Religion In Night By Elie Wiesel

Going through hard experiences in life can transform a person’s relationship with God. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, he writes about how his faith in God is altered as a result of his experience in the Holocaust. Before the war, Elie’s relationship with God is straightforward: He has absolute, complete faith in God. Over the course of the memoir, he develops a more mature relationship with God, in which Wiesel continues to believe in God but expresses his anger and doubt.

At the start of his memoir, Wiesel has an unwavering belief in God. When Elie is describing his family and his life in Sighet before the war begins, he states “I was almost thirteen and deeply observant. By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue

When Elie and his father arrive at Auschwitz they are immediately separated from the rest of their family. They, along with many others, are put on a march to a pit and as they see they are marching to their death, people begin to recite Kaddish. Elie hears this and says, “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify his name?” However, just a few moments later Wiesel states, “I found myself whispering the words: yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba.” This shows that Wiesel is beginning to question God’s actions but he still has enough faith deep down that he said the words. After being saved from the gas chambers Wiesel writes a poem about how he will never forget his horrible experiences in Auschwitz. In his poem he writes, “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my god,” but then writes in the next line, ““Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as god himself.” The first line seems to imply that Elie feels that God is dead and no longer with him, but then Wiesel contradicts himself in the next line when he talks about God’s eternity. Elie believes in God, but that same God has been “murdered.” It is no longer the pure, perfect God of Wiesel’s early years. Now it is a God who stands by as Jews are taken to their

When Rosh Hashanah arrives, thousands of Jews dangerously gather to pray. As they are praying, Wiesel thinks to himself, “Blessed by God’s name? Why, but why should I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled.” Elie is now very angry and clearly disapproves of God’s actions. He does not find himself whispering the words of prayer. Now, Wiesel wants to rebel as he feels that God has deserted his people. A few days later, on Yom Kippur, the question arises as to whether everyone should fast. Elie eventually decides not to fast, as he states, “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.” Wiesel has actively chosen to rebel, to show his anger towards God but he still believes in the God against whom he rebels. This shows a major inconsistency in Elie’s belief as earlier he had stated that his God had been murdered. Many years after being liberated, Wiesel was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey. When Winfrey asked Wiesel about his relationship with God, Wiesel responded by saying, “We still have a few problems! But even in the camps, I never divorced God. After the war, I went on praying to God. I was angry.” This quote clearly shows that even many years later, Wiesel still believes in God but has developed a relationship with him that includes anger, frustration, and