Faith in Action: The Holocaust

David Nailor

English II Honors

Bradlyn

9 February 2017

Faith in Action: The Holocaust

        In a world full of differing people and ideology, it is no wonder there are so many differing forms of religion.  Which one of them is true is not the point to be discussed, but throughout history various people have shown great courage and never strayed from their beliefs in God.  Yet others—when faced with great trials—let themselves be turned from the faith and began to doubt God’s existence.  One of these people is Elie Wiesel.

        In “Night,” by Elie Wiesel, the author shares his own personal experience with the world and gives the impression that he began to lose his faith.  As the seasons change from summer to autumn in the western hemisphere, the Jewish year comes to an end.  For them, Rosh Hashanah normally entails a feast and prayer to YHWH, the Jewish God.  “Night was falling rapidly. And more and more prisoners kept coming…” (Wiesel 66).  Most inmates in the camp with Wiesel kept their faith.  They still believed God would return to save them.  On the other hand, Wiesel did not.  Later he speaks angrily to God saying, “What are you my God? ... Why do you go on troubling these poor peoples wounded minds, their ailing bodies?”  He strongly believes God has abandoned them and no longer cares.  That—though he is the master of the universe—he was a “cowardice” (Wiesel 66).

        To most Jewish prisoners, the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, would be the day God would release them from the hell they were enduring in the concentration camps.  Normally, the Jewish people would fast out of respect and submission to God.  Not only did Wiesel eat his rations for the day, he ate them out of direct rebellion to God (Wiesel 69).  He protested against God and strongly began to doubt his existence.  “Deep inside me a great void opened.” (Wiesel 69).  As Wiesel’s heart hardened against God, he began to lose his feeling of love, comfort, sympathy, and compassion.  He lost what few men had left.  He lost his soul.  He retained only the will to survive, yet after time he lost even that.  He lost his will to live, but most significant, he lost his God.

        Elie Wiesel lost his faith not due to his non-belief—for he had a great desire for God before—but, because he couldn’t believe God could allow such a horrible burden to be placed on his people.  He refused to see a “light at the end of the tunnel,” and wouldn’t believe God would return.  What would that say?  When God abandons his people, lets many die painful, agonizing deaths, and then returns to save a drastically depopulatized people group.  All these must have been going through his mind.  Maybe he realized later in life he was wrong, but from what the reader can digest from the book, he did not.  Everything terrible that has happened, occurred for a reason just like 9-11, Desert Storm, the Japanese tsunami, etc.  Everything has occurred in accordance with God’s plan for mankind.  Something good will always come out of tribulations.  If the reader looks at what happened after World War II, they will see the Jewish people were finally given back the promised land.  All that worked out for God’s plan.  For those who trust him, He will never let them be burdened more than they can bear.