A person's beliefs and values transform with death lingering at every waking moment. In Elie Wiesel's memoir, Night, Wiesel estranges himself from his companions and morals to survive the Holocaust. It is expected that the Holocaust survivors would lose faith in God, their determination to go on living, and their reliance in others because of the horrific experiences that they faced day to day. It is understandable that a Holocaust survivor questions his faith in God when Jews are chanting the prayer of death for themselves. A person would question living when he sees the demise of loved ones and fellow Jews right before his eyes. When starting to give up on all hope of life and God, it would be anticipated that one would no longer trust others, especially when they are fighting each other for their own survival. Night illustrates the loss in human ties after the anguish of the reprehensible treatment that the Jews received every day.
Wiesel's harsh experiences cause him to question his companionship with God. Wiesel shows the reader the major role that God plays in his life, by starting his memoir with Moche, the beadle. Moche is Wiesel's teacher in the mysteries of the Kabbala, and other secret matters of the Jewish religion. "The opening suggests that Wiesel wants us [the readers] to read the story in the light of this picture of Eliezer as a religious seeker- (Estess, "Journey- 2). Wiesel starts his book in this manner to prove how important God is, and show how improbable it is for him to lose his faith. Wiesel is a dedicated reader of the Talmud and the Kabbala, highly sacred books in the Jewish religion. During the time of his struggles, he is forbidden to practice his religion as persistently as he would like. Wiesel's belief in God is torn away from him by the cruelty of the Nazis and his experiences at the concentration camps.
As a result of Wiesel's degrading faith, Wiesel questions his faith in God in ways that most Jews would never consider.