Religion in Night

Religion is one of the three most prominent themes in the book Night by Elie Wiesel. It is the main reason the concentration camps were created, for people believing in the Jewish religion were the ones persecuted. They were perceived as inferior because of their faith, and for that reason they were placed on the road to extermination by the Nazi Germans. Throughout the book, Elie, as well as his fellow Jews, severely question their own faiths, and they wonder how any just and loving God can let such terrible atrocities occur at all. Night depicts how a person’s faith is truly tested through times of hardship, and how easily terrible events can either destroy one’s faith or, on the contrary, strengthen it.

            When the story begins, Elie is a young boy seeking to further his religious studies and solidify his Jewish faith even more. Every night he studies the Talmud and goes to the temple in his town, Sighet, to pray. He wishes to begin studying Kabbalah, but his father does not let him. While at the town synagogue, a man by the name of Moishe the Beadle begins to secretly teach Elie all about Kabbalah, for he is an expert on the subject. One day, the Hungarian police come to Elie’s town and expel all of the foreign Jews from there. Moishe is actually a foreigner, so he and many others are packed onto a train car and taken away. When he returns, he is frightful. “Moishe was not the same. The joy in his eyes was gone. He no longer sang. He no longer mentioned either God or Kabbalah. He spoke only of what he had seen.” (1.29-31). At this point, he no longer speaks of God, which can lead one to the assumption that after witnessing the mass murder of Jewish people he has lost his faith in God.

            As we progress further into the story of Night, Eliezer has entered the concentration camp with his father. On his first night there, he witnesses atrocities beyond belief. He sees Nazi soldiers tossing human babies that are still alive into fire pits and into the air to be shot at, as if for target practice. He sees dead people of all ages being taken into the crematorium to be burned to ashes, and watches as the smoke rises from the chimney. These moments shake Elie’s faith to the core, much similar to how Moishe’s experiences at the camp shook his. “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.” (3.68-75)

             Though Elie has lost all faith towards the book’s end, he still prays for strength to keep himself from abandoning his father. “‘Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done.’" (6.65-66). His faith is a key in his will to stay alive.

            All of the hardships and trials Elie faced in the camps played parts to the deterioration of his faith. The atrocities the Nazis committed against his people tested his beliefs, and for a while, I believed that his faith was completely gone and that he had become an atheist. Yet, we see that he stayed with his faith through his trials, for it gave him comfort and willpower.