Elie struggled with his relationship with God frequently throughout the book. In the beginning he practiced Kabbalah but in chapter 5 he doesn’t even want to acknowledge God’s presence. He had a complex relationship with God and he wavered in his beliefs. His relationship with God is important because we see how hardships can change someone's beliefs and how easy it was for him to put the blame on God. During chapter 5 it was the end of the Jewish year and the prisoners got together and prayed. Elie joined in and sat, but instead of praying he contemplated how God was there for them. On the other hand, in chapter 6 he prays that they will be safe and make it to Gleiwitz. He knew that God was with them and would protect him, but he couldn’t fathom how millions of Jews were being killed under God’s …show more content…
God and religion are very important in the book. In the beginning, we saw Mioshe who had a huge impact on Elie. Then in the camp we saw many prisoners praying and seeking after God. There was even a Rabbi who prayed and worshiped God. Their religion played a major role because they were persecuted and murdered for believing in the Jewish faith. The men, women, and children in Auschwitz tried to find some peace by believing that God would have their backs, even if it meant enduring this hardship. Personally, I know what it is like to have a wavering faith in my relationship with God. It can be really hard to thank him and rejoice in him when I am going through a tumultuous time. It's easy to go to God and worship him when life is easy, the real test of faith is going to him when you're faced with tragedy. During Covid, I found myself becoming depressed and questioning why God was putting me through the ringer. Why did he make the entire world shut down, and keep us isolated from one another? I found myself becoming angry at him and wondering if God was even there, if he knew what was going
Elie didn’t see a life without God, to him it was unimaginable. About a year later, the Germans had invaded Transylvania and were currently moving Elie and his fellow Jews into concentration camps. While leaving the haven of his home town, Elie prayed to God, on page 20, he says, “Oh God, Master of the Universe, in your infinite compassion have mercy on us…”. After they arrived at the camp, Ellie was ripped away from the innocence that he and God walked together in. When the Jews arrived at the concentration camp, humanity seemed to slip right out of grasp, opposed to when they first arrived at the camp.
During Elie’s time in the concentration camp, he battled with believing and not believing in faith. For example, when Elie starts to see the negative experience that goes on in the camp, he starts to lose faith in God, therefore he begins to question God actions. For instance, he wants to know why God was letting bad things happen to some of the prisoners, or were they supposed to learn from this experience. Another thing is that, when they arrived at the camp Elie “say’s never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp that turned my life into one long night” (Night pg. 34).
God had not helped Elie even after he would sing his praises, “We needed to show God that even here, locked in hell, we were capable of singing His praises.” Elie was tired of God’s silence, he did not show him mercy with all that he endured. The destruction, the death, the conditions ruined his faith and any hope he had
(Wiesel 4) Elie has asked his father to learn more about his religion, as he desired to increase his devotion. He was motivated, and his devotion was strong, before his capture. “We believed in God, trusted in man, and lived with the illusion that every one of us has been entrusted with a sacred spark from the Shekhinah's flame; that every one of us carries in his eyes and in his soul a reflection of God's image,”(Wiesel 14) Ellie explains how he still felt Gods presence while entering the camps. Even when he first faced the reality of what was happening, he still believed that God was in control and was still a part of him.
At one point, Elie uttered, "Oh God, Master of the Universe, in your infinite compassion, have mercy on us. . .”(p.20). Grounded by the idea of faith in his God, that He is everywhere, and that His divinity touches every aspect of his life. However, he was forced to witness the brutal reality of evil and suffering that the Germans were doing to the Jews. When he began to question his faith in his loving God, “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes”(p.34).
Elie wanted to believe in god but how would he believe in him if he hadn't shown them that he was there to let them free from their
By the last section of the novel, Elie no longer mentions God and he does not pray for his father when he dies, demonstrating Elie’s complete change in faith, a component of his life that was once very important to him. Furthermore, at the start of his concentration camp experience, Elie is extremely close with his father, and their survival relies on each other. However, when
At the beginning of this novel Elie was desperate to learn about God. " 'Why do you pray?' he asked after a moment. Why did I pray?
At this point in the story, Elie’s interest in practicing and studying religion starts to wane. These actions are out of character for him because in his home, Sighet, prayer and worship are a daily ritual. In fact, he commits himself to spending long days learning with his Kabbalah master and even longer nights praying at the synagogue. Consequently, at the camp, Elie feels that there is no need for religion because he believes God is no longer there for him. Elie’s actions directly correlates with the theme portrayed in the story because he let go a major part of himself due to the merciless environment of the
In the book, the author describes life in the concentration camp and his journey of how these traumatic experiences changed him. He went through many things which include him questioning his faith. Elie's relationship with God has changed throughout Night, demonstrating Elie Wiesel
He is wondering why God is letting these awful events transpire. I believe Elie was not one of the men who decided that this was God’s way of testing them and showing them love, but this theme still relates to him because everything that he believed in and studied was becoming questionable before his own
The torturing and suffering caused is what widdles down the belief, and this present throughout the novel. Only the strong and the ones who have most faith would survive, yet at the same time, if they didn’t originally have faith, they could’ve avoided the concentration camps
Why do you go on troubling these poor people’s wounded minds, their ailing bodies?”(Wiesel 68) Wiesel clearly is losing faith in God because he has seen babies burned alive, families killed together. Wiesel blames God for what has happened. Additionally, Elie Wiesel is not thankful for God anymore because he is not in Auschwitz helping him and the rest of the Jews. Wiesel feels anger towards God.
and it changed him. In the book, Night, the main theme, is religion and belief which is shown when Elie talks about the his strong religion and belief as a boy, his disconnection from religion, and the inhumane actions the Nazi 's caused. Having such a strong belief in something and then dramatically changing how you think, is a very significant event. During this time, many people questioned where God truly was. Even Elie was questioning where God was.
A few months after being placed into a concentration camp Elie had completely stopped praising and believing God. “As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against [God]” (Wiesel 69). Elie was fed up over the fact that so many Jews had been put through this torture and were still expected to remain faithfull, even when no efforts were being made to get them out. God was not answering any of their prayers, so why would he, or anyone else still devote his life to Him.