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. Elie could not believe his eyes; how could this been kept covert. Some people began to recite the Kaddish, which is the Jewish prayer for the dead. Elie felt irate for the first time at this. He thought; “Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?” (Page 33) This means that Elie feels that God is being …show more content…
Elie continued to be angry at Him. Thousands of prisoners were repeating the prayer “Blessed be God’s name…” (Page 67). But Elie was concerned why should he bless Him? Everything inside Elie opposed it. After all, He created crematoriums that were kept running perpetually. He created Auschwitz, Birkenau and Buna. He made thousands of children burn to death. “How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all other nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces?” (Page 67) At the time, Elie is getting to be exasperated with Him. After everything that Elie has done; working industriously to keep up with his studies, God hasn’t returned anything or done anything to help to the situation. Elie starts to really lose his faith at the Yom Kippur gathering. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. Traditionally, they are supposed to fast. The debate was whether or not they should fast. If they fasted, it would be dangerous because it could mean a quicker death. The people in camp who still had faith fasted. Elie did not fast. He was following his father’s request and he no longer felt the need 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.” (Page 69) This means that Elie is irritated of God not doing anything