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Elie Weisel Begins His Religious Journey (Chapter 1)

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Elie Weisel Begins His Religious Journey (Chapter 1)

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"'Why do you pray?' he asked after a moment

Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?

'I don't know,' I told him, even more troubled and ill at ease.

'I don't know.'" (Weisel, 4).

Eliezer meets Moishe the Beadle, a teacher of Jewish Mysticism- Moishe teaches him, which starts Eliezer's religious journey.

His religious journey plays an important role in the theme of religious struggles in faith- as the teacher he learns from is gone, and the knowledge he gains is constantly challenged as he is in the Nazi camps. Eliezer learns that his relationship with God comes from questions that humans cannot understand, but that Moishe would teach him-which he never admits understanding.

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Worry and fear can cause turmoil- then violence

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"She [Mrs. Schachter] continued to scream and sob fitfully.

'Jews, listen to me,' she cried. 'I see a fire! I see flames, huge

flames!'... We tried to reason with her, more to calm ourselves, to catch our breath, than to soothe her:

'She is hallucinating because she is thirsty, poor woman…

That's why she speaks of flames devouring her … '

But it was all in vain. Our terror could no longer be contained." (Weizel, 25)

Eliezer and his family are all together in a crowded cattle car, as Mrs. Schachter- who was separated from her family is beaten for screaming of seeing an imaginary fire.

Instead of people trying to comfort her, the passengers begin to beat her until she is quiet. This illustrates how the prisoners only are thinking about their own needs, instead of the woman's. That mindset reflects the theme of Individual survival versus Collective Good, because while everyone wants her to be quiet- they lash out at her to calm their own doubts; reasoning that she is only thirsty.

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 Eliezer's First Night in Auschwitz ( Chapter 3) 

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 Eliezer's First Night in Auschwitz ( Chapter 3) 

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"For the first time I felt anger rising within me. 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?" (Eliezer, 33)

This event was when Eliezer reflects on his first night in the concentration camp, and his experience looking at innocent children being killed.

In this moment Eliezer allows himself to doubt his God because he believes that his God wouldn't let the children and others die.

His experience relates to the theme of Struggle with Religious Faith, because he takes the silence of God as cause as to be angry with what is happening- mentioning that his faith was "consumed" from the violence and persecution from the Nazis.

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Notice the dead man hung high for all to see

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Eliezer Witnesses his First Hanging (Chapter 4)

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Eliezer Witnesses his First Hanging (Chapter 4)

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"he was still alive when I

passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extin-

guished.

Behind me, I heard the same man asking:

'For God's sake, where is God?'

And from within me, I heard a voice answer:

'Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gal-

lows… '" (Weizel, 65)

Eliezer watches a hanging of prisoners, and the slow death of one of them-a child; hanging from the gallows.

This moment marks an important transition in Elie Weisel relates to the theme of "Religous Struggle". The connection between the hanging child to his God, shows his loss of devotion to Jewish Mysticism- he believes his God no longer exists/ can help him now.

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Man and God no longer connect to eachother

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Eliezer and his Father Face Selection(Chapter 5) 

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Eliezer and his Father Face Selection(Chapter 5) 

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"I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man. Without love or mercy. I was nothing but ashes now, but I felt myself to be stronger than this Almighty to whom my life had been bound for so long. In the midst of these men assembled for prayer, I felt like

an observer, a stranger." (Eliezer, 68)

On the day of Rosh Hashanah ; an important Jewish holiday that gives thanks to God, Eliezer rejects God and decides not to pray.

Eliezer was already struggling with his beliefs, and after witnessing the hanging he resolved that he could not bear his mental conflict and be in Buna. This final resolve marks the theme of Religious Struggles, as Eliezer wishes to become stronger and now disconnects himself from all the other prisoners.

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March from Buna to Buchenwald (Chapter 6)

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March from Buna to Buchenwald (Chapter 6)

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Buna is found by the Soviets and Eliezer and his father chose to run to another concentration camp, when running there, Rabbi Eliahu's son abandons his father (Rabbi Eliahu) in hope of a better chance of survival without him.

'A terrible thought crossed my mind: What if he had wanted to be rid of his father? He had felt his father growing weaker and, believing that the end was near, had thought by this separation to free himself of a burden... and in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me... "Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has done."' (Eliezer, 91)

Eliezer prays that he will never think of his Father as a burden, which shows how much the Nazi ideology has affected his mindset on his father so far. This promise, and Eliahu's runaway son illustrate the different decisions that relate to the theme of Family Obligations. Eliezers promise is also important to him later in the book, when his father dies.

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The cattle car passengers were all so starved they acted like animals. Even sons fought their fathers.

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After the march to Buchenwald, people were placed on a cattle car, and were not given food. So when curious workers threw bread crusts into the cattle car, a terrible fight broke out.

'Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other. Beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes. An extraordinary vitality possessed them,

sharpening their teeth and nails..."Meir, my little Meir! Don't you recognize me…You'r e killing your father… I have bread…for you too… for you too… " He collapsed. But his fist was still clutching a small crust. He wanted to raise it to his mouth. But the other threw himself on him. The old man mumbled something, groaned, and died. Nobody cared.' (Eliezer, 129)

Write your commentary, and 2 other sentences here

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Eliezer's Father Becomes Deathly Sick (Chapter 8)

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Eliezer's Father Becomes Deathly Sick (Chapter 8)

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"No prayers were said over his tomb. No candle lit in his memory. His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not answered. I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!…" (Eliezer, 112)

Eliezer's father became extremely sick, and was beaten many times causing Eliezer to have to defend him until he passed away.

This small thought that Eliezer had was extremely important to him, as it marks how he broke his promise to his father never to abandon him or think of him like a burden. Not only was this a broken promise, but it also fits the theme of Family Obligations. The Nazi regime worked tirelessly to separate families and spread dispare, the loss of Eliezer's father illustrates how his obligation to his father had become a burden to him.

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Eliezer no longer thinks like a normal human- being treated like abused cattle.

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Eliezer's Final Days In a Concentration Camp (Chapter 9) 

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Eliezer's Final Days In a Concentration Camp (Chapter 9) 

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"I REMAINED IN BUCHENWALD until April 11. I shall not describe my life during that period. It no longer mattered. Since my father's death, nothing mattered to me anymore.

...The Front was coming closer.

I spent my days in total idleness. With only one desire: to eat. I no longer thought of my father, or my mother.

From time to time, I would dream. But only about soup, an

extra ration of soup." (Eliezer, 113)

After Eliezer's father has died, the author explains the next few weeks without him before the camp is liberated- revealing the depression and heartbreak of his life.

The Nazis worked to dehumanize their prisoners, and Eliezer has finally reached his breaking point where he no longer feels like a human. He has lost the only person he wanted to live for-which exposes the genocide that the Nazi regime has accomplished in his life- the State Sponsored Violence that Hitler has taught to reinforce.