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

From that day on I saw him often. He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer...

The real answers, Eliezer, you will find only within yourself" (Wiesel 4-5).

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This is the first deep conversation between Elie and Moishe the Beadle, the man who would have a brief but powerful relationship with Elie as his spiritual mentor. This moment is significant in the memoir because it establishes how deeply religious Elie is at the beginning of the story, before the Nazis arrive. At this time in his life, prayer is as important to him as breathing. In other words, it is essential.

Another reason this moment is significant is because Moishe teaches Elie a powerful lesson about the importance of self-reliance. He imparts that the key to survival, to life itself is not found in any book or temple, but inside the self. Through these experiences, Moishe represents a significant influence on Elie's personal and religious development.

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.

Never shall I forget that smoke.

Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.

Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of any desire to live.

Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dream into ashes. Never shall I forget those things even were I condemened to live as long as God Himself.

Never"(Wiesel 34).

This moment shows how Elie became traumatized after that first night in Birkenau. He states that no matter how long he lived he will always remember seeing those children have their bodies burned and turned into the smoke that clouded the night sky. This is also where Elie starts to lose all faith in his religion, his God, and his desire to live.

And so he remained for more than half an hour lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished.

Behind me, I heard the same man asking:

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

And form within me I heard a voice answer:

"Where He is? This is where-hanging here from this gallows . . .

That night, the soup tasted of corpses. (Wiesel 65)"

This moment is another example of Elie losing faith in everything. Watching yet another child die in front of their eyes leaves some of the Jews where God's mercy is still trying to cling to some hope. While Elie from deep within his soul says that God is here hanging from these gallows dead and describing the soup as like the taste of corpses feeling sick in his stomach.

"I could have screamed in anger. To have lived and endured so much; was I going to let my father die here and now? Now that we would be able to take a good hot shower and lie down? (Wiesel 105)"

Up until now Elie and his father had grown so weak that they were sitting at death's door. Elie's father was about to give up willing to lie down in the snow to die. Elie himself however realizes that despite all the long hard night full of torture and grief that they've endured they were finally near the end so he refuses to give up nor let his father die right now.

"I went to look for him.

Yet at the same time a thought crept into my mind: If only I didn't find him! If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care of myself . . . Instantly I felt ashamed of myself forever. (Wiesel 106)"

Elie up to this point has been trying to cling onto whatever strength he has left to survive. His father however is growing weaker by the day and when Elie had left him behind he considered just living his life without seeing his father as a liability. However he instantly regrets thinking this since prior to this moment he made a promise to himself to never abandon his father.