Changing Values of the Jewish People During the Holocaust in Elie Wiesel's Story 'Night'

The most immediate and prominent thing that changed values for the Jewish people in the Holocaust was food. Straight off the bat, the Jewish people were deprived of food. In Elie’s situation, as soon as he was forced to wait in line to load up into the train, and when he was actually on the train, he and his fellow community members were already very hungry. The Jewish people were starving from the beginning of the book. Immediately, the Jewish people craved any source of food to make their hunger go away. Their value of food changed in this situation because they realized that food was no longer a luxury or a convenience; it was their only means of survival. They became very uncomfortable with the idea that they wouldn’t have access to good food, enough food, or food whatsoever in the near future. This textual support backs up my claim that the value of food changed for the Jewish people during the Holocaust because food transformed from being something of regularity that had minimal value, to something that was rare and had much more value.

Another example of when food’s value changed was when Elie would dream of food instead of anything else; it’s all that was on his mind. After Elie’s father passed away, he had no motivation to push forward. However, since food was so scarce and rare, it became the only thing he wanted or thought about. It became more valuable than his father toward his father’s demise. Elie no longer thought of his dead father or his mother; he just wanted an extra ration of soup. He would dream about getting more soup and bread and that was the only thing that he would ever dream about. This not only happened with Eliezer however. A fellow Jewish man, when given the chance, dove for a scalding caldron of soup. He understood that his life was at risk for this, but food became more valuable than life at that point in time. He stuck his head into the boiling pot of soup since he was so hungry, and was shot and killed by an SS officer soon after. This textual support demonstrates the change in the value of food because it further shows how food became much more important than it ever was in the past, and people would even risk their own life for it.

The third and most shocking example from ‘Night’ that demonstrates the altered value in food was when Jewish prisoners would murder each other for food. When Elie and fellow prisoners were being shipped to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, the prisoners experienced hunger as never before. They would eat snow off of their friends’ backs with spoons because they were so deprived of food. Even more shocking, bread would be tossed into their train car by SS officers or even random pedestrians. The Jewish prisoners were so hungry, that they scrapped and fought for every last crumb of bread. This includes Elie’s account of when a man killed his own father for a couple bites of bread. He murdered his own father, his very source of creation, just for minimal amounts of nourishment. This example strongly supports how the value of food changed for those in the Holocaust. Food went from something that was nice, luxurious, and overlooked, to something that people would murder each other for.

One excellent quotation from ‘Night’ that demonstrates the change in value of food for the Jewish people says, “Meir, my little Meir! Don't you recognize me... You’re killing your father... I have bread...for you too...for you too..”(Wiesel ,101). This quotation helps the argument because it goes to show how extreme the need for food was during the Holocaust. Its value went from something that was plentiful and comforting to something that you would kill your very father for. This quote demonstrates that well because it shows the terror in the man’s father when he was getting murdered by his son for nothing more than a little piece of bread.

Another thing that had a change in value during the Holocaust was the value of family and unity. One example that shows that there was a change in the value of family was when Elie was separated from his family and his family changed. Straight off of the bat, Elie’s need of family changed. He realized that normal conveniences didn’t matter anymore, and he needed to stick with his family to stay safe. Soon enough, Elie was separated from his mother and three sisters. This made Elie realize that he always took his family for granted and that his family would mean much more to him now that he couldn’t see them. This change in value strengthened his bond with his father, whom kept Elie going when Elie thought he couldn’t make it. His father became that much more important to him now that his other family members were gone.

Another time where a change in the value of family members was prominent was when Elie and his father were evacuating their old camp. The conditions were horrible; Elie had an infected food, it was snowing and was very cold, they had to run without any food or water for several hours, and they had nothing to protect themselves from the harsh weather. They were not to fall behind or they would be shot instantly. Eerily enough, the thought of death did not scare Elie anymore. He actually welcomed that idea and considered letting himself die on purpose so he didn’t have to suffer. However, his father meant much more to him now that he ever did before. This fueled Elie to keep pushing forward and made Elie try that much harder to stay alive. He needed to live not for himself, but for his father. Everything he did was for his own him; selflessness plagued Elie. This example shows how the value of family changed because his bond with his father became so strong that he endured the harshest possible conditions so he could stay with his dad.

