Loss of Religion in Night, by Elie Wiesel

What is religion? The dictionary states that religion is: “Possessing beliefs concerning the nature and purpose of the universe and the supernatural” (A student’s Dictionary 268). Different cultures have different definitions for the word religion. However, they all have one characteristic in common, faith. The Jewish, for instance, believe in God and that the Messiah will come in the future to bring them once again to the land of Israel. They continue to wait for Him to come. Over time, the Jews were shunned by many people. Hitler pushed all the blame for his, and his people’s troubles on the Jewish people, which then started the holocaust. The holocaust annihilated millions of people many of which were Jews. Six million Jews, making up about one-third of the Jewish population were murdered by the Nazis (Holocaust 1). There were many survivors from the holocaust. Elie Wiesel was one of the Jewish people who survived it. He was in three different concentration camps, all of which were horrific. Throughout Elie Wiesel’s novel, Night, Eliezer looses faith in God during and after his time in concentration camps.

In Night, Eliezer is a Jewish boy who had strong faith in God. He studied the Talmud and spent much time learning about all the different works and teachings about God. He went to the temple many times and would learn from his teacher, Moshe. Moshe was one of the first people to be taken by the Nazis but returned to the village to warn the people. No one believed Moshe because he was known as the weird guy in the town. When he did come to warn them, they all scoffed at him saying that there were concentration camps and that the Nazis would do that. After this, the Nazis came and started to take people to the camps. Then Eli...

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