Night Assessment Blog

Before seeing what he did in the camps, Elie was a very pious child. He wanted to study the Kabbalah back in Sighet so he searched for a master. After finding Moshie as a mentor, Elie read pages of the Zohar and the Kabbalah. He also prayed for most of his free time which altogether showed his piousness. This is shown when Elie explains that, "Together, we would read, over and over again, the same page of the Zohar. Not to learn it by heart but to discover within the very essence of divinity." (5). Elie did what not many others would do because he was so pious.

Elie felt the opposite of how pious he was before being in the camps when he almost died in the crematorium. Upon seeing the fires of the crematoria, Elie started to question his faith and God. He doesn't know why God would let these mass deaths happen at all. Seeing others pray for themselves, Wiesel  questions them and God when he says, "Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?" (33). Many Jews were dying and Elie noticed that God did nothing. This led to Elie becoming unfaithful and the opposite of his pious self.

The Nazis may or may not have thought that Jews would change and turn on each other. Elie was willing to protect his father back in Sighet. After one night of the harsh conditions of Auschwitz, Elie is different. When his father is attacked, he does less to protect him. Such a case is when the Gypsie Blockalteste hit Elie's father. When this happens, Wiesel realizes how much he changed when he asks, "What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal's flesh. Had I changed that much? So fast?" (39). He would've gone wild with the Gypsie but he didn't, possibly for survival. Elie's faith and actions have been changed by being in the camps which lead to regretful outcomes.

Works Cited

     Wiesel, Elie. Night. Trans. Marion Wiesel. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.