The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, is a book about friendship between two boys from vastly different religious Jewish backgrounds. Their initial distrust and hatred for each other, because of their different backgrounds, gives way to understanding, and develops into a deep friendship. Each character grew up in a tight community. Their deep study of their traditions has led them to be ignorant of the outside world.
Daniel Saunders is the son of Rabbi Reb Saunders and the protagonist of the novel. He is a brilliant boy who is confused by the ideologies of his Hasidic religion. Despite his confusion, he is very open-minded. His ancestors for the past five generations had been very honorable and respected rabbis in their own synagogues. He was expected to grow up and take over his father’s position. Despite Danny’s interest in reading outside books and his trips to the library, he is also deeply religious and a great Talmud scholar. His friendship with Reuven Malter, who is supposedly less religious than Hasidics are expected to be, drew him into a secular world affecting some of his viewpoints and values of the world. By meeting Reuven Malter, he realized many things that he has been missing, he realizes the differences in the way they are raised, treated and their cultures. Daniel’s character in the book has been waiting for a reason to “rebel” against his father’s ways. Reb Saunders was very aware of his son’s views but tried to avoid it throughout the book by using the method of silence. Reb Saunders has stated in the last chapter(p.267) that he knew about everything all along, ” You think I was cruel? Yes, I see from your eyes that you think I was cruel to my Daniel. Perhaps. But he has learned. Let my Daniel become a psychologist. I do not see his books? I did not see the letters from the universities? I do not see his eyes? I do not hear his soul crying? Of course I know.”
The Term Paper on The Book Of Daniel The Prophet
The bible is a collection of books some of which are narratives and others are poetic. The New Testament is a continuation of the Old Testament is a historical collection, which talks about the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, His teachings and that of the apostles. Most of these books are historical narratives while some are epistles filled with the knowledge of God. They are narratives, which ...
Reb Saunders character in the book was very strict and closed-minded. He believes that orthodox are corrupt in their beliefs, that they should be studying the Torah a lot more, and be much more religious in everything they do, such as praying to God. One event that showed his fixed views of the world was during the issue of the Jewish state. He exploded on Reuven when he mentioned the idea of it. He has grown up strictly following what the Torah demands and refuses to listen to anything that criticizes such method of life. He extremely believes in the fact that they should wait for the arrival of the Messiah before taking action by making a Jewish state.(p.187) ” the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob should be built by Jewish goiyum, by contaminated men? Never, not while I live!”. Another time his strong beliefs of Judaism affected his decision was during the Zionist movement. When David Malter made the speech concerning a Jewish homeland that greatly influenced the world, Reb Saunders prohibited his son to speak to Reuven until the anti-Zionist movement failed and he had to face the reality of it.
Rav Gershanson was the professor of the Talmud class at Hirsch College. He appreciates the brilliance of both Danny and Reuven, but advises them to keep radical thinking away from his class. I think Rav Gershanson is very open-minded about things because although he agrees with David Malter’s method of The Talmud, he agreed to change it because the school opposes it. Rav has stated (p.237) “I am myself not opposed to such a method. But I must ask you never to use it in my class.” Reuven could not find Rav Gershanson’s name in the school library because Rav Gershanson refuses to write without using the scientific method because that would be hypocritical.
Despite the differences between Danny and Reuven’s characters, they were able still to develop a close intimate friendship between them and surpass the hardships. Chaim Potok was very successful with using allusion and metaphors throughout the novel. Very subtly throughout the book he uses this for the purposes of reinforcing his points, foreshadowing, and to make the book deeper.
The Term Paper on Socialization Of Jewish People Into American Community
Socialization of Jewish people into American community Many different social and ethnic groups have migrated to America to start new lives. Certainly, each of these groups was unique and each group socialized differently. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the dynamics of socialization of Jewish people that came from different communities all over the world. These people had to learn how to ...
