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Alexander S. Hucks

Julia Intawiawat

English 110

13 October 2017

Night: Elis Loss of Faith and Identity

What comes to mind when one thinks of total loss, confusion, and anger towards

something? To Eli Wiesel, this is his life as less than a human. His life following his capturing

by the Nazis and the inhabitants in the multiple concentration camps, turned his life upside

down. Some would say he faced all odds and even had his doubts regarding who he was and why

he was part of these dreadful, seemingly, God-forsaken events. Needless to say, his memoir

Night, will follow his life as an eager child of God, to almost complete loss of faith in Him.

Elis terrifying journey would begin in his hometown of Sighet, Transylvania. Before the

madness fell, Eli was young, studying deeply, the Talmud, teachings regarding the rabbinic

law("The Talmud" 2017). He, at the time, was aspiring to be vastly knowledgeable in his faith,

perhaps to eventually become stronger in it, so aspired in it that he even asked for a master to

help guide him in studies, despite his young age. This shows already, how dedicated Eli was to

becoming stronger in his faith which would heighten the severity of his crippling of his faith.

The first evidence of Nazi reign in Elis world started when Moishe the Beadle, Elis

mentor, poorest in the town, and the synagogues right-hand man, was deported as a foreign Jew

by Hungarian police, along other deportees. None of Sighets inhabitants knew what this was the

start of; In fact, this was all part of a master plan by the Nazi policy, the ethnic cleansing of

European Jewry( William, Nazi Policy Towards the Jews). The ethnic cleansing helps
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support this idea of the loss of identity or even purpose of the Jews and other ethnicities. The

Nazis wanted one superior race, Aryan, so therefore exterminating all others as if the identity of

Eli and others as if it had never existed.

When the Germans first entered Sighet on their conquest to obtain Hungarian land, the

jews had indifferent views towards them, in fact Eli states that our first impressions of the

Germans were most reassuring( Wiesel, 9 ), which ironically showed a level of comfortability

despite this unwelcomed entering of their land. The Germans were wolves in sheeps wool in

that Their attitude towards their hosts was distant,but polite.( Wiesel, 9 ). The Germans were

showing a false persona to keep from initially frightening, quite frankly, their prey.

The revealing of their true colors occurred when a policy was released by the fascist. It

stated: every Jew must wear the yellow star( Wiesel, 11 ). This was a subtle yet vital evidence

of the initial dehumanization of the Jews. The star was used in hateful manner, almost as a

degrading of the Jews themselves. This badge has been used as far back as the 13th century and

forward, but before the time of the Nazis, it was never used in a degrading way. It was used as

distinguishing garments(Jewish Badge: During the Nazi Era), and nothing more. The

Germans abused its original intentions and associated the symbol negatively.

The humility only increased after the Nazis intruded. Eventually the Jews were

subjugated by being placed in ghettos, as a means of segregation from the rest of society. This

furthered their loss freedom and, ultimately, their own identity they once had. No, they were not

stripped of their names, but were treated as less than humans, by the taking away of their rights.

This would only get worse. Soon, they were unable to go out in public to dine or travel around

the town. Also a curfew was put in place limiting the life of the city streets after 6 oclock.
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It escalated quickly, for they were to be expelled from their hometown by cattle cars.

They would leave their life behind them and have to come to the realization that what they knew

would forever be blotted out by the God-Forsaken Nazis. They would have to leave their past

and meet an uncertain, and most likely, unbearable future. Once they boarded the train to hell,

they existed, pitifully, during the long ride to a mysterious destination.

The journey became more treacherous and demeaning as the days went by. The evidence

of this horrific journey is evident when a woman in her fifties, Mrs. Schachter loses her sanity

due to her separation of her husband and two older sons. By the third night, her hysteria is shown

in great length, evident in her saying Fire! I see Fire! I see Fire!(Wiesel 24). She is a perfect

example of one who has lost hope, and perhaps even herself. She showed signs of being truly

mad. She had indeed lost her faith in any positive outcome from the future. Eli was not swayed

by this, but rather, with the other passengers, tried to reason with the pitiful women. She

eventually seize her screeching after a long ordeal of trying to silence her.

The Jews finally arrive at Auschwitz, at the camp called Birkenau, unbeknownst to them,

the worst of all others established. Here many were either sentenced to suffer slowly, or be

executed instantly based on ones initially review health by a doctor. Eliezer was spared the pit

of fire but saw many babies being thrown into it, engulfed, never to be seen again. He questions

humanity, and it could be possible that such atrocities were being done, much less, he having to

see it. Eliezer, young and confused, thought to himself how this could be even real.

