
At the beginning of Night, Elie describes himself as a profound believer in his religion. And this essay is to show how his faith dwindled and faded, or is now nonexistent. In chapter one, page 4, Elie was talking to Moishe, as he asked Elie why he cried when he prayed. “Why did I pray?
Grace Hammack Mrs. Gibson English I 1 March 1, 2023 Elie Wiesel Essay In today’s present time, the world is full of hate and crime. If someone were to turn on the news and listen, all someone would hear is depressing issues such as killings, shootings, and war. On the news, there is nothing mentioned about God, nothing mentioned about hope. This is the reason why dreadful and woeful actions happen because everybody is turning towards the negative points in life and has nothing positive to look forward to, they don’t have hope nor God.
