Loss Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

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. Although he does not replace G-d with a different

When the other prisoners discuss prayer and the Kaddish, Wiesel questions “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?” (Wiesel 33). Even in the concentration camp, Wiesel never doubts G-d’s existence. He still refers to Him as Almighty and recognizes His presence. Yet, he does question His righteousness and care for the Jewish people, when he questions why He would stay silent and why his fellow prisoners would worship Him. He explains his position, saying that “I had ceased to pray. I concurred with Job! I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (45). This statement, while concise, describes well Wiesel’s faith during the Holocaust. Wiesel does not stop praying because he has no faith in G-d’s existence, but because he does not consider Him worthy of praise. Wiesel’s faith in G-d’s existence is clear, as he refers to Him throughout the memoir. Yet, he cannot understand how a righteous G-d would allow the Holocaust to happen, so does not believe in

He decides that “man is stronger, greater than God. When Adam and Eve deceived You, You chased them from paradise. When You were displeased by Noah’s generation, You brought down the Flood. When Sodom lost Your favor, You cause the heavens to rain down fire and damnation” (67, 68). Still recognizing G-d’s existence, Wiesel refers to G-d as less powerful than human beings. This is because He cannot control or prevent their actions - He can only react to them. Wiesel views His punishment of human beings as a weakness of G-d; if he was all-powerful, he would be better able to control humans’ actions and would not need to punish them. The S.S. hangs a young child in front of the entire camp, which leads a man near Wiesel to ask “‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where He is? This is where - hanging her from this gallows’” (65) When Wiesel watches the boy hanged in public, he loses much of his faith in G-d - not in His existence, but in His ability to rule human beings. He views G-d’s inability to prevent the Holocaust and its horrific events as a failure, and views G-d as “dead” because his presence has become meaningless if He cannot help human beings. Wiesel’s faith in G-d’s existence was still intact, but little else of his faith was. He felt G-d lost His power over humans, deeming Him