Pages 66-84

In pages 66-84, a new year has begun and Rosh Hashanah is celebrated along with Yom Kippur a little while later. The Jews in the concentration camp come together to celebrate this in spite of their hardships. These holidays are meant to be a time of praying, and the prisoners do just that. Eliezer, however, still cannot see why everyone is praying because of what has happen. He ends up turning away from God completely. When Eliezer finds his father, he only sees despair. To top his religious rebellion, Eliezer eats on the day that is meant for fasting for the Jews.

After the Jewish New Year, Eliezer is separated from his father due to another selection and he is now working in a building unit. Eliezer finds out that his father did not pass the selection that took place, and he and his father both know that he will be executed. However, another selction takes place and his father miraculously makes it through. At this point in the story many people are beginning to lose their faith and are not surviving the selection, including Akiba Drumer. When winter arrives a while later, the prisoners begin to suffer from the cold and Eliezer needs an operation on his foot. While he is in the hospital, he learns that the Russians are getting close to them. The Germans then decide to evacuate the prisoners from the camp.

I think that it is probably understandable for Eliezer to lose his faith after all that he has been through and seen. In the midst of all that suffering, the faith of the Jews would probably be dramatically increased or decreased, depending on the person. I imagine Eliezer got new hope when his father survived the selection, and it would be those things that would help you through the suffering. When winter came and the Jews were very close to being saved but were evacuated, the faith of many Jews was most likely lost.