Loss Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

Due to the challenges faced daily by the Jews in the holocaust, many of these people including Elie lost faith in god. Many people in the world today find themselves stuck in a position where they also lose all faith in god. They give up, no longer believe in faith and find themselves in a deeper whole and this is exactly what Elie Wiesel did. Elie could not accept the silence and he had rebelled against his religion of believing in faith. However, it is debatable whether Elie completely lost faith in god but it is clear he drastically changed from his past perspective on his religion.

In the beginning of the novel Elie was a strong believer of faith, but never knew the answer to why. For example, Wiesel states, ““He had watched me one day as I prayed at dusk. "Why do you cry when you pray?” he asked, as though he knew me well. "I don't know," I answered, troubled. I had never asked myself that question. I cried because something inside me felt the need to cry. That was all I knew. "Why do you pray?" he asked after a moment. Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe? "I don't know," I told him, even more troubled and ill at ease. "I don't know" (4). Elie questioned why he prayed, cried while praying and had multiple questions as to why things were as they were. Elie was a firm believer and always chose to never deny god's existence. For example Wiesel states, “Some of the men spoke of God: His mysterious ways, the sins of the Jewish people, and the redemption to come. As for me, I had ceased to pray. I concurred with Job! I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (45). Elie was always praying for things to get better, to gain a relationship with god. Although we see Elie as a firm believer in the beginning of the novel things start to change. 

Elie started losing faith quickly and not expectedly. Elie questions why he should bless the god when he is doing harm to Elie and his surrounding people. For example, Wiesel states, “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces? Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar” (67). Elie doesn't understand why he should be blessing someone who's doing harm and hurting him after everything Elie has been doing for his god. Elie starts to wonder throughout the novel what his god is. For example, Wiesel states, “What are You, my God? I thought angrily. How do You compare to this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith, their anger, their defiance? What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of this cowardice, this decay, and this misery? Why do you do on troubling these poor people’s wounded minds, their ailing bodies” (66). Elie doesn’t know who his god is and doesn’t understand why he's putting so much hurt on people who don’t deserve it. Although we can tell Elie is starting to lose all the faith he's put towards his god, Elie begins to change his mind. 

Elie suddenly begins to plead for forgiveness for his loss of faith. Elie finally realized he needs forgiveness in his life. For example, Wiesel states, “I knew that my sins grieved the Almighty and so I pleaded for forgiveness. In those days, I fully believed that the salvation of the world depended on every one of my deeds, on every one of my prayers. But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament. On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man. Without love or mercy. I was nothing but ashes now, but I felt to myself to be stronger than this Almighty to whom my life had been bound for so long. In the midst of these men assembled for prayer, I felt like an observer, a stranger” (68). Elie realized he was alone and needed his God to rely on. He needed him to be there for him through it all. Now that Elie realized he needed his god, he had so many questions, where was god? For example, Wiesel states, “Were there still miracles on this earth?” (76). Elie was in major of a miracle. He was begging god to change something, anything. He came back to his god, and he needed him more than ever.

Although Elie’s perspective changes throughout the novel on his views of his faith. We realize he needs his god. To count on his sins, to plead for forgiveness and lastly to help his people. Elie rebelled against his religion but soon realized he needed to gain his faith back. He needed to be forgiven, he needed to be helped, he felt so alone. God will always be there when you need him as long as you are faithful to him.