Night By Elie Wiesel

In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie tells the story of how he survives the Holocaust. The experience Elie has is one of a kind, and not something just anyone can live through. He is berated, starved, abused, and harassed during his time in Birkenau and Buchenwald, all while his loyalty to God is constantly tested. If Elie did not have such a strong connection and belief in God, he would not have turned out the same, or even survived. Fire occurs and is mentioned in the story many times. It results in destruction, as seen when he first witnesses the cremation of Jews at the entrance to Birkenau, and when he references his ties with God lessening. With every mention, Elie’s mentality and connection to God begins to tremble. Using fire,

Upon entering the concentration camp, Elie is greeted by the crematorium, a circus of flames. He witnesses a truck unload babies, dumping them into a ditch to be burned. “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever” (34). The spectacle engraves itself permanently into his consciousness. He thinks of it constantly and it eventually consumes his mind, both during his time at the camp and long into his adulthood, following him even until after liberation. The cremations he witnesses that day are his first encounter with fire, and it leaves a lasting impression on him. The flames did not initially burn and turn his faith to ashes, but is rather the first step in his slow but steady descent into a spiral of disbelief and loss of faith in

Rosh Hashanah is typically meant as a celebration to become closer to God, and fortunately one of Elie’s noblest qualities is his devotion and faith. Before the demolition of his previous life, Elie was a very dedicated religious student. He even snuck behind his father’s back to learn the Kabbalistic works of Zohar, a further education in the name of God beyond the daily schooling he receives. Yet, “And I, the former mystic, was thinking… you caused the heavens to rain down fire and damnation. But look at the men whom you have betrayed… my eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone, in a world without god” (67-68). Suddenly, Elie the previously dedicated worshipper began questioning, and even realizing the ridicule of praying and iterating his faith to God. God was the one who damned them into the death camps in the first place. God is the one who kept them there, devoid of any hope in liberation. No longer is he the mystic who wakes up at the crack of dawn to pray, and no longer is he faithful to God. The pouring flames have finally led to the depletion of his devoted and grounded faith in God for once and for