Religion And Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

The holocaust is among the most gruesome genocides to this day. On the flip side, this makes it a great time period to observe how faithful individuals can stay, in the most troublesome situations imaginable. In Night, by Elie Wiesel, the author details his own experience in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. Throughout the story, it is evident that many individuals in the camps desired that religion and faith would come to their rescue. Despite Elie’s religious background, due to the horrors the holocaust is famous for today, his own relationship with god, and his own Jewish identity became rather foggy.

When Elie and other Hungarian Jews were officially sent to Auschwitz, they were greeted with flames, and the smell of burning

He states “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). In his real-life-nightmare, he does not hold back to put God on the spot. He does not say anything all that definitive, but he certainly prevails his frustration with his new life. He did not understand how God could just sit back, watching his people be decimated. In such a traumatic situation, it seems understandable that one might question the faith that has guided them their entire

At this barrack, they receive simple yet diminishing advice. Essentially, they are told that their future will consist of hard work, or death. During the night in these barracks, prayer was common amongst victims. In such an agonizing situation, it seems as though prayer would be vital to any religious individual. Elie, however, chose not to engage in the shared prayer. He explained, “I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (Wiesel 44). This explains exactly where Elie stood with God, in the midst of the holocaust. Truthfully speaking, I can understand why Elie may feel this way, as he cannot see any possible explanation for the way his people are being treated. It is important to note that Elie’s physical and mental health at this point had to have been at rock bottom. As a result of malnutrition, it can be implied he faced hefty neurological changes as well. With that being said, his tinted state of mind might have played a substantial role in his thoughts and feelings, particularly those towards