Elie Wiesel: His Journey of Faith

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Elie Wiesel: His Journey of Faith What are people without faith? Some find it a necessity, unable to function without it. Others find it pointless, untrusting God’s of will. This question is answered in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, with his journey of faith throughout the Holocaust. Elie struggles to find trust in God, for he feels his God has abandoned him, allowing his people to live in such pain. Eventually, Elie find that his faith has deteriorated, diminished from his resilient childhood beliefs. Although strongly religious before his journey in the Holocaust, Wiesel went through a dramatic deterioration of faith during the horrific events he experienced in Auschwitz, ultimately leading to his distant relationship with God by the end of the memoir. When he was only a young boy, Elie realized his calling in life was profess his faith in the study of Kabbalah, representing his strong connection with God. Determined to master his faith, Wiesel asks his father, “to find [him] a master who could guide [him] in the study of the Kabbalah” (4). Unfortunately his father declines his request, which only motivates Wiesel further. Wiesel took matters into his own hands and found his own master, Moshe the Beadle, to help him study his faith intimately. While in the temple one day Moshe asked Wiesel, “Why do you pray?”, Wiesel responded, “Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (4), illustrating his love of his faith. Wiesel felt that he prayed because was because, “something inside [him] felt the need to cry” (4), proving his deep connection with God. Regardless of age, Wiesel developed a strong connection with his faith, which is later destroyed by the horrors of the Holocaust. Though previously connected with God, Elie found himself questioning his faith during his journey through the Holocaust, eventually resulting in a decline of his
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