Nigh- Eli Wesel
Uploaded by blkbelt121 on Feb 04, 2008
To Believe or not to Believe
Throughout history, and throughout all the religions that have come and gone, and those that have stuck around, faith in God, or in some cases many gods has been the foundation for comfort, support and love. The Jewish religion and race for centuries endured criticism, and hatred that peaked in the late 1930’s and early to middle 1940’s when Hitler’s final solution was carried out where he wished to exterminate the entire Jewish population. During this time, Jews were forced into horrible living conditions. This started out in ghettos, and ultimately led to extermination in death or concentration camp. While enduring such hardships, many people’s faith in their God, especially a good God, was changed, and often totally stripped away. Elie Wiesel, a first hand witness of the Holocaust and author of the book Night experienced first hand the change in faith in his God, and eventually to loosing all faith. Wiesel’s faith started off strong however, as time passed his faith began to disappear, and finally, he lost all faith he had in his God.
In the beginning of the book Night, an autobiography by Elie Wiesel, the reader clearly sees that Elie has a strong faith in God, and a desire to know more. His desire is shown quite vividly when the reader is given a description of a particular evening that Elie was talking to Moche the Beadle and reflects saying, “…I told him how unhappy I was because I could not find a master in Sighet to instruct me in the Zohar, the cabbalistic books, the secrets of Jewish mysticism” (Wiesel 15). As with many other teenagers in this world today, Elie wished to know more about his God and tried to have great faith in him. However, when the order is given for the deportations, the reader quickly discovers that Elie is having trouble seeing is God through all of the mess him and his community is going through.
When the orders were given that the Jewish community was going to be deported, the people of Sighet were having trouble seeing God through all of the events that were taking place. The Jewish people, who rely on the Old Testaments of the Bible, are taught of a loving God who will provide for them and keep them safe during hardships. Therefore,...