Religion played an important role in Elie Wiesel's life. It shaped him into the man he would later become. His experiences during the Holocaust continually tested his faith in God. He often struggled with the problem of evil in the world and wondered, “if God has all these aspects, how can evil exist in the world”? This essay will discuss Elie's struggle with his religious beliefs before, during, and after the Holocaust. He will also describe how the problem of evil had a significant impact on his life and influenced his relationship with God. I argue that, through Elie Wiesel's personal encounters with evil during the Holocaust, his religious beliefs were influenced in significant way. This is evident from his life transition from being a devout Jew to doubting God, and then returning to his religious beliefs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Elie grew up in Romania with his three sisters until he was about fifteen. As a boy he was moved by the divine beliefs of his grandfather and grandmother, who inspired him to become more involved in religious studies. He often went and “pursued religious studies at a nearby yeshivah.” The yeshivah was the private Orthodox Jewish school he attended. “As a yeshivah student, Elie focused primarily on the in-depth study of a canon of ancient and medieval texts central to Jewish life: the Torah and the Talmud.” Elie was very busy with his studies during this time. He studied Talmud all day and studied Kabbalah in the evening. Little did Elie know that all this would soon change. His faith in the Almighty would be tested by the horrific experiences he would encounter. His life would never be the same again. One day, Elie's teacher (Moishe) was taken away by the Hungarian police together with a group of other Jews. Many people within the city ignored the disappearance of these people. During Moishe's capture, he escaped and returned. He started knocking on everyone's doors and telling them what had happened to him. He told them that the soldiers had forced the Jews to dig their own graves. The soldiers made all the people line up right in front of the tomb and shot them one by one. Nobody believed Moishe, they simply continued to ignore the reality. The Nazis hated the Jews, but everyone's judgment was clouded by their acts of kindness. Until the day finally came when "the Hungarian police raided every Jewish home in the city demanding that they hand over all their valuables, and they were forced to wear a yellow star." Since then everything continued to change for Elie and his family. All the Jews had to pack their bags and leave their city. The Hungarian police had taken them all to Auschwitz. When they got there, Elie and his father were separated from his mother and two sisters. Elie and his father soon learned what Auschwitz was. It was a place where “men, women and children were burned and the world was silent about it.” During their time in Auschwitz, Elie and his father had to sleep in hard bunkers. Although Elie and his father had to work in gruesome conditions, his faith was not shaken immediately, or even quickly. The people around him regarded evil as punishment for some unknown crime that the Jews as a people had committed before God.” Some people in the camp continuously recited Kaddish. Elie heard his father do it too. One day Elie got fed up with everything, got angry and thought: “Why should I hallow his name? What was there to thank him for”? The God of the universe does notdid nothing during this horrible time. He remained silent. Elie was angry at God because he didn't understand why this was happening. This was the first time he questioned his religious beliefs. They saw many people die during their stay in the camp. They saw many being whipped, hanged and shot. It has become unbearable. Elie began to rebel and blame God for everything that had happened. He was scared and now he knew what it meant to live in a world without God. “On the Day of Atonement, as a symbol of rebellion Elie did not fast, but instead ate some soup given to him. He used it as “a symbol to protest against him.” Before coming to Auschwitz, he was going to participate this year because he was Jewish. For him it was a big problem not to participate. In the camps all the people had to participate in the death march for hours to the sound of the death bells. Around six o'clock on one of these marches, Elie ran alongside one of the men with his father. However, the man's father couldn't keep up with him and slowly started disappearing into the crowd of people. Elie watched this happen, it was almost as if the young man wanted to get rid of his father as if he was weighing him down. After the march, the father went to look for his son. This encounter with these people began to change Elie's perspective and way of thinking. At first he thought that getting rid of his father might be a good thing, but then he realized that he shouldn't think like that, after all his father had raised him: “A prayer formed in him, a prayer to this God in whom he did not believe more". He prayed and asked God to never be like this. This was not the only time he had to face the problem of evil. The days in the fields were always long and hard. This caused deep concern for Elie. He began to worry about his father. He had begun to age much more since he arrived at the camp. His father became weak and seriously ill. It got to the point where he couldn't move very well anymore. The guards once mistook him for dead. Elie went every day to get food for his father and brought it to him. Some of the men in the fields were amazed by his actions. One of the men approached Elie and said: “don't forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place everyone thinks for themselves and you can't think about others. Not even your father. In this place there are no fathers, brothers or friends. Each of us lives and dies." Elie thought about this statement for a long time. He was almost convinced, he thought: why should I give his portions to my father when I could have them? This thought didn't last long and he soon realized it was the wrong thing to do. He even felt guilty for thinking that way. The next few days in the camp were tough. His father didn't want to eat soup anymore and only wanted water. He started yelling at Elie. Unfortunately, an officer heard this and got really angry. He began hitting Elie's father in the head with his bat. His father kept yelling at him to come even though the blows got louder each time, but he refused. He was afraid the officer might hit him this time, so he stayed away. He watched from afar as his father lay lifeless on the ground. The next day, when Elie woke up, his father was no longer there. He was taken to the crematorium. Elie remained alone until April 11, 1945, until the camp was liberated. Afterwards “he was sent to France to study as part of a group of Jewish children orphaned by the Holocaust. There he was given the choice: secular studies or religious studies.” Even though Elie had been through a lot, he decided to forgive God and resume his religious studies. He also married and had a son. He wrote many books related to his experiences living during the Holocaust and passed away.