Different Ways

            Here we go! Last chapter of the book and things really get cooking! Everything falls into place and everything is explained- the talking, the fact that Danny wants to become a psychologist instead of a Rabbi. His father knew all along. “’Nu,’ he said, speaking softly, so softly I could barely hear him, ‘in June my Daniel and his good friend begin to go different ways. They are men, not children and men go different ways. You will go one way, Reuven. And my son, my Daniel, he will-he will go another way.’” From that quote on, they both knew that Reb Saunders, Danny’s father, knew of his plans all along- even since he has been a small child and saw that he had more of a mind even though he maintained his soul. The fact that because of Danny’s choice to become very knowledgeable- reading books, choosing a different way than what he is destined to do, etc. Reb Saunders chose to raise Danny with out words- like his father with his brother. His brother also had a mind like Danny’s and even went to study in Europe and when the Jewish massacre occurred in Poland he stayed behind but still remained to be an orthodox Jew, giving his life in Auschwitz. Reb Saunders gave his approval of his son going away to study, as long as he remained true to his soul. And even though he would shave off his beard and trim his ear locks and dress a little differently, to stay Jewish and stay loyal to his faith.
            Both of the boys are silent as his father continues to explain why he has treated Danny as he has during his life, and Danny sobs. He does not want him to find out this way, but understands why he does the silence and why he chose to approach Danny this way about his studies. He knew that Danny was brilliant when he was little- he always cared about reading and studying rather than actually knowing the faith and the soul. He was blessed with such a brilliant son, and somewhat hates though, that he is TOO brilliant to become a Rabbi in his place. He is proud of him despite his choice.
            Danny understands now, and all of Reuven’s questions were answered at that moment.

After the talk, Danny and Reuven walk aimlessly for hours not saying one word to each other until the end. The next morning it is as though nothing has happened and they ride the trolley to their college and talk. Danny asks him if he was going to raise his children like his father did to him, he replies that he think he might. He understands why it he did it, even though I don’t really. His father knows that he has the soul of a tzaddik, and that “he will be a tzaddik for the world” no matter what job he holds.

In the end, Danny and Reuven graduate summa cum laude from their college, Hirsch College. Danny comes over one night to the Malters’ with no more earlocks or beard or fringes, to say goodbye and that he is moving into an apartment new his new college, Columbia, in Manhattan. His father and he speak reguarly to each other and this is when he is asked if he will raise his son in silence with the reply of “unless I can find another way to teach my son the have the soul of a tzaddik.” Danny promises to return on Saturdays to study Talmud and he leaves.

The Study

I have finally finished the book! It was so captivating and exciting! The ending was so amazing, but I will not go into the ending details until my third blog about “The Chosen”. This post will all about a certain scene that ties every one’s question about why Danny’s father does not talk to him except for when they are studying Talmud?

A brief background on what I have read so far up to this point: Danny’s father is still not talking to him and this upsets Reuven very much! He hates him for it actually. Danny and Reuven have finally entered the life of college and love it, but there are problems that cause them to stop being friends by force- The Zionist revolution. After the Hitler fell, the “Zionists” wanted to create a state that was just for the Jews, convert Palestine into Israel. Reuven and his father followed this, with his father leading the group. On the other hand, Danny’s father created an “Anti-Zionist” group that spoke of having faith in their God and to wait for the Messiah to come and save the souls of the six million Jews that were murdered in attempts to “re-educate” them in the concentration camps. This sparks an outbreak in school, and the breaking point of Danny’s father forcing the two boys from being friends is when Reuven’s father gives and amazing speech and Danny’s father is thrown over the edge with anger. The boys do not talk for about a year to two years in college because of this, but finally become friends again when the vote is passed that Israel would become a safe-haven for the lost Jews.

Reuven is angry toward Reb Saunders and always questions to his father why he does not speak to Danny, but talks to his other children. His father can not explain it.

Danny does not want to become the rabbi of the family, he wants to go off and be a psychologist but the classes that he is taking he does not fully understand until he is pressured by Reuven to go and talk to his teacher. Danny does not want to tell his father that he plans on not becoming a rabbi when he is ordained. He is afraid of the reaction of his father but he knows that one day he has to tell him. Reuven though, wants to become a Rabbi and learns the Talmud so carefully that his teacher is astonished and very impressed when he lets him speak for four days about the passage that he was assigned to read.

In the end, he goes to Reb Saunders house one last time, for he hasn’t been there in so long and Danny’s father wants to talk to him before they study the Talmud. He avoided that meeting so much because he hated him- but his father made him go. His father made Reuven realize that Reb Saunders was actually talking to his son, Danny, through Reuven! The letters come from the schools that Danny has chosen to learn psychology and his father says nothing. But on that last day, he speaks to Reu8ven about he has known that Danny will not become a rabbi because of his mind. He has a brilliant mind, and his father approves, but the silence towards him was to help Danny find his soul, when he goes to school for his doctorate, his father will have faith that he will still have his religion even if he does not look like a traditional Hasidic Jew. Danny cries, and Reuven is astonished! This part of the book showed me just how amazing a bond like that can affect the relationship between father and son. There is so much emotion through that passage of the book! It simply blew me away.

It all starts with a baseball game.

The book that I have selected is titled “The Chosen” and Chaim Potok is the author of this outstanding novel. It is Jewish-American Literature written in 1960 and published in 1967. An interesting fact about the writing of the novel is that is was written in Philadelphia, Israel, and Brooklyn.
The story line is as follows: it is narrated by a boy about fifteen years old named Reuven Malter who is hurt in the beginning of the book in a baseball game by another boy named Danny Saunders who is the son of the great Reb Saunders. You see Reuven and Danny are both Jewish, but they are two different kinds of Jews- Danny a higher class Jew, Hasidic who thinks that the opposite kind are “apikoros”, and Reuven an Orthodox Jew. I’m not sure what “apikoros” really means but I’m thinking that it means that they are not worthy.
It all starts with a baseball game. And it was a game that changed everything.
The point of view is that of Reuven Malter's about the events that lead up to his rise in maturity. He doesn't know what other people are thinking or feeling and only concentrates on himself and how he analyzes everyone else, he is not omniscient. Reuven is an extremely smart kid and rarely does he judge anyone, that is except Reb Saunders- whom is judged quite harshly.
I found this amazing symbolic reference in the first two chapters of the book! (You will be so proud Knuth!) It all starts with a baseball game (yes I know that I have said that twice now) in which the Hasidic school is facing the regular Yeshiva school, they are known as the "apikoros" to the Hasidic‘s. The teams best player, Danny Saunders, the son of the renown Reb Saunders, hits a hard ball right to the current pitcher in a very tight and close and super competitive game. The current pitcher is known as Reuven Malter, and he gets pelted in the face with the hard ball when Danny hits the ball. The boys had it in for each other, in fact Danny even admits that he wanted to kill Reuven and Reuven the same. Reuven is hit in the eye with the baseball and results in his glasses breaking with a piece of glass in his eye. It was very close to making him blind, but the doctor did an operation to save his vision. The symbolism is that he felt hatred for Danny, and now that he has a "new" vision he sees Danny very differently and now is trying to understand him as he tries to become a psychologist even though he is biologically in line to become the next Rabbi.
The Chosen is becoming one of my favorite novels as the story progresses on to reveal how the plans for Danny turn out and the steps that Reuven must take in order to understand his friend and his way. I highly recommend it.