Theme Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel’s Change of Faith Throughout the Holocaust A big question that comes to mind when learning about the genocide of the Jews in WWII is: “How can people still have faith after the Holocaust?” God is one of the most prominent themes in holocaust literature; holocaust theology found in writings from the Holocaust have been discussed and debated since the 1940s. The accusations of the Jewish people against their own God is something that might be hard to understand. There are many different beliefs that the Jewish people had after the genocide; some of them abandoned their faith during the Holocaust, while others forgave God and kept believing in him. Throughout the famous memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, Eliezer's opinion of God and how he views God worsens because of his experiences during the Holocaust. Eliezer’s descent into his doubt of God does not start immediately. During his life in Hungary, he leads a religious life. Eliezer is described as often studying his faith with Moshe …show more content…
While speaking to another prisoner, Akiba Drumer, Eliezer is told the following: “‘Where is the divine Mercy? Where is God? How can I believe, how could anyone believe. in this merciful God?’ Poor Akiba Drumer, if he could have gone on believing in God, if he could have seen a proof of God in this Cavalry, he would have not been taken by the selection. But as soon as he felt the first cracks forming in his faith, he had lost his reason for struggling and had begun to die.”(Wiesel 73) This could be interpreted in two ways. One is that Eliezer thinks it is a test that God created to see who is truly faithful, even when they are put through Hell. The other analysis of this is that Eliezer thinks he needs to be strong through the Holocaust and not lose his faith in God, because then he might not have a reason for living. Eliezer believes that it is Akiba Drumer’s doubt of God that led to his