Analysis Of Prayer By Elie Wiesel

Before Elie was sent to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, he displayed positive character traits. He was faithful, courageous, and smart. In the beginning, Wiesel states, “He had watched me one day as I prayed at dusk” (4) Elie was talking to Moishe the Beadle (teacher in Sighet) and was not afraid to express his faith. Obviously, Elie was faithful because he was praying. In addition, this showed that he was also very passionate about his faith and did not care if people knew if he was Jewish. Elie had this trait before he was sent to Auschwitz, and he made his faith the top priority. Elie’s faith was an outlet for him, and he was a very positive person because of it. Further into his stay at the Auschwitz concentration camp, Elie started to let his faith drift away, leaving him with almost nothing. Next, Wiesel says, “There could no longer be any doubt: Germany would be defeated. It was only a matter of time, months, weeks perhaps.” (8) Elie and his family were getting worried about the Nazi’s invading many Jewish homes. Elie became very confident about the situation and told himself that the Germans would be defeated. Confidence was deeply displayed in this piece of text evidence because he begins to make it a fact that the Germans would lose the war and everything would be okay. Elie’s confidence was a big part of his positive personality before he was in the camp because it gave him hope. Elie has a complete change of heart once he is in the death camp for a while and becomes very hopeless. Lastly, Wiesel explains, “I continued to devote myself to my studies, Talmud during the day and Kabbalah at night.” (8) Elie listened to the radio and heard that there were bombings from Germany and

Eliezer hears a rabbi ask desperately, “Where is the divine Mercy? How can I believe, how could anyone believe, in this merciful God.”(Wiesel 73) Wiesel no longer knows what to have faith in anymore. He’s hoping for any proof of God, any validation that the God he used to pray to would help him, but always ends up disappointed. Wiesel is feeling extremely desperate and betrayed, especially when he heard that Rabbi Eliahou had lost faith. When seeing that Rabbi Eliahou’s son tried to get rid of his father “in spite of [himself], a prayer rose in [Eliezer’s] heart, to the god in whom [he] no longer believed in.”(Wiesel 87) Although Wiesel continues to claim that he no longer believes in God, a small part of him still hopes that he is out there and will save Eliezer and the rest of the Jews. He feels reassurance and secureness when praying to God because it was an instinct and brought him back to the days where he was very devout. He still believes God is out there and will eventually help him in the end. Eliezer continues to believe that God is not merciful and good, but still turns toward him in times of difficulty.

Faith is like a little seed; if you think about the positive aspects of a situation, then it will grow, like a seed grows when you water it. However, if the seed does not receive water anymore, it will die, which serves as a parallel to the horrors and antagonism of the concentration camps that killed Elie’s faith. After the analysis of the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, the reader can visualize the horrors and slaughter of millions of innocent people that occurred in concentration camps. Throughout the book, Wiesel explains how his faith in God was tested, as he was forced to leave his home, separated from his family, and observed the death all around him; he even witnessed children being thrown into huge ditches of fire alive. Elie felt abandoned, betrayed, and deceived by the God that he knew who was a loving and giving God. It was then he started to doubt His existence. Elie tried to hold on to his faith, but the childhood innocence had disappeared from within him, and he lost his faith in God completely.

Prisoners of the Holocaust spoke not only of religious faith disintegrating, but also how their faith in humanity depleted. Wiesel recounts how one prisoner said, “I’ve got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He’s the only one who’s kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people” (77). The only person that the prisoners can put any of their trust into is the one who is slowly killing them. Another instance of loss of faith in humanity is when Wiesel witnesses the son of a rabbi he knew run away from his father. The son tries to escape his dying father so that he no longer has to take care of him and can selfishly live on. After watching this Wiesel finds himself praying to a god he no longer believes in, “My God, Lord of the Universe, give me the strength to never do what Rabbi Eliahou’s son has done” (87). No matter how tough it is to go on, Wiesel will not give up. He will continue to live through the miserable conditions of the Holocaust just so that he does not give up on his father, the only person he has faith left

