Neel T. Mrs.

Whyman Grade 10 English 12/10/2013

Elies inability to say the Kaddish in chapter 5 is a symbolic of a greater loss. Discuss.

The Kaddish is a prayer for the dead, it surrounds the idea that all souls in their bodies belong to God and one day they have to go back to him. It dictates that God is the supreme owner of everything and we are simply living in his kingdom. When Elie believed this at the very beginning of the book he would have gladly said the prayer due to the strength of his devotion, but that had been long since diminished. Elie had slowly lost faith in his religious beliefs due to the events that had dehumanized his being. Elie would have recited the Kaddish as if it was his second nature to seek forgiveness from the God at the very beginning. Here is the quote that Elie himself thought, Once New Years day had dominated my life. I knew that my sins grieved the Eternal; I implored his forgiveness. Once I had believed profoundly that upon one solitary deed of mine, one solitary prayer, depended on the salvation of the world, (pg 65). It is clear that whatever wrong- doing Elie was praying for, it was only so his God would forgive him. This quote shows that he believed in it quite a lot, but doesnt stress on the measures Elie would have taken to learn even more. I continued to devote myself to my studies. By day, the Talmud and at night, the Cabbala, (pg 5). According to this, Elie was willing to disobey his own father to pursue his religious learning. His beliefs slowly start deteriorating as more and more events begin to make him question the powers of his God. They pack the ultimate punch when Elie thinks it is unnecessary to say the Kaddish. And they begin through the succeeding attempts of his dehumanization which mainly include the stripping of his identity. However when the odds were increased against the rest of the labourers they would still thank god thinking that they had escaped the worst. Here was a sudden release from the terrors from the previous nights; we gave our thanks to god, (pg 24). This starts to go in reverse for Elie when the odds worsen to a great extent. For the first time I felt revolt rise up inside me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the universe, All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for? (pg 31) Elie had lost so much due to the concentration camp including his possessions and self-worth, a part of who he was had gone missing. The repetition of his near death encounters made him lose hope. When he fully realised that his God hadnt done anything for him, losing faith was inevitable in the camp conditions and state of living.

Neel T. Mrs. Whyman Grade 10 English 12/10/2013

Soon after the deterioration of his beliefs started, desperation started to set in. The thoughts of god came into the labourers minds but nothing significant was happening in the camp to change their state. During the night of Rosh Hashanah Elie thought, I was the accuser, god the accused.(pg 65) This means that Elie has started to blame God for allowing his suffering in the camp. The desperation had transformed into hate. When he arrived at the camp along with the others he begged God to have mercy on him and save from the dangers ahead. Times had changed. He now blamed god for bringing him there in the first place. In the book Elie says, I was no longer capable of lamentation. (pg 65) Elie had now proven it to himself that he had not done any wrong deed and did not need to be forgiven. He had become stronger due to his experiences in the Concentration camp, the book agrees. In it he says, On the contrary, I felt very strong.(pg 65) The deeply religious teenager who sought help from God was no longer there, he had become a non-believer. The change was revealed during the night of Rosh Hashanah. In the book Elie thought, I stood amid the prayer congregation, observing it like a stranger. (pg 65) He was now a stranger during his own prayer rituals which was very alarming news. Someone who disobeyed his fathers strict warnings about reading a profoundly religious Jewish book was now considering himself a stranger in one of the most important prayers in Judaism. This was a very big drop for Elie in terms of faith; he lost faith in God but increased some amount of faith in himself, something unfamiliar to him. Elie had always needed his God but not anymore. The Kaddish spoke mainly on god being the peace-keeper and the ruler of everything. So Elie being unable of saying it does have greater meaning. He isnt simply choosing not to say it but he feels that there is no need for saying it. During his time at Auschwitz and Buna, God never did anything significantly helpful in Elies mind. Instead of help , he was deprived of his right to be human through stripping of possessions and individuality, reduction of necessary hygiene and being treated like someone unworthy to be human. The slow languish of the capabilities of Elies God had impacted his devotion to such an extent that he had deemed the Kaddish unnecessary to recite.

Bibliography
Wiesel, Elie. Night . New York : Bantam Books , 1982.