Night Elie Wiesel Faith

Throughout Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust narrative, Night, the struggle in remaining faithful is a predominant conflict the Jews face. The protagonist, Elie Wiesel, is depicted as a dynamic character who undergoes a vast transformation regarding his faith. As Elie encounters many hardships and horrors during the reign of Hitler, his faith in God is continuously tested to the point where he begins to alter his beliefs. Wiesel indicates that exposure to a cruel, inhospitable world prompts the deterioration of faith. In the beginning of the book, Elie is portrayed as religious and deeply observant. He goes to the synagogue to pray every night and devotes his time studying Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. As an extremely pious Jew, he
He begins to doubt God’s presence and question Him for the events that occur in the concentration camps. As Elie witnesses innocent Jews dying while God remains silent, he utters, “Why should I bless His name? What had I to thank Him for?” (31). He loses his faith in the justice of God. Another event that causes Elie’s deterioration in faith is the hanging of the pipel, or young boy who assisted an Oberkapo. As the boy slowly dies, Elie states harshly, "Where is He? This is where - hanging here from this gallows..." (65). This indicates the point in the text when Elie certainly loses his faith in God. He sees Him as dead and hung up like the “sad-eyed angel” (65) he is forced to watch die. Further more, Elie dismisses the teachings from Moishe. Rather than asking questions that bring him closer to God, Elie asks questions that push him and his faith further.
Ultimately, many characters relinquish their faith after a certain amount of time in the inhumane concentration camps. Elie’s faith is fractured after witnessing the atrocities of the Holocaust, causing him to rethink his belief in the presence of God. Initially, Elie believes God transcends all beings. Towards the end, he believes God abandons