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The last piece of support that demonstrates a change in value of family is the very opposite of what Elie and his father experienced. Many families actually grew apart because of the Holocaust. Their value in family decreased as time went on. The best illustration of this idea was when Rabbi Eliahu’s son left him during the evacuation of Buna. Rabbi Eliahu was falling behind since he was losing strength, and his son even noticed that. However, his son took this opportunity to continue forward and leave his father behind him. In regards to why he would do this, nobody really knows. He and his father stayed together for over 3 years in camps, and he just now decided to leave his father? This example, as sad as it is, shows that family’s meaning for these two eventually depreciated to the point where he would leave his own struggling father to die.

A good quotation from the story that shows how the value of family changed within Elie’s life says, “The idea of dying, of ceasing to be, began to fascinate me. To no longer exist. To no longer feel the excruciating pain of my foot. To no longer feel anything, neither fatigue nor cold, nothing. To break rank, to let myself slide to the side of the road… My father's presence was the only thing that stopped me” (Wiesel, 86). This quotation means a couple of different things. For one, it shows how hopeless Eliezer was during that death march. He was friends with the idea of death, wishing it even upon himself, wondering what it would feel like to no longer suffer. He would no longer have to deal with little food, no family, an injured foot, and all of these horrible events led by Hitler. He wouldn’t have to suffer anymore, if he simply just stopped running. However, something stopped him from doing this; Elie’s father. His father was the only thing that motivated Eliezer to continue to run through the pain and suffering. He realized that his dad meant more than anything else at that point. He couldn’t bare the idea of dying on his father. He couldn’t let it happen. So, he kept pushing. Before these traumatic events, it’s hard to say if Elie would do the same for his father.

One final example of something that changed values for the Jewish people throughout the book is religion. The first example that demonstrates a change in value of religion is when Moishe gets back from his time under imprisonment with the Nazis. Before he got shipped away, Moishe was extremely devout when it came to his religion. He always prayed with Eliezer, went to the synagogue, and worked his absolute hardest to reach enlightenment in his religion. However, after he witnessed the horrors of the Nazi party, he became completely numb to religion. He never prayed, he never visited the synagogue, he never tried to spread word of God. Instead, he kept to himself even more so than he did before. Eliezer said that Moishe became basically traumatized from his experiences, and I wouldn’t blame him. After seeing babies being used as target practice for machine guns, I would keep to my own thoughts more as well. More importantly though, Moishe’s value in religion changed from these events. He went from being extremely devout so not caring about religion whatsoever.

Another example of how religion’s value changed for the Jewish men, women, and children within the Holocaust is when they used religion even more than before. With such little food, motivation, and will to live, the Jewish people went to religion as their last resort to stay alive and well. This is the exact opposite of what happened with Moishe; Moishe lost faith, and these people gained faith from their experiences. This might be due to the fact that these Jewish people were already devout in the first place, but equally important, they needed something to believe in so they could have some sort of continued hope. Religion was their last resort. It not only brought the Jewish people together, but drove them forward through these times of extreme cruelty and inhumanity.

One final instance where religion’s value changed was when Eliezer lost his faith in God. Through Eliezer’s time under imprisonment of the Nazis, he actually lost his faith in God. This is similar to Moishe, and different from others who endured the same struggles as both of them. This is definitely interesting because these people took completely different routes regarding how they valued religion. Eliezer’s reason behind his loss in faith of God was driven by the obvious factors around him. People were starving, dying, being slaughtered in the thousands, and were rotting away beside Elie. He brought up and very significant question; why would God, if there even is one, let this happen? Elie thought eventually it would get better, but these events went on for years and years. God would have stopped the suffering of his very own followers if he was real right? Not in this situation, according to Eliezer. This lack of change within the camps made Elie lose all of his value in God and religion.

One great quote that makes this all clearer is when Eliezer says, “Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days?” (Wiesel, 67). This quote helps my argument because it further backs up how value of religion was changed during the Holocaust. In this situation, it is very clear that Eliezer is openly defying his own religion and is questioning his faith. Before all of these events however, Eliezer was very devout and believed very strongly in his religion. This just goes to show how his value in religion altered throughout his time in the Holocaust.

To conclude, the Holocaust greatly impacted the values of the Jewish people. This shocking story proves that inhuman behavior, brutality, and cruelty can completely change the values of hundreds of thousands of people in a very negative way. This is true because the Jewish people’s values in food, family, and religion changed significantly throughout ‘Night’ and the Holocaust itself. This relates back to the real world because it shows what power can do in the hands of the wrong person. It can change people’s value of life completely as it did to the Jewish people during the Holocaust.