Review of Night by Elie Wiesel ***** A heart wrenching story of the mercy of Gd.

A heart wrenching story of the mercy of Gd.

What is mercy then, you may wonder?  Mercy is as the basket that a basketball player shoots at.  As it is with mercy, the width of the basket is greater than the width of the ball.  The forgiveness we know occurs when a shot is less than perfect, but good enough to score a point.  Mercy means that the shot need not be perfect, but that it only needs to be good enough.  If the ball does not go through the hoop, then no point is scored.  The score is restricted according to justice, remaining the same.  Win or lose, the game revolves around how many times the ball goes through the net.  Thus, it is such that where mercy abounds, so does lawlessness.  Shots may be less than perfect, but as a team can win a baseball game despite having fewer hits than the opposing team, it is the same way with mercy.

Gd gave us freewill.  Thus, there is an element of chance in life, and this arises from Gd, that is, freewill is gift of mercy from Gd.  Without mercy, the soul of a human is as that of a golem, an automaton.  In freewill, Gd gave us both the ability to forgive each other, and to forsake.  Consider the mercy of God when you read Night.  Does this mercy cause you to lose faith in Gd or to gain faith Gd?  It causes me to gain faith in Gd for I know that in the Torah, Gd gave me a blueprint of how I should act.  If the mercy of Gd is so great that Night could be true, then, how much more should our fear of Gd be if we do not act according to His ways?

I have also learned that this sort of mercy is the hellish version of mercy.  There is also a mercy that can completely be known as lovingkindness.  Thus, it is such that between justice and lovingkindness, a healthy harmony may be found.