The Chosen is a book by Chaim Potok published in 1967. It is about two teenage Jewish boys who form a friendship, though they come from different worlds. It is a first-person narrative from the point of view of Reuven Malter. Rabbi Dr. Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 - July 23, 2002) was an American author and rabbi. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of... First-person narrative is a literary technique in which the story is narrated by one or more of the characters, who explicitly refers to him or herself in the first person, that is, I. The narrator is thus directly or indirectly involved in the story being told. ...

Setting

The Chosen is set in the 1940s, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, New York. The story takes place over a period of seven years. // Events and trends The 1940s were dominated by World War II, the most destructive armed conflict in history. ... The Williamsburg Bridge connects the Brooklyn neighborhood to Manhattan Williamsburg is a neighborhood in northern Brooklyn, New York City. ... A map highlighting Brooklyn and the rest of New York City. ... New York City, officially named the City of New York, is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America, and is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture. ... State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York City Governor George Pataki (R) Senators Charles Schumer (D) Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) Official languages None (English is de facto) Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ...

Characters

• Robert (Reuven) Malter, a Modern Orthodox teenage boy. Smart and has a head for mathematics.
• Daniel (Danny) Saunders, a Hasidic teenage boy. Brilliant with a photographic memory. Feels trapped by Hasidic tradition.
• David Malter, Reuven's father. Talmudic scholar, teacher, Zionist. Considered a heretic by fundamentalist Hasidim.
• Rabbi Isaac Saunders, Danny's father. Rabbinic sage, leader of a Hasidic sect. Wants Danny to succeed him.

Modern Orthodox Judaism is a philosophy that attempts to adapt Orthodox Judaism and interaction with the surrounding non-Jewish, modern world. ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Mathematics Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mathematics Look up Mathematics on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikimedia Commons has more media related to: Mathematics Bogomolny, Alexander: Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles. ... Hasidic Judaism (from the Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות, meaning pious, from the Hebrew root word chesed חסד meaning loving kindness) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... Photographic memory or eidetic memory is the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with great accuracy and in seemingly unlimited volume. ... The Talmud (תלמוד) is considered an authoritative record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories. ... Heretic, meaning literally a person guilty or accused of heresy, is also often used as a title. ... Fundamentalism is a movement to maintain strict adherence to founding principles. ... Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbī) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished,. In the ancient Judean schools the sages were addressed as רִבִּי (Ribbi or Rebbi...

Plot

The Chosen – a classic novel of growing up, friendship, compassion, the ties between fathers and sons, and the American experience – is set in the 1940's, in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Two boys who have grown up within a few blocks of each other, but in two entirely different worlds, meet for the first time in a bizarre and explosive encounter--a baseball game between two Jewish parochial schools that turns into a holy war.

The assailant is Danny Saunders — intellectual phenomenon, moody, magnetic, tormented -- who feels imprisoned by the tradition that destines him to succeed his awesome father in an unbroken line of tzaddikim, great Hasidic rabbis, while his own restless intelligence is beginning to reach out into forbidden areas of secular knowledge.

The astonished victim of Danny's rage is Reuven Malter, the merely brilliant son of a gentle scholar--one of the relatively assimilated Orthodox Jews whom the Hasids regard as little better than infidels.

From the moment of their first furious meeting, the lives of Danny and Reuven become more and more intertwined. In a hospital room their hatred turns toward friendship. In his synagogue, before the assembled congregation, the formidable Rabbi Saunders makes deliberate mistakes in Talmudic discourse to test his son and his son's new friend. It soon becomes evident that it is only through Reuven that Danny's father can speak his heart to his own son and spiritual heir. And it is through the intensifying friendship between the two boys that the visions their fathers embody--the mystic and the rationalist--are brought into confrontation, and the mystery of Danny's cruelly austere upbringing in silence is gradually unraveled.

Themes

External themes

While the story is taking place, many references are made to outside events, including World War Two, the Holocaust, and the founding of the state of Israel. Potok reveals the reactions of different groups to each of these events. Jump to: navigation, search World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th-century conflict that... Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler that killed some 200,000 people. ...

Internal themes

Growing up, father-son communication, and friendship are all themes of the story. In The Chosen, Chaim Potok explores the challenges of growing up in different worlds: the sacred and the secular, the closed society and the open world. He shows the tensions inherent in the immigrant assimilation to American culture, the difficulties of communicating values across cultures and generations, the love between fathers and sons, and the ties that must be broken as children grow into adulthood.

Quotes

"Human beings do not live forever, Reuven. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye? ... I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives the span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant... A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life. It is hard work to fill one's life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here."

• David Malter, to his son, Reuven. p. 217

"A father can bring up a child any way he wishes. What a price to pay for a soul."

• David Malter, to his son, Reuven.

"You can listen to silence, Reuven. I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and dimension all its own."

• Danny Saunders to Reuven Malter

"A man is born into this world with only a tiny spark of goodness in him. The spark is God, it is the soul; the rest is ugliness and evil, a shell. The spark must be guarded like a treasure, it must be nurtured, it must be fanned into flame."

• Reb Saunders to Reuven and Danny, p. 263

"A mind like this I need for a son? A heart I need for a son, a soul I need for a son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy, strength to suffer and carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind without a soul!"

• Reb Saunders to Reuven and Danny

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The sequel to this book is The Promise. The Promise is a novel written by Chaim Potok. ...

The Chosen was made into a movie in 1981 and into a play in 2004. 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External Links

• Review of the play, The Chosen
• Review of the play, The Chosen