Night By Elie Wiesel Quote Analysis

Many Jews were lost in the Holocaust and many Jewish survivors lost their faith. Unable to know why God would allow an event so inhumane like the Holocaust happen, makes society question Him. In Night, Eliezer was a Jew who was forced to go to a few concentration camps. In the camps Eliezer saw and experienced many barbaric events. Him and many other Jews struggled to survive, which made him question his beliefs. In the memoir Night by Eliezer Wiesel, he uses Eliezer’s relationship with God to show that people doubt their faith when times get tough and that sometimes when people lose faith they lose their purpose.
In the beginning of the book before Eliezer’s life became corrupt, he maintained a strong faith. “During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple”(1). The quote shows that in the beginning of the
book and the beginning of Eliezer’s life, before the holocaust, Eliezer was very dedicated to his faith. The quote talks about how connected Eliezer was with God. He would study his faith in the day and pray at night. He also wanted to study the cabbala. By studying his faith everyday and praying every night, Eliezer’s faith became strong. When everything seems good and life is normal, it is easy to keep a strong faith and thank God for the wonderful things, believing He is the reason behind all things.
Toward the middle and end of Night, as life gets harder for Eliezer, he starts to lose his faith.
First Eliezer questions his faith and then he forgets about it. In Night a young boy was being hang and Eliezer thought to himself, “Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on his gallows…”(62). In this quote Eliezer questioned God and his faith because God let something terrible happen, like a young boy get hang. This quote shows Eliezer questioning faith because he wondered why God did not stop such a cruel act like a hanging, or the Holocaust, from happening, especially when the people who support and believe in Him were getting hurt. On page 73 in Night, a man knew he was about to die so he asked for Eliezer and his friends to say the Kaddish for him three days after he left. Eliezer and his friends forgot to say the prayer. In this scene from Night Eliezer showed that when times get tough faith became less of a priority in life. Eliezer began to give up and forget about God to focus more on survival. As life gets harder and tougher people loses faith in order to focus on other
priorities. It is important not to lose faith because faith can be motivation. In the Holocaust, some prisoners stayed alive because they had a strong faith. Akiba Drumer, a prisoner in the Holocaust who began to doubt his faith, lost his reasons to stay alive and knew he was going to die. “If he could have gone on believing in God, if he could have seen a poof of god in this Calvary, he would have not been taken” (73). In this quote Eliezer believed that if Akiba Drumer, would have maintained a steady faith he could have been able to stay alive. By losing his faith, he lost his will to resist death. If people can remain steadfast in their faith, they will have motivation. In the memoir Night, by Eliezer Wiesel, he helped show us that society can begin to question its beliefs when life becomes atrocious and that if society loses its faith it will also lose its ambition. People need to know why they are doing what they are doing. Although it may be tough, people need to see that it is important to stay true to their beliefs so there is a purpose in life.