Elie Wiesel discusses his ongoing relationship with Judaism and faith in God after surviving the Holocaust. While Night depicts his crisis of faith in the camps, Wiesel clarifies that he never lost his faith, though he continues to struggle with questions about God. He emphasizes that he has become more Jewish over time and identifies strongly as a Jew. His studies of Jewish texts in the aftermath of the Holocaust helped save his sanity. Later philosophical studies introduced doubts, but did not make him stop believing in God.
Elie Wiesel discusses his ongoing relationship with Judaism and faith in God after surviving the Holocaust. While Night depicts his crisis of faith in the camps, Wiesel clarifies that he never lost his faith, though he continues to struggle with questions about God. He emphasizes that he has become more Jewish over time and identifies strongly as a Jew. His studies of Jewish texts in the aftermath of the Holocaust helped save his sanity. Later philosophical studies introduced doubts, but did not make him stop believing in God.
Elie Wiesel discusses his ongoing relationship with Judaism and faith in God after surviving the Holocaust. While Night depicts his crisis of faith in the camps, Wiesel clarifies that he never lost his faith, though he continues to struggle with questions about God. He emphasizes that he has become more Jewish over time and identifies strongly as a Jew. His studies of Jewish texts in the aftermath of the Holocaust helped save his sanity. Later philosophical studies introduced doubts, but did not make him stop believing in God.
Many of our discussions and journal entries dealt with Elie Wiesels relationship with God throughout the course of Night. This interview, from Midstreams March/April 2006 feature, provides some insight into his current beliefs. Joseph Lowin: When he was eleven years old, my older son, David, took Night off the bookshelf and read it in one sitting. After finishing the book, he asked me: Is Elie Wiesel still Jewish? When I asked him, Why? he responded, Because he no longer believes in God. That young boy is now a man. What can you tell him about your ongoing struggle with belief? Elie Wiesel: First of all, Jewish? I become more and more Jewish. Whatever I do, I do for my own people. Whatever I do, I do as a Jew. I believe that I can help others, that I can speak to others, that I can teach others, and always as a Jew. For me, therefore, it is important to see the whole world through the eyes of a Jew. I say it again and again. I say it all the time; I choose to identify myself as a Jew. I acknowledge that a Catholic, a Buddhist, or an atheist has the same right of self-identification. Joseph Lowin: So you flunked Assimilation 101? Elie Wiesel: I never even registered for that course. Some writers were seduced, but I was never tempted. My problem is not with Judaism but with humanity. As to my beliefs, people didnt understand about my faith [in the camps]. I never lost my faith. If I had lost my faith, I would have had no problem. I dont say I dont have problems with God. I do have problems with God. As I say elsewhere, the tragedy of the believer is deeper than the tragedy of the non-believer. The non-believer has a problem with humanity, not with God. We had both. I did have problems eventually, but not immediately. I stand by every word in Night. In Night [and in my play, The Trial of God] I say we condemn God, but immediately afterward we went to prayer. Not only that. We had, in Auschwitz, somebodya non-Jewwho smuggled in a pair of tefillin for I dont know how many portions of bread. Every dayevery day[my father and I] we got up and laid tefillin. There was no reason to do that. It was not one of the three laws of ye-hareg ve-al yaavor [for which one must permit oneself to be killed and not transgress]. And what is the prayer we said? Ahavah Rabbah Ahavtanu [You have loved us with abundant love]. What kind of prayer was Ahavah Rabbah? And then we continued, Hemlah Gedolah Viyteirah Hamalta Aleinu [You have pitied us with exceedingly great pity]. Where is the Ahavah? Where is the Hemlah? And when I came out of Auschwitz to France, into a childrens home, I became very, very religious. I really became almost as religious as I was as a child [in Sighet]. What saved me, what saved my sanity was study [of Jewish texts]. I never stopped learning. Later on, in the fifties, when I studied philosophy and theology [at the Sorbonne], I began to be invaded by doubts, all the questions we have now in philosophy and theology, Gods presence in history, Gods action in history, Gods relationship to his creation. Again, not that I stopped believing in God.