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At the beginning of Night, faith is as natural to main character Eliezer as breathing is. His belief in a good God is absolute … until he begins to witness the horrors of the Holocaust. That’s why Night's main theme is about faith—and whether anyone’s faith can survive in the face of so much evil.

Video Transcription:

If you watched Recap 2, you know that this is a story about survival, and a big question at the heart of this story is whether or not Eliezer’s faith will survive in the face of so much evil. In fact, Eliezer’s struggle to maintain—and make sense of—his faith is Night’s most important theme.

At the beginning of Night, Eliezer compares praying to breathing. It’s such an innate part of his existence that he does it almost without thinking. His faith in God is unconditional, and he believes that since God is good and is everywhere, then his world, and everything in it, must be good, too.

So, it’s easy to see why Eliezer’s experiences during the Holocaust cause him to question his faith and to ask whether the all-good Creator is actually all-good … and whether this Creator even exists.

Like at the beginning of Chapter 5 when the camp comes together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. Rather than drawing strength from this celebration, Eliezer flies into a rage and asks, “What does your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery?”

It’s a painful moment, but don’t be fooled. Rather than marking a loss of Eliezer’s faith, this scene, and others like it, are actually stepping stones on his journey to hold on to his faith. As Eliezer discovers, it’s the questions about his faith that ultimately reflect his commitment to God. And though the Holocaust changes Eliezer forever, his faith does survive.