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Revised blog post #3-Isabel

My prompt is about faith/loss of faith that occurs in the book Night. Throughout this book, Elie Wiesel’s faith consistently wavers. There are some points where he can not even believe someone like God could exist in a terrible time such as the Holocaust. “I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him.” (68). This quote is extremely monumental. At this point in the book, it is Yom Kippur, a day where Jews are supposed to fast. Jews fast on Yom Kippur, as a sign to God, as asking for forgiveness from all their sins that past year. Not fasting is an act of defiance against God.  Even the Rabbi cannot believe that a God can exist. “One day, he said to me: ‘It’s over. God is no longer with us.” (75). This was a Rabbi speaking. At this point, everyone has given up hope. Even the extremely religious people. However, at other times, he prays to God, such as times like the Sabbath, or religious holidays, or even on regular occasions. “Oh, God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done.” (90). In this passage, not only is he praying to God, but he is praying to God for strength. I believe that the Jews stopped believing in God, because they didn't want to live in a world where someone who is portrayed as a “savior” could let something as awful as the Holocaust happen. By this point, if there is a God, it is not the God that has been portrayed to you a source of comfort and/or ease, and to be put in a situation where all of that is untrue, can be quite frightening. However, at other times, whenever there is a stroke of luck, it is a sign that a God can exist, and so the Jews take that happiness and turn into believing again. In addition, there are many instances where one might need comforting or strength to find a will to live, then God is a very good person to turn to. I think that were some point that Elie Wiesel was angry at himself for believing in God before the Holocaust. At some points Wiesel was probably angry at himself for not being faithful and some points. I think that after the war Wiesel was still faithful, but just not as much after was happened in the war. I think he did not keep the faith to the same extent as he did before the war.
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Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 29, 2018 at 12:10 PM

    Isabel,

    I thought your post was very well written. I agree that Elie's faith changed a lot in the book and that if you were experiencing this you would not believe in god as well even if you were a rabbi. Overall I thought your post was very good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 30, 2018 at 3:16 PM

    Isabel ,
    This topic was very prominent in the book and yet you still showed me thoughts and ideas that I hadn'd come up with before. With such a powerful and easy to spot topic it is not always easy to give someone a new P.O.V.. Overall your post was very intreaging to read.

    ReplyDelete

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