When Elie Wiesel was a kid, he had extreme faith in his religion. Moshe the Beadle is the first person to question Wiesel’s faith. Moshe the Beadle asks Elie Wiesel why he prays; after pondering the thought, Wiesel replies, “I don’t know why” (p. 2). Elie Wiesel does not know the reason why he prays to God when he doesn’t receive anything back. His faith now seems weaker, despite the hours he devotes to God. God gives him Moshe the Beadle when he wants to study the cabala, and his father won’t help him, but once Wiesel arrives at the concentration camp, God shows no such help as he did at that time. Although God may have left Wiesel, his father stepped up to take care of him and show him that all

People often begin to lose faith in God because of the results they faced from their life experiences. Some face things that seem cruel and unbearable while others are “confronted with the information presented from another viewpoint that rejects God” (Gospel Billboards). Elie was told by his father to never lose his faith in God, it would help him get through tough times and keep him strong. The faith is the only strong force that helped Elie Wiesel get through the Holocaust. Through experiences that involve cruel and unbearable moments, people start questioning whether God has the answers to life’s problems. This results in faith beginning to weaken, people stop communicating with God, which makes it easier for one’s faith to diminish. We encounter Elie questioning and refusing God, but also see his contradictory behavior he exhibits to praise. However, throughout the book, Eliezer witnesses and experiences things that leads him to lose his faith in his religion. The longer he stays in the concentration camps, the more he experiences and sees cruelty and suffering. Eliezer believes that people who pray to a God who allows their families to suffer and die are more stronger and forgiving to God. Elie was angry at God, he thought God didn’t deserve his praises or honors because he expected God to come save him but he never did. He observes people die and others around him slowly lose hope, starve, Elie ceases to believe that God could exist at all now. “Where He is? This

At the beginning of Night, Elie has a good and well-off life. He is not poor and lives comfortably with his family in Sighet, Transylvania. He may not have everything he wants, but he has what he needs. This changes overnight when Elie and the other Jews of Sighet are deported out of their ghetto and into concentration camps. The Nazis take everything from Elie, his family, name, hair, personal possessions, and confidence in his faith. Suddenly, Elie finds he is no longer the son of a well-respected Jewish community leader who has everything he needs, but rather a prisoner with no possessions or home to call his own. In minutes, he has lost everything and now finds himself in a camp where he owns just a bowl, shoes, and the clothes on his back. He doesn’t even have his own bed; that too he must share with others. “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust” (Wiesel, 32). At this point, Elie has realized that the life he knew before was gone. He also probably wished he had appreciated something as simple as his name, as once he was in the camp, “I became A-7713. After that I had no other name” (Wiesel, 39). He even wished he had appreciated his sheets before the war, saying “They put me into a bed with white sheets. I had forgotten that people slept in sheets” (Wiesel, 74). All of Elie’s realizations of how good his life had been while in Sighet didn’t come until he had lost all the things he took for granted. Prior to his deportation, Elie was just like any other teenager. While he may know that he has a good life and has everything he needs, he usually doesn’t acknowledge or appreciate it. Most teenagers and adults alike take for granted their ability to provide for their needs. They don’t think about the event that

Later, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, Elie was not able to celebrate the New Year with the other Jews in the camp. When the Rabbi said “Blessed be the Name of the Eternal,” Wiesel thought “Why, but why should I bless Him?” In these quotes, Wiesel’s frustration and anger is directed toward God because he has no one else to blame. He is appalled by everything happening around him, and cannot believe the God he spent all his time praying to was letting this happen. Wiesel’s faith in God waned while he was in the camps. Because he used to be a religious, Jewish person, losing his faith changes his

