Theological Inquiry Night by Elie Wiesel Essay Example

Theological Inquiry: Night by Elie Wiesel Essay The Holocaust is without doubt the greatest human tragedy of the twentieth century. The literature surrounding Holocaust speak of the profound alienation of personality and loss of divine faith experienced by those affected. Those who survived to record these experiences are both lucky and unlucky. They are unlucky in that they had to continue to live the rest of their lives with tormenting memories and unanswered questions about human nature and God. Elie Wiesel is one such survivor, whose post-liberation life would be filled with mental anguish. In his seminal book Night, first published in Yiddish in 1955 and later appeared in English in 1960 we evidence how his faith in God as well as faith in humanity is challenged by the grave circumstances faced in German ethnic cleansing operations. The following passages will analyze how Wiesel’s faith in God and humanity is shaken to the core in the face of compelling circumstances and consequences. In a poignant passage in the poetically assembled book, Wiesel notes how, at one point during the life in the ghetto, taking care of his ailing father becomes burdensome. Already weakened by severe malnutrition and mental disorientation, his mind loses perspective and emotional connection with his father. He simply does not have the resources of empathy and solidarity to be able to care for another human. It makes him lament the forceful encampment that was the beginning of the great long ordeal: â€Å"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.† (Wiesel, 1960) We will write a custom essay sample on Theological Inquiry: Night by Elie Wiesel specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Theological Inquiry: Night by Elie Wiesel specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Theological Inquiry: Night by Elie Wiesel specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In a tragic turn of events, his father would be beaten to death by German guards, just two weeks before American army liberated his camp. Wiesel could hear the final shrieks of pain from his father from his slot in the upper deck. But he could not venture a thought or an action to mitigate his suffering. Even sacrificing his own life for his once beloved father was beyond him. This is a key passage in Night, for it reveals how the Holocaust had stripped the humanity of the victims as well. The â€Å"loss of humanity† with respect to the Holocaust, is thus, equally witnessed in the perpetrators and the victims of the great crime. Hence, much in contradiction to preaching in the covenant, Wiesel fails to take care of fellows of his community, most notably his father. But Wiesel’s is not the universal case, for there are those exceptional individuals who could must spiritual and physical resources to offer themselves in service to other weaker members of the ghetto. T his difference in behavior is not a consequence of moral convictions or volitional choices of the ghetto inmates. Rather, they just showcase the manifest act of God through the lives of the faithful. The following passage highlights how the inmates of the ghetto encouraged each other during grave times: â€Å"There’s a long road of suffering ahead of you. But don’t lose courage. You’ve already escaped the gravest danger: selection. So now, muster your strength, and don’t lose heart. We shall all see the day of liberation. Have faith in life. Above all else, have faith. Drive out despair, and you will keep death away from yourselves. Hell is not for eternity. And now, a prayer – or rather, a piece of advice: let there be comradeship among you. We are all brothers, and we are all suffering the same fate. The same smoke floats over all our heads. Help one another. It is the only way to survive.† (Wiesel, 1960) Elie Wiesel’s was brought up in an orthodox Jewish community that gave emphasis to religious observance and faithful understanding of the scriptures. This pre-eminence to God and belief in His benign will would be challenged to the core as Wiesel and other Jews are pushed ever further into the systematized abyss. But, instead of abandoning his faith completely, Wiesel gets new illuminations into his faith. In many ways, the experiences in the ghetto were part of a process of intimate acquaintance and assimilation into the essence of Judaism. Wiesel’s faith in God and the dictates of the covenant are neither weakened nor strengthened, but rather transformed into an understanding that is closer to the truth than what he began with. This is not to say that there were no moments of doubt and confusion in his mind. For example, at one point he asks, â€Å"Blessed be God’s name? 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? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death?† (Wiesel, 1960) But these doubts served as precursors to a higher truth, that he was erstwhile not privy to. Hence, Night is a book full of troubling thoughts and questions for the faithful. Just as Elie Wiesel had undergone a severe examination of his faith, the illumination at the end of this process is a great reward. As Wiesel reminds the doubtful, that for all the great turmoil of those who perished and those who survived, there is a purpose not easily accessible to rationality. The survivors also have the responsibility to perpetrate the truths they came to understand through their memories: â€Å"For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.† (Wiesel, 1960) Reference: Wiesel, Elie (1960). Night. Hill Wang, 1960, (translated from the French by Stella Rodway), ISBN 0-553-27253-5.