Birkenau. This is where the true downfall of Elis faith had started. Seeing the babies

casted to their demise was only the beginning. He questioned if he should continue praising God,

even after all this. He even dared to dub Him as: ....terrible Master of the Universe(Wiesel 33).
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He couldnt find any reasoning in this allowment of such horrors, especially one by a, thought-

to-be, loving God. Not only does he start to lose faith in God, but also in humanity itself. The

beating of his father by the Kapos, broke this once clear view of the human race. Seeing man

being subjected by man was too much for Eli to understand. His young mind could not

understand and only had one choice but to erase what he once knew of humans as a whole. Fear

was what he lived by at this point, less he wanted to lose his life.

One evening, as the prisoners laid in their cots, they were discussing their terrible

predicament. One of them state God is testing us(Wiesel 45), like Job, who was earlier

mentioned. This man feels this situation must be justified, that theres a reason for all the pain

they are suffering. Eli may want to believe this, though this creates an issue in which Elis

understanding of why, this caliber of pain, should be inflicted on such innocent souls.

Eli and others were moved to a new camp, Buna. Here once again, Eli wonders of Gods

existence after witnessing the hanging of two prisoners. This hanging made Eli create an analogy

that makes this part of the book, one of the most bone-chilling. He compares the hanging of the

child to the hanging of his own God aside him (Wiesel 65). This analogy perfectly paints a

picture of Elis regards towards God. Seeing the killing of humans furthered his confusion with

God.

One of the hardest times in this prison for Eli was when he had to experience the end of

the Jewish year, On the Eve of Rosh Hashanah. Elis rebellion against God has become stronger

than his once faith in Him. He struggles to give praise to God, unlike the others who still, even in

the worst of times, say Blessed be Gods name(Wiesel 67). He then reviews all the reason

why he couldnt even God a glance.

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I feel its quite appropriate to allude a verse from the Bible which may shine some light

on Elis situation, giving some, if any, consolation. Ecclesiastes 3 refers to a A Time for

Everything. Here it speaks of times for love and hate, mourning and dancing, and weeping and

laughing("BibleGateway"). This verse implies that the things that Eli is going through should not

deteriorate his faith, due to Gods addressing these kinds of things will happen. Also another

verse that may clear up Elis confusion is Romans 8:28, which, in short, says that everything that

happens, good or bad, works out for our benefit(Romans 8:28). Although, these verses may not

come to Elis knowledge, for he did not study the Holy Bible in his youth as far as his memoirs

concerned.

Finally, on the day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Eli decided to disregard this

day, by not fasting. He decided to not heed to Gods lack silence. He felt even though, this was

the time of fasting, it was evident hes been fasting ever since he was banished from his

hometown. Instead he neglected his once devoted life to God as a symbol of rebellion, out of

anger, confusion, and pain.

Eliezer was not the only evident of losing his faith. Akiba Drummer, also was wandering

hopelessly, for Gods mercy. He even told Eliezer that Its over. God is no longer with

us..(Wiesel 76). At this point Eliezer doesnt heed Drummers words because he, miraculously,

still has faith left to show. He only wishes Akiba did too. Akiba transforms into what Eliezer

once was as Eliezer is actually growing more towards God. This is extremely significant, as he is

hopeful that he will be saved from his demise.

The death of Eliezers father, though tragic, but expected, did not lessen Eliezers faith in

God. Now, in Buchenwald, Eliezer exists, no family, no liberation, only food. But by the grace
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of God, it seems, liberation fell upon Buchenwald before all the rest of the jews in the camp were

exterminated. The Americans arrived to cure the infection and recover the Jews from God-

forsaken state.

Eli, a young, devout seeker of a greater purpose was single handedly transformed by the

horrors of the human race and the haunted, for the longest time, by the lack of Gods presence,

or it seemed. Eli still is puzzled by the silence God reciprocated to him, but still did not lose his

faith in the end. His faith was still stronger than the feet that carried him. He looks into a mirror

and decides a corpse was contemplating e(Wiesel 112). The Lord spared him, though he may

had not seen that at the time, which makes it more significant of a moment in his life. The one

things he was longing for the most was likely food. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Works Cited

The Talmud. ReformJudaism.org, 19 Jan. 2017, reformjudaism.org/talmud.

Carr, William. "Nazi Policy Towards the Jews." History Today, vol. 35, no. 11, 1986, pp. 30, History

Study Center, .
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Jewish Badge: During the Nazi Era. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States

Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008211.

BibleGateway. Ecclesiastes 3 - - Bible Gateway,

www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%2B3.

Romans 8:28 And We Know That in All Things God Works for the Good of Those Who Love

Him, Who Have Been Called According to His Purpose., biblehub.com/romans/8-28.htm.

Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux,

2017.