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.