Disoriented Faith It is psychologically natural for humans to question faith and spirituality after experiencing tragedy and loss. People may doubt or even reject their faith with God whom is depicted in scripture as a source of peace and security in our lives. In Elie Wiesel’s Dawn, Elisha faces a similar spiritual contradiction after barely surviving the holocaust. After all of his family and friends are murdered by the egregious acts of the Nazi’s, Elisha seems to immediately question the logic behind his faith in Judaism and God. Stemming from his upbringing as an Orthodox Jew, his faith does not merely go away, rather, his understanding of God is reinterpreted into a more extreme outlook that acts as his catalyst for change as he transforms into a terrorist. Elisha’s reshaped understanding of God first becomes evident when he is relocated in refuge programs in France. In a camp outside of Normandy, Elisha often spends his time alone, in part because he does not speak French, but he interestingly reveals some important information regarding his faith. For the first time, we see that Elisha is pondering his faith as he looks up at the sky searching for God. Cliché in nature, it is almost as if he is saying “Why, God?” as he searches for the face of a child in the sky, trying to his rationalize experience in the concentration camp. When pressed to discuss this when Catherine, another girl whom he lustfully bonds with after discovering that she also speaks German, Elisha responds to her questions by saying, “I hope to see the child. But you are a witness to the truth. There’s nothing there. The child is only a story” (40). Elisha realizes that these teachings from scripture and legend are simply fragments of myths that defy the harsh reality of God’s presence in the world around him. Elisha continues to try to define the root logic of God’s actions as he momentarily takes up philosophy courses in Sorbonne following the war. As Elisha describes: So many questions obsessed me. Where is God to be found? In suffering of in rebellion? When is a man most truly a man? When he submits or when he refuses? Where does suffering lead him? To purification or to bestiality? Philosophy, I hoped, would give me an answer. It would free me from my memories, my doubts, and my feelings of guilt. It would drive them away or at least bring them out in concrete form into the light of day. My purpose in Sorbonne was to devote myself to this endeavor. (12)
Elisha literally begins to question God and the validity of the Jewish faith by asking these philosophical questions that otherwise would have been answered by his faith. Ironically, Elisha begins to adopt a more radical interpretation of the Judaism. Deviation from believing in the pure benevolence of God begins upon meeting Gad. Gad is prophetic figure whom Elisha describes as “a man sent by fate, to whom I could refuse nothing. I must sacrifice everything to him, even hope, if he asked it”(14). Holding to superstitions taught during his childhood almost forces Elisha to be willing to fight for such a cause. Gad goes on to explain the idea that it was the destined duty of his organization to free the Holy land of Israel. Proposing the actions of The Movement, Elisha has an almost shocked reaction saying, “This was the first story I had ever heard in which the Jews were not the ones to be afraid. Until this moment I had believed that the mission of the Jews was to represent the trembling of history rather than the wind which made it tremble” (15). Searching for a new meaning of God and faith, Elisha is intrigued by the “eye for an eye” logic of justly fighting in the name of defending God’s people. Traditionally, this defies everything that upbringing has taught Elisha, however, he seems willing to take on this new radical interpretation of God’s word which truly becomes ingrained during his training and first engagements as a member of The Movement. During the training that new insurgent recruits are essentially brainwashed with this new interpretation of the word of God, further exiling Elisha from his previous beliefs. Gad appeals to the frustration of many recruits charismatically saying that: The commandment Thou shalt not kill was given from the summit of the mountains here in Palestine and [Jews] were the only ones to obey it. But that’s all over; we must be like everybody else. Murder will be not our profession but our duty (22).
Using scripture as justification, Gad implies that the commandments are not necessarily applicable laws of God in this case. Likewise, during the last day of training, when a masked man addresses the recruits (assumingly the Old Man), he introduces the men to the so-called- “eleventh commandment: Hate your enemy” (23). An inkling of Elisha’s past interpretation overcomes him at this point as he recalls one of his masters teaching him that it is only the duty of God to take another mans life. Posing an initial self-confliction, these new interpretations ingrained into the mentality of The Movement ultimately overpower Elisha’s previous beliefs, as he continues to kill in multiple operations, each becoming less emotionally impactful than the last. The complete departure from Elisha’s previous set of beliefs is symbolically represented in the assigned execution of John Dawson. Elisha believes that there is something more personal about taking a single man’s life. In the cases of other operations, he had indeed killed other men but assistance from other insurgents eased the responsibility of killing. Elisha still holds to the fact that he is essentially playing the role of God – dictating the death of another man. A group of ghosts haunt Elisha as the execution approaches. The ghosts of loved ones, masters, and others whom he had met in the concentration camp play a symbolizes that execution is not only killing Dawson, but also all those who composed Elisha’s prior self. When Elisha powerfully explains after he makes the shot that “It’s done. I’ve killed. I’ve killed Elisha” (80), he is essentially indicating that he recognizes a complete departure from the traditional Jewish values and practices of his past. Symbolically, this is represented when the ghosts of his past that had “composed” him – those that had shaped his original faith in God – leave the room in silence after the murder. Like many modern terrorist organizations, The Movement justifies their radical actions by a fundamentalist interpretation of God’s actions and words. Elisha becomes spiritually eroded after the holocaust, as he questions the logic behind God in the irrational world around him. Vulnerable and obsessed with relentless lurking questions regarding his relationship with God, he is primed for a complete reinterpretation of God’s meaning. A combination of vengeance and spiritual confusion in the context of the irrational world he lives in therefore represents the catalyst for Elisha’s transformation from innocence and weakness to taking John Dawson’s life.

Works Cited
Wiesel, Elie. Dawn. Ed. Frances Frenaye. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.