Making Phone Calls in German-Speaking Countries

Making Phone Calls in German-Speaking Countries Gone are the days when most European countries had one state monopoly phone company run by the post office- the former PTT: Post, Telefon, Telegraf. Things have changed! Although the former German monopoly Deutsche Telekom is still dominant, German homes and businesses can now select from a variety of phone companies. On the street you see people walking around with their Handys (cell/mobile phones). This article deals with several aspects of using a telephone in German: (1) practical Telefon how-tos, (2) vocabulary related to the equipment and telecommunications in general, and (3) expressions and vocabulary concerning good phone etiquette and making yourself understood on the phone, along with our annotated English-German Telephone Glossary. Talking on the phone is an important skill for English-speakers in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, or anyone who needs to make a long-distance call (ein Ferngesprch) to a German-speaking country. But just because you know how to use a telephone at home doesnt necessarily mean youre ready to cope with a public phone in Germany. An American business person who is quite capable of handling any business situation can quickly be at a loss in an unfamilar German telephone booth/box (die Telefonzelle). But, you say, anyone I want to call probably has a cell phone anyway. Well, you better have the right Handy or youre out of luck. Most U.S. wireless phones are useless in Europe or just about anywhere outside of North America. Youll need a multi-band GSM-compatible phone. (If you dont know what GSM or multi-band means, see our GSM phone page for more about using ein Handy in Europe.) A German or Austrian public phone can be confusing if youve never seen one before.  Just to complicate matters more, some public phones are coin-only, while others are phone card-only. (European phone cards are so-called smart cards that keep track of a cards remaining value as its used.) On top of that, some phones at German airports are credit card phones that take Visa or Mastercard. And, of course, a German phone card wont work in an Austrian card phone or vice versa. Just knowing how to say Hello! on the phone is an important social and business skill. In Germany you usually answer the phone by saying your last name. German phone subscribers must pay per-minute charges for all calls, including even local calls (das Ortsgesprch). This explains why Germans dont spend as much time on the phone as most Americans. Students staying with a host family need to know that even when they call a friend in the same town or across the street, they shouldnt talk for long stretches like they may at home. Using the telephone in a foreign country is an excellent example of how language and culture go together. If you dont know the vocabulary involved, thats a problem. But if you are unfamiliar with how the phone system works, thats also a problem- even if you know the vocabulary.

Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Management - Assignment Example This role is ensured through a number of means including planning, designing, supervising and controlling the process of production (Maloney, 1998). Operations management is highly important in ensuring the achievement of two major goals, which are the effectiveness and efficiency of the business operations. By effectiveness, reference is being made to the fact that it ensures that customer and consumer specifications and expectations are met whiles by efficiency, reference is being made to the need of ensuring that limited available resources are well used to accomplish estimated rate of production. Operations management is needed both in the service and manufacturing sectors but given the fact that the manufacturing sector requires several components of production than the service sector, it would be said that operations management is more needed in the manufacturing industries than in the services sector. After all, in the manufacturing industry, there are more processes to follow , which demand operations management than in the service sector. 2. Discuss the use of PERT/CPM techniques for managing projects. Describe what PERT/CPM does. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of using it. What other techniques might you choose to manage your project? With the advent of technology, there have been a lot more inventions and innovations that have been devised to ensure that project management go on more easily and accessibly. Most of such technologies make use of software that is integrated into existing roles played by project managers. Some of these tasks are statistics and algorithm. With program evaluation and review technique and critical path method, project managers are offered the opportunity to have a digitized versions of statistical and algorithm functioning in project management. More specifically, program evaluation and review technique and critical path method are structured to analyze and symbolize the individual tasks composed in getting the project completed (Maloney, 1998). The advantages associated with these two techniques are that they aid in analyzing the total time needed to finish given tasks. This is so because they analyze all independent tasks involved in the project. Again, they undertake the general scheduling of projects activities. All of these not withstanding; there come disadvantages in the sense that they are hardly scalable for minute projects (Campos and Root, 2006). In the absence of these two, beta distribution and activity diagram could be used to manage projects. 3. What are economies of scale in a manufacturing plant? Do they continue forever? What are diseconomies of scale? How might you decide the optimal size of a plant? In a typical manufacturing plant, the rate of production over time is often fixed. For example, for a given period of time, it is known that on each day, X number of goods will be produced. Due to business growth and decline purposes, there are times that the rates of production wi th changing economic factors. This is where economies of scale and diseconomies of scale come in. basically, economies of scale is said to have been reached or attained when the scale of output increases as the cost per unit declines (Campos and Root, 2006). In such a situation, the resulting short to medium term effect is that revenue and general turnover of the manufacturing plant will increase. Economies of scale often come about because of expansions that lead to several goods and products being produced at lower costs. Economies of scale do not occur forever because of fluctuating growth rate and microeconomic factors. Diseconomies of scale could be said to be the direct opposite of economies of scale