Chaim Potok: Two novels

Chaim Potok
The Chosen
The Promise 


One of the reasons I belong to several book discussion groups is that I get an opportunity to read and discuss works that I probably would not read on my own, either because I have never heard of the book or the author or because the book or author didn't sound interesting at that time.  I had heard of Chaim Potok but not in such a way as to suggest that I might be interested in reading him.

Several months ago,  Chaim Potok''s The Chosen was the selection of one of the discussion groups.  I was so impressed that I immediately borrowed the sequel, The Promise, from the library.  At the end of the year, one of the discussion groups always asks the same question: What new authors have impressed you the most this past year?  If that question were asked today, I would say Chaim Potok.

The comments about the two novels will be brief as I think I need to reread them to be able to stand back and view them somewhat objectively.

The place is Brooklyn and the time is during WWII.

The Chosen:
Reuven, the POV character, grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family.  His father was a highly respected scholar and teacher.  Reuven was free to choose his life's work, and he decided to become a rabbi.

Danny grew up in an Hasidic household and his father was a rabbi with a devoted following.  Danny actually was groomed to become the leader after his father had either retired or died, but he had different ideas.

Reuven and Danny met through a baseball game in which Danny injured Reuven and almost cost him his vision in one eye.   They became close friends, in spite of  Danny's father who believed that the Hasidic Jews were the only true Jews and those who were not Hasidic were followers of Satan, or at least dupes working for Satan.   Another problem was that Reuven's father was an outspoken Zionist while Danny's father hated the Zionists because they wanted to set up a secular Israel, which went against the word of the Lord, as they interpreted it.



The Promise:
This novel takes place several years later.  Reuven and Danny are both well along in their struggle to achieve their goals.  Reuven is finishing up his studies to become a rabbi, in spite of opposition to him from one of his teachers.  The opposition comes primarily from a Hasidic rabbi who has survived the concentration camps and has emigrated to the US.  His experiences in the camp has only made him more intolerant of those who disagree with his views, and he works especially hard to block Reuven,  again partially because of Reuven's father and partially because he is terrified by the ways Reuven discusses and interprets the Torah, ways which Reuven learned from his father.

Danny is finishing up his course of study to become a  clinical psychologist and is now an intern at a psychiatric institution.  One of his patients is a young boy whom Reuven brought to him.  Reuven had met the boy through his friendship with the boy's cousin, Rachel.

The major problem for both is the struggle between the old ways and the new.  Reuven uses but does not accept completely the historic method of Talmudic exegesis,  just as Danny, while highly impressed with Freudian psychoanalytic techniques and theory, does not accept all of it.  Both select what they feel fits them and their unique situations.

The novels constitute a fascinating tale of two boys growing up in an environment  I know little about.  Both novels are filled with rich details regarding Jewish rituals, beliefs, joys, and sorrows.   One of the surprises, although it shouldn't have been, was the rupture between the Hasidim and all other Jews.  But, fundamentalists, regardless of their beliefs, are much alike, as Eric Hoffer points out in his book, The True Believer.   They alone have the Truth, and all who disagree are traitors or heretics and hated by God. 

Chaim Potok is now on my Search List, and I will be looking for more of his writings.