Role Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

Night by Elie Wiesel describes his experiences as a Jew in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Wiesel and other Jews survived, but many others did not. One of the key components to the Jews’ survival was faith along with hope. According to Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Many of the Jews found themselves questioning their faith as they witnessed and endured the horrors of the Holocaust. Although they hoped to survive the German’s cruelty and leave the concentration camps, they saw no evidence of it ever happening. They had so many questions that needed answers. Where was God? Why was He allowing this to happen? Why was He staying silent when His children needed Him? However, no answers were received, and they felt like they were “… alone- terribly alone in a world without God” (Wiesel 65). Stein of Antwerp, a relative of Wiesel’s, found Eliezer and his father at Auschwitz. He was asking for news of his family. Eliezer lied to him, telling him that they were well. Stein told Eliezer and his father that the only thing that kept him alive was the “news” that his wife and children were still alive. Unfortunately, a transport from Antwerp
It would seem as if Wiesel is suggesting that sense faith enables hope, the Jews had to maintain hope to survive. Their hope desired for something good to happen, and expected it; but their faith gave them certainty that what they were expecting would be done. Basically, Wiesel was saying that a life without faith or hope is empty and not worth living. Whether their faith was based in reality or not, it was the essential element that gave the Jews the strength and will power to go forward emotionally and physically. Faith, and the hope that goes along with it, could sustain them through even the most horrific experiences even though they could not see evidence of their future