In the memoir Night, by Elie Weisel, the Jewish prisoners are faced with a decision. They need to decide whether to fast for Yom Kippur or if they will simply not carry out this sacred ritual. The prisoners should have fasted as a show of commitment to their faith, they could have found another way to fast, and they should have done it as a protest to their German captors. Fasting for Yom Kippur is not normally done because it is easy. Fasting is something that you do that is difficult, to show God that you are able to make sacrifices and live through discomfort, just as he has, to show your commitment to your faith. Some prisoners said “But there were those who said we should fast, precisely because it was dangerous to do so.” The more uncomfortable …show more content…
If they did choose to fast, they could have saved up their bread rations to eat afterwards, to break-the-fast. If they felt that refraining from eating was not a healthy option for them, then they could have done something else. In some religions, pregnant, sick, and young people are asked to fast in other ways. They could have fasted by not speaking, instead silently meditating while going about their daily activities. “In this place, we were always fasting.” The omission of food would not have meant as much, since they were already being tested by this trial. The Germans were aware of the sacred rituals and religious observances of the Jewish peoples. If the prisoners still observed Yom Kippur, despite the Germans obvious disregard for this holiday, then they could have known in their hearts that the Germans were unable to take this away from them. There was so much already taken away, but this was one thing that they could not take from them, something inside of them, unable to be confiscated. The Germans would have no way to keep track of who was observing Yom Kippur and who was not, as they could have just not told