Elie’s faith before being exposed to the concentration camps is apparent and he works hard to strengthen and grow his faith. All throughout Night, Wiesel shows the eminent effect faith has on individual’s actions and attitude. At the beginning of Night, Elie’s faith is a key feature of his lifestyle and attitude. Studying under the wisdom of Moishe the Beadle, Elie can put his faith in retrospect as he says, “In the course of those evenings I became convinced that Moishe the Beadle would help me enter eternity, into that time when question and answer would become one” (Wiesel 5). It is very clear that Elie is very emotionally and physically invested in his faith. Before camp Elie was so eager to expand and connect to his faith in which he becomes, “convinced” that he fully understands his faith proving him to be a devout Jewish boy. Thus because, Moishe the Beadle is helping him “enter eternity” and build his faith. Elie’s whole life revolves

He states here, “As for me, I had ceased to pray. I concurred with Job! I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice,” (Wiesel 45). The act of praying that he had been asked about before, and had been flabbergasted by the question, was now an act, or symbol, of revenge toward God. Along with the loss of faith, came the feeling of being greater than God when refusing to take part in worshipping Him. “On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused … but I felt myself to be stronger than this Almighty to whom my life had been bound for so long … I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion” (Wiesel 68-69). And eventually, Wiesel reveals that he no longer believed in God, “And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed” (Wiesel 91). Even when prayer was the action he refused to partake in while his faith was slowly declining, it was the only thing he could do to reassure himself and feel helped--even if he prayed to the God that he no longer believed in. Horrible events drive people to test their

As Elie gets used to his new life in such a hellish state, he realizes that the trusting and faithful child that he once had been had been taken away along with his family and all else that he had ever known. While so many others around him still implore the God of their past to bring them through their suffering, Wiesel reveals to the reader that although he still believes that there is a God, he no longer sees Him as a just and compassionate leader but a cruel and testing spectator.

Elie Wiesel was the protagonist of the memoir Night who overcomes many obstacles while in the Holocaust. Elie was fifteen when he was put in concentration camps. He was separated from his mother and sisters forever; they were immediately sent to the crematoriums. All Elie had was his father who never showed much emotion or affection. Elie lied about his age and said he was older so he could stay with his father as he was advised to by a stranger who was also in the Holocaust. Elie was worked, almost to death, for one year. He also maintained to keep with his father and keep him motivated and hopeful till the very end. Throughout the year he watched his father be beaten, stripped down, and nearly dead. Elie had also been beaten; he had been especially victimized by a “Kapo” named

As days went by in the concentration camp, many begin to lose their faith in religion just like Elie. The book, Night is written by Elie Wiesel, a winner of the Nobel Peace prize. In the book Night, Elie is the main character who is very religious at first. It begins with his family and him traveling to Auschwitz which his little sister and mother die. With only his father and him, they went through many hardships and moving from camp to camp. Unfortunately, Elie father did not survive the Holocaust but Elie did. By the end of the story, Elie did entirely lose his faith in God because he did not celebrate the important holidays, questioned God and his justice, and tries to forget his existence.

Before the events of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel was devoted to the Cabbala and all of Moshe the Beadle’s teachings. His father is not always too keen on Elie Wiesel’s view on Cabbalism. Wiesel spends whole evenings at the Synagogue almost every day with Moshe the Beadle. They would ask questions and discuss their beliefs in the darkness of the building. Wiesel states, “I believed profoundly” (1). Elie Wiesel is so immersed with his religion to the point it becomes first instinct in his mind, and he strives for more knowledge. Elie Wiesel is confident with his religion until Moshe the Beadle asks him a simple question, “Why do you pray?” Wiesel (2). Elie Wiesel responds internally, “Why did I pray? A strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (2). . Elie Wiesel’s strong connection with his religion will cause him to experience extreme losses later in his life.

The Holocaust of 1933 to 1945 was a tragic period of time in history, killing more than 6 million Jewish people. One of its few survivors: Elie Wiesel, has written a book titled Night explaining his experiences as a prisoner of war. His novel is about young Elie Wiesel arriving in Auschwitz and beginning to labor under the Nazis’ unforgiving rule. Over the course of the book, Elie continually struggles with his relationship with God and feels conflict trying to decide between supporting his ever crippling father and his best chance at survival. Conclusively, because of his time in the concentration camps, Elie’s views of and relationship with God are challenged and his morals are changed.