Night question prompt four (DONE!!!!!)

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."
This quote really struck me, because it kind of sums up how he changes during the book. At the beginning of the book he talks a lot about religion and holidays and studying Torah, but by the end he doesn't even say Kaddish for his father. Because his faith is crushed, he no longer has any reason to believe there is a God. Because if there was one why would he have done something so horrible. His will to live anything he'd ever hoped for or dreamed of doing, all of that was crushed. All because of the horror, the pain, and the suffering he witnessed. To see all the smoke in the sky and know that it's made up of people. People who once had lives, and families, and jobs, and friends, and people who cared about them, all turned to ashes.  

Night question prompt three

Five things you learned from your book
1. The intense brutality of the Nazi's. They lead a whole group of people right to the door of the ovens and then they turned and lead them to the barracks. That is just beyond cruel, to make everyone think they're gonna die, just to redeem them, so they can see their friends and gasses and burned to ashes.
2. 2/3 of all European Jews were killed, see my other post for a deeper look at that. But really think about how many people that really is. 6,000,000 is a very big number, imagine how many children and grandchildren they could have had, had they not been killed.
3. At first no one thought anything bad was gonna happen, he talks about how initially they had befriended the German soldiers. And when someone brought news of the horrors no one believed them until they came to take them too.
4. An estimated 1.1 million children were murdered and many witnessed the murders of their parents right in fount of them.
5. When the Red Army drew very near all of the prisoners were taken on a death march where a great deal of them died from the cold, and the lack of food and rest. The Nazi's thought it better to have them all die then be taken in by the Red Army.

Night question prompt two

Think about our grades (7th-8th) for a second. And think about the fact that in the holocaust two-thirds of all European Jews were killed. 2/3 of 25 is about 17, meaning that 17 of us would have been killed, which leaves 8 people. Since there are 8 people in 7th grade, it's almost like had we been there all of the 8th graders would have died. That is truly insane to think about, think about your family and your friends, two-thirds of them dead, when thought about that way it's easier to understand how many people were really killed. Imagine if one day you had to leave your house, leave your school, leave everything you know, just because someone decided they didn't like you because you were Jewish, and because of that know you and your entire family had to die.  So look around tomorrow and think about three of your closest friends and think about how horrible it would be to be in the holocaust and know only one of them is gonna make it out alive.

Night question prompt one

Q. What made you chose the book and did it deliver?
When I initially looked at the book list Night by Elie Wiesel caught my eye. It was one of the few I'd heard of and I'd also heard about it from a friend. My friend told me that Night is what caused her to lose her faith, because if there was a God he wouldn't have let something like that happen. So with that ever so inspiring and highly uplifting recommendation I went and got the book.
It was very depressing, from the first page onward people were dying. In the first selection it was his mother and siblings who were chosen, along with many other people from his town. Unlike my friend who'd told me about it, it didn't cause me to lose stop believing in God. It was mire like I questioned not only God but the whole world. If you really think about the multitude of people who were killed, you can see how truly horrible it was. It was a very good book and I recommend it, but it's not a light read, and it really makes you think.

Me and Elly being super cool

Minnesota and BJ!

You may or may not know (depending on how closely you stalk me) I just returned from my far away journey to Minnesota. I know this may surprise you, because I'm sure you weren't aware that there was anything in Minnesota- there really isn't (except Mall of America!). But my dear friend (and the subject of this blog) Elly Kushner just reached womanhood. I know you're all very excited, I know I am which is why I took off on an airplane to celebrate. I sat next to a VERY inquisitive person on the plane ride there are she really wanted to know just about everything Jew related. I was staying with Abby Allen, who is one of the coolest people. I got to see my much missed Minnesota friends. And got to tie ribbons on centerpieces. I got to meet Elly's family ("I was raised as a poor black child.") I also got a fist bump from sharkie at Mall of America (which by the way is HUGE). It was so much fun! And my friends (as some of you know) had lots of fun with my phone... And after a long night or serious partying it was time to return back to ChiTown. So it was an amazing trip and I can't wait for Elly to come to Chicago (and visit Akiba...  so she can meet her new bestie). 

BJK is it in you?

Elly Kushner

In case you've been living under a rock for quite a while you may know about my dear friend Elly Kushner. She happens to lie in Minnesota, her Bat Mitzvah is this shabbos. So isn't it lucky that this shabbos I'm going to be in Minnesota! I'm leaving on Thursday and coming home Sunday. Please feel free to miss me, as I know you will. Also if you're friends with her on facebook *cough* DD *cough* you can write a lovely little message on her wall. I'll bring you all back something (well probably not, but we can pretend).
Also as a super exciting side note, Ortal is getting married tomorrow (Wednesday)!!!!!

Quote from Night

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."

Night SPOILER

So I'm just going to go ahead and spoil the whole book for you. I finished the book in about 45 minutes and really short, but very densely packed with hopelessness. It starts off with the story of this guy who he used to learn with when he was a little boy. That man comes back to town one day with a horrible story that the Nazis shot people into a mass grave. From the first page onward the book details the brutal life during the Holocaust. On his first night in camp, they are told to follow a guard the guard leads them straight to the ovens, they all begin to think their lives have come to an end, when right before the door into the ovens, the guard turns and they are spared for another day. The rest of the book talks about more deaths and murders, his father becomes very weak and dies. His mother and other siblings are killed in the very beginning of the book in the very first selection. At the very end of the book, the Red Army is closing in on the camp so they are taken on a death march through the snow. Few survive, however he makes it out alive and is eventually liberated. It's a very hard book and every page if full of sadness and death. It's not a light read, it's very intense and there is no happiness at all.

Night

When I initially looked at the book list Night by Elie Wiesel caught my eye. It was one of the few I'd heard of and I'd also heard about it from a friend. My friend told me that Night is what caused her to lose her faith, because if there was a God he wouldn't have let something like that happen. So with that ever so inspiring and highly uplifting recommendation I went and got the book. Right now I'm about 40 pages in and it's already very horrible, to think that this isn't just a book, not just a story written to have a deep moral. It's something that happened to real people, it's crazy, very hard to think about that happening.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to one of my most favorite people ever, Noah Smith! Yay! he turned 14 today so Mazel Tov!! And may his castle walls and salmon sheets keep him lucky (which he'll need for football) and also a shout of to Devyn :)

Public School :)

I'd like to wish Elly luck on her first day at real people school!! Don't get shanked, because you have to come visit Akiba!

Elly Kushner

This post is for Elly the most awkwardly returtled child, who wants to kill herself when she sees my blog because it's so awkward.

My first post! A cause for some serious celebration

I don't really have anything to say, but my blog was very sad and lonely all by it's self, so I'm posting this so it will feel better. I don't have to book I want to read yet, and the one I'm reading isn't on the list so I have nothing book related to say. And y'all don't want to hear about my super interesting life, so farewell!