''The Chosen'' is a
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
written by
Chaim Potok
Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 – July 23, 2002) was an American author and rabbi. His first book ''The Chosen'' (1967), was listed on ''The New York Times’'' best seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies.
Biography
H ...
. It was first published in 1967. It follows the narrator, Reuven Malter, and his friend Daniel Saunders, as they grow up in the
Williamsburg neighborhood in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, in the 1940s. A sequel featuring Reuven's young adult years, ''
The Promise'', was published in 1969.
Plot
In 1944 Brooklyn, fifteen-year-old Reuven Malter prepares to play a baseball game: his own Modern Orthodox school against a team from an ultra-orthodox Hasidic yeshiva. It becomes apparent that the only good player on the opposing team is Danny Saunders, the son of nearby Hasidic Rabbi Isaac Saunders. The game becomes something of a war between the two teams, seemingly symbolic of their differing ideologies. In the last inning, with Reuven's team in the lead, Reuven is put in as pitcher. When Danny gets up to the plate, he hits a line drive straight at Reuven's head, which breaks his glasses and drives a small piece of glass into his eye. Reuven's team loses and Reuven is rushed to the hospital.
Danny comes to the hospital in an attempt to apologize, but Reuven is still livid at Danny and rejects his attempts, which angers Reuven's father, who reminds Reuven it is important to listen to someone who asks to be heard. When Danny returns the next day, Reuven forgives him and they quickly become friends.
Reuven learns that Danny possesses a photographic memory, enabling him to study an astonishing amount of Talmud per day (set by his father), yet still leaving him time to pursue other subjects. Danny tells Reuven that he goes to the library to read books on science and literature, and that a man at the library has been recommending books for him to read. Danny knows that he is expected to someday take over his father's position as the rabbi for his community, but wishes he did not have to and that instead, he could pursue psychology. Reuven would like to become a rabbi, though his father would like him to pursue academia. Reuven learns that his father, a teacher of Talmud, is the man who has been recommending books to Danny at the library.
When Reuven is released from the hospital, his father discusses the history of Hasidism with him. He then explains that only once in a generation a mind like Danny's is born, and that Danny cannot help his need for knowledge, but that Danny is also a lonely boy who needs a friend.
The next day, Reuven goes to Danny's family synagogue where he witnesses a discussion between Danny and his father which spans over the entire Talmud. After the Sabbath has ended, Danny reveals to Reuven that his father only speaks to him when they study Talmud together. The two boys also discover that they will be attending the same university, much to Reuven's delight. That Sunday, Danny and Reuven meet at the library, where Danny reveals his fascination with the human mind and his desire to study the works of Sigmund Freud, for which he is teaching himself German.
The next week, Reuven goes to the Saunders house again to study Talmud with Danny and his father. When Danny leaves the room to prepare tea, Rebbe Saunders reveals to Reuven that he knows about Danny's visits to the library and wants to know what Danny is reading. He adds that he knows he cannot prevent Danny from pursuing knowledge, but that he fears his son will lose his Orthodox faith. Reuven immediately tells Danny about the talk, and later, Reuven's father discerns that Reb Saunders used his conversation with Reuven to communicate with Danny indirectly.
The coming year is dominated by the Allied victory in World War Two, and the death of Franklin Roosevelt, which brings grief to the Malters. In addition, news of the Holocaust reaches American soil, which sends all the characters, especially Rabbi Saunders, into a state of depression. During the summer of that year, Reuven's father suffers a heart attack, and Reuven goes to stay in the Saunders home. At one meal, Reuven mentions that some feel it is time to establish a Jewish state, which sends Rabbi Saunders into a fierce tirade against Zionism: for the ultra-orthodox, a secular Jewish state established by man without the coming of the Messiah is against God's will.
The next year Danny and Reuven enter college at the Samson Raphael Hirsch College and Seminary. Danny is miserable because the psychology department at the university is only experimental psychology and not analytical. Eventually, Danny's psychology professor tells him that he should go into clinical psychology.
Later in the year, Reuven's father gives a speech at a Zionist rally, which is covered by the Orthodox press, and leads Rabbi Saunders to forbid Danny to have any contact with Reuven. Reuven does not cope well without his best friend and his grades begin to suffer. Soon afterward Reuven's father has a second heart attack followed by a lengthy hospitalization. Reuven copes with his father's absence by studying the Talmud with greater intensity, eventually mastering a very complicated section of the Talmud.
After two years, just as the violence in Palestine comes to an end (the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli war) and Reuven's father has recovered from his heart attack, Danny is allowed to resume his friendship with Reuven because the Jewish state is now a fact, and no longer a point of dissension.
As the years pass, Danny's father continues to remain silent with Danny. Danny reveals to Reuven that he will not take his father's place. Instead, he will apply to graduate school and pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology, and his younger brother, Levi, will assume the
tzaddik
Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...
ate. Danny applies to Harvard, Columbia, and Berkeley. He is accepted into all three universities, but cannot understand why his father does not speak to him about it, because the acceptance letters came by mail and were surely seen.
