1. The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Genre: Bildungsroman
A novel that traces the intellectual, moral, and psychological growth of a young protagonist
(rite of passage).

2. Chaim Potok
Born in the Bronx, a New York City borough very similar to the Brooklyn community in The Chosen
Raised in an Orthodox Jewish family and attended a Jewish parochial school that focused on the study of the Talmud, Jewish law
Became a novelist and used familiar settings in his stories

3. Potok The Chosen, his second novel, was published in 1967.
Potok’s goal is to create a link between one particular group and the rest of humanity, as in The Chosen, where Reuven and Danny who are both Jewish, strive to be a part of the American mainstream.

4. Literary Elements Setting: Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, during WWII
Motifs
Parallels: Reuven & Danny are parallels.
Reuven’s near blindness experience parallels with Danny’s experience with silence.
War is parallel to the softball game.
Silence—a path to the soul and finding self.

5. Themes and Motifs Theme = Main idea(s) of the novel.
Motifs = Recurring ideas or literary elements that help develop the major themes.
Themes:
Conflict between tradition and modernity
Choosing vs being chosen
Silence as means to find the soul
Parallels

6. Motifs Father/Son Relationships Vision & Perception
Suffering to bring about increased awareness of self and others
Friendship and Forgiveness

7. Symbols
Symbols are characters, objects, or ideas that represent abstract concepts.
Eyes—symbolize vision both literally and figuratively
The Talmud—a series of commentaries by rabbis, symbolizes the importance of tradition and knowledge to gain a more in-depth understanding of Judaism.

8. Reuven Malter & Danny Saunders
Protagonists
Reuven is the narrator—first person narration
Reuven is an Orthodox Jew
Reuven has a good relationship with his father
Reuven’s mother has passed away; he has no siblings
Danny is a Hasidic Jew
Danny’s father treats him with silence

9. Reuven & Danny
Reuven and Danny meet for the first time at a softball game.
Danny calls Reuven and his team apikorism = “a Jew who is educated in Judaism who denied the basic tenets of his faith” (Potok 23).
Danny hits Reuven with the ball, breaking his glasses and cutting his pupil.

10. Orthodox & Hasidic Jews
Orthodox Jews:
Rational
Intellectual
Concrete
Hasidic Jews:
Emotional
Spiritual
Supernatural

11. Jewish Terms
Apikorism—an educated Jew who denies the basic tenets of his faith
Blat—two pages of Talmud
Earlocks—hair grown long at the temples
Gematriya—arithmetical manipulation to uncover hidden meaning, by determining the numerical equivalents of the Hebrew letters
Gentile—someone who is not Jewish (Goy)
Hasid—pious one

12. Terms Kabbalah—Jewish mysticism Kaddish—Jewish prayer for the dead
Kosher—food that has been prepared in accordance with Kashrut, the Jewish dietary law
Shabbat—Sabbath, day of rest and worship

13. Terms
Talmud—collection of rabbi’s interpretation of the laws in the Torah and other issues in Jewish life
Tefillin—religious accessory, consisting of small boxes, containing biblical quotes, attached together by strips of leather
Tzaddick—a Hasidic rabbi, considered a superhuman who has a special connection with God
Tzizit—fringes that hang down from the Jewish prayer shawl as a reminder to obey Jewish laws

14. Terms Yeshiva—Jewish parochial school
Yiddish—language of the Eastern European Jews, a mix of German and Polish
Zionism—establishing the Jewish state of Israel in Palestine, a homeland to the Jewish people after WWII

15. More Info
Principles of Baal Shem Tov-\—purpose of man is to make his life holy; the heart dominates the mind and deep spiritual experience is available to all
Main conflict between the Orthodox and the Hasidic Jews: Orthodox Jews were in favor of Zionism vs Hasidic Jews, who were against it—they believed the Messiah should come and determine where the state of Israel should be established

16. Important Dates & Facts
D-Day: Danny visits Reuven in the hospital which marks the beginning of their friendship
FDR’s death: a sad day for our nation; also Reuven equates the senselessness of Roosevelt’s death to the senselessness of Billy’s blindness
Hasidic Jews started in Poland; many of them lived in Eastern Europe; many migrated to U.S.