Respuesta :
Eliezer’s struggle with his faith is a dominant conflict in Night. At the beginning of the work, his faith in God is absolute. When asked why he prays to God, he answers, “Why did I pray? . . . Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” His belief in an omnipotent, benevolent God is unconditional, and he cannot imagine living without faith in a divine power. But this faith is shaken by his experience during the Holocaust.
Initially, Eliezer’s faith is a product of his studies in Jewish mysticism, which teach him that God is everywhere in the world, that nothing exists without God, that in fact everything in the physical world is an “emanation,” or reflection, of the divine world. In other words, Eliezer has grown up believing that everything on Earth reflects God’s holiness and power. His faith is grounded in the idea that God is everywhere, all the time, that his divinity touches every aspect of his daily life. Since God is good, his studies teach him, and God is everywhere in the world, the world must therefore be good.
Eliezer’s faith in the goodness of the world is irreparably shaken, however, by the cruelty and evil he witnesses during the Holocaust. He cannot imagine that the concentration camps’ unbelievable, disgusting cruelty could possibly reflect divinity. He wonders how a benevolent God could be part of such depravity and how an omnipotent God could permit such cruelty to take place. His faith is equally shaken by the cruelty and selfishness he sees among the prisoners. If all the prisoners were to unite to oppose the cruel oppression of the Nazis, Eliezer believes, then maybe he could understand the Nazi menace as an evil aberration. He would then be able to maintain the belief that humankind is essentially good. But he sees that the Holocaust exposes the selfishness, evil, and cruelty of which everybody—not only the Nazis, but also his fellow prisoners, his fellow Jews, even himself—is capable. If the world is so disgusting and cruel, he feels, then God either must be disgusting and cruel or must not exist at all.
Though this realization seems to annihilate his faith, Eliezer manages to retain some of this faith throughout his experiences. At certain moments—during his first night in the camp and during the hanging of the pipel—Eliezer does grapple with his faith, but his struggle should not be confused with a complete abandonment of his faith. This struggle doesn’t diminish his belief in God; rather, it is essential to the existence of that belief. When Moshe the Beadle is asked why he prays, he replies, “I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions.” In other words, questioning is fundamental to the idea of faith in God. The Holocaust forces Eliezer to ask horrible questions about the nature of good and evil and about whether God exists. But the very fact that he asks these questions reflects his commitment to God.
Discussing his own experience, Wiesel once wrote, “My anger rises up within faith and not outside it.” Eliezer’s struggle reflects such a sentiment. Only in the lowest moments of his faith does he turn his back on God. Indeed, even when Eliezer says that he has given up on God completely, Wiesel’s constant use of religious metaphors undercuts what Eliezer says he believes. Eliezer even refers to biblical passages when he denies his faith. When he fears that he might abandon his father, he prays to God, and, after his father’s death, he expresses regret that there was no religious memorial. At the end of the book, even though he has been forever changed by his Holocaust experience, Eliezer emerges with his faith intact.
Answer:
How strong is your faith? How long would it last? Could it survive? Eliezer's did. He was devoted to his faith when we first met him. It seemed as if nothing could break it. Then he had a tragic event in his life like many other Jews. He was pushed to his breaking limit, but he survived. Did his faith survive also? Yes, it did, but this was not the same faith that he had at the beginning of his story. As we travel through his story we see faith fall apart, change its beliefs, and build itself up again. We will consider how his faith changed throughout this story.
To begin we will look at how the Ghetto affected him. Eliezer grew up thinking that God is everywhere all the time. This made him believed that the whole world must be good. His faith somewhat sheltered him from reality. Eliezer told us that he was excited to be moving to the Ghetto. He liked the idea of it just being all Jews. He said that now they wouldn’t have to deal with the non-Jews disapproving looks. This shows how much he valued his faith. He didn’t want anyone or anything to affect it.
Much to Eliezer's disadvantage, his envision of the world does not prepare him for the road ahead. His ignorance made it hard for him to comprehend how the concentration camp could exist and how brutal the Nazis could be. He struggled to see how God could be here and allow this to happen. It greatly affects his faith. A particular event hit him hard. This event was when the child has hung in front of the whole camp. This makes him question whether God exists. He once said, “My anger rises up within faith and not outside it." In his lowest moments of faith, he finds himself coming back to God.
In the end, he denies his faith, but his actions say otherwise. He shows this in many ways. For example when he wishes that there could have been a religious memorial when his father passed. He also uses many religious metaphors even when he denied his faith. Eliezer even prayed to God when thought that he might abandon his father. Eliezer had his faith tested many times and he almost lost, but in the end, it survived. His faith has been forever changed but he survived.