On the first day of Passover in Danny and Reuven's senior year of college, Reb Saunders invites Reuven to their home to talk with him and Danny. Reb Saunders tells Reuven that he knows that Danny will not be assuming the rabbinate, that he has known for a long time, and he accepts it. He then explains why he raised Danny in silence: he feared that Danny's phenomenal intelligence would lead him to lack compassion for others. Therefore, he raised Danny in silence so that he could learn what it is to suffer, and therefore, have a soul. He also relates Danny to his older brother, who ran away from his homeland in Russia and became a secular professor and was murdered in Auschwitz.
Reb Saunders expresses his gratitude to Reuven and his father for helping Danny at the point where he was ready to rebel, to help Danny remain a part of the Orthodox Jewish tradition, even if he cannot assume the rabbi role. To his father's questions, Danny indicates that he will remove some of the visible indicators of Hasidism (his full beard and earlocks) but will remain an observer of the commandments. Reb Saunders says that Passover is the holiday of freedom and that he must let Danny be free.
That September, on his way to graduate school at Columbia, Danny comes for a brief visit without his beard and earlocks. He says that he and his father now talk.
Main characters
Reuven (Robert or Bobby) Malter: a
Modern Orthodox Jew
Modern Orthodox Judaism (also Modern Orthodox or Modern Orthodoxy) is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law with the secular, modern world.
Modern Orthodoxy draws on seve ...
, and a teenage boy. He is smart, popular in his community, and has a head for mathematics and logic. His father wants him to be a mathematician when he grows up, but he desires to become a
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
.
Daniel (Danny) Saunders: a
Hasidic Jew
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...
, who is also a teenager. Brilliant; with a photographic memory, and interested in psychology (particularly
Freudian
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
) but lacking in aptitude for mathematics. He wants to become a psychologist, but he feels trapped by the Hasidic tradition which forces him into the role as next in line to succeed his father as Rabbi and
tzaddik
Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...
. This fact is a prominent personal conflict for Danny throughout the book.
David Malter (Reuven's father): a
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
ic scholar, writer, schoolteacher at his son's
yeshiva
A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...
, motivational speaker on acts of
Zionism
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...
and a Zionist himself. Considered a
heretic
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
by the Hasidim. Supports the creation of the state of Israel because of his belief in the
Messianic Age
In Abrahamic religions, the Messianic Age is the future period of time on Earth in which the messiah will reign and bring universal peace and brotherhood, without any evil. Many believe that there will be such an age; some refer to it as the consu ...
, rather than a literal Messiah.
Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
Isaac Saunders (Reb Saunders): Rabbinic sage and
tzaddik
Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...
. He is Danny's father. Rabbi (spiritual leader/teacher) of a Hasidic group, whose role is dynastic (passed on from father to son). He moved his congregation from Russia to the United States before the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
. He is against a secular Jewish
nation-state
A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group.
A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may inc ...
, because he believes this supersedes God's will. He is also against all who identify as
Zionists
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Jew ...
and follow the belief of a Messianic Age and wish for a secular Jewish nation-state.
Literary themes
Literary themes within the book include widespread references to senses (especially sight), the pursuit of truth in a gray world, the strength of friendship, and the importance of father-son bonds. Many themes common to Potok's works prevail such as weak women and children, strong father figures, intellectual characters, and the strength and validity of faith in a modern secular world. Potok accentuates the importance of silence, and its role as a medium of communication. Throughout the book, there are numerous instances where Danny and Reuven both receive and process information in a non-verbal form. Potok explicitly introduces this topic by alluding to the relationship between Danny and his father, where there is no verbal communication between them, except during religious study. The two-year-long silence between Danny and Reuven, imposed by Reb Saunders, is also rich in communicative interactions between the two friends; however, it effectively shows the constraints that silence can impose between individuals.
Another important theme is the contrast of tradition to modernity. Reb Saunders insulates and isolates himself from the modern world, including Modern Orthodoxy, in everything from the method used to study Talmud to the creation of the state of Israel. This struggle between holding on to the traditions of one's culture in an ever-changing world and taking on the culture of the adopted home country was also faced by Danny and Reuven, both of whom were raised in a different environment from their parents and have found themselves in such a situation. It reflects the struggle that many immigrants and their children experience after arriving in America.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
''
The Chosen
Chosen or The Chosen may refer to:
The chosen ones
*Chosen people, people who believe they have been chosen by a higher power to do a certain thing including
**Jews as the chosen people
Books
* ''The Chosen'' (Potok novel), a 1967 novel by Chaim ...
'' was made into a
movie
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
in 1981, and a short-lived off-Broadway musical was produced in 1988. It closed after a week of performances. The book was adapted into a stage play by Potok and
Aaron Posner
Aaron Posner is an American playwright and theater director. He was co-founder of the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia and was the artistic director of Two River Theatre from 2006 to 2010. He has directed over 100 productions at major regiona ...
and premiered at the Arden Theater in 1999. Potok wrote a sequel titled ''
The Promise''.
Release information
*1967, USA, Simon & Schuster (), Pub date 28 April 1967, hardback (First edition)
*1967, UK, Heinemann (ISBN ?), Pub date ? ? 1967, hardback
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chosen, The
Fiction set in the 1940s
1967 American novels
American novels adapted into films
American plays
Novels about friendship
Hasidic Judaism in fiction
Jewish American novels
Novels about rabbis
Novels by Chaim Potok
Novels set in New York City
Simon & Schuster books