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1-Page Summary of The Chosen

Overview

Chaim Potok’s novel The Chosen is the story of two boys who live in Brooklyn at the end of World War II. Both are Jewish, although they go to different yeshivas (parochial schools). One boy, Danny Saunders, is a Hasidic Jew and the other, Reuven Malter, is more liberal. They meet during a softball game between their schools when Danny calls him an apikoros (a Jew who denies basic tenets of his faith) as he’s on second base. During that baseball game, Reuven pitches to Danny and hits him in the eye with a ball that breaks his glasses.

Reuven’s baseball coach takes him to Brooklyn Memorial hospital because he has a broken nose. He stays there with several other patients, including Tony Savo, a professional prizefighter; Billy and Mickey, two children; and Reuven’s father David Malter. When his father arrives at the hospital, Reuven tells him about Danny breaking his nose and calling him an apikoros (heretic). However, Danny later visits the hospital room; they argue again but eventually become friends through their discussion of Talmud.

After Danny leaves the hospital, David Malter enters and Reuven discusses Danny with him. David tells his son how the Talmud instructs that a person should find a teacher and a friend, and tells Reuven to make Danny Saunders his friend. When