Read this passage. in this excerpt, eliezer hears his fellow inmates at auschwitz reciting the kaddish, the jewish prayer for the dead. excerpt from night by elie wiesel everybody around us was weeping. someone began to recite kaddish, the prayer for the dead. i don't know whether, during the history of the jewish people, men have ever before recited kaddish for themselves. "yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey his name be celebrated and " whispered my father. for the first time, i felt anger rising within me. why should i sanctify his name? the almighty, the eternal and terrible master of the universe, chose to be silent. what was there to him for? why does eliezer have such a strong reaction to hearing the kaddish at this moment? because he is so afraid of dying, the prayer terrifies him and makes him think that his own death is imminent. because the prayer is said aloud, eliezer cannot pay attention to the words of the ss officer, who is threatening him. because he was once so devoutly religious, the prayer makes him feel an acute sense of being abandoned by god. because the prayer never meant anything to him before, he cannot draw any comfort from hearing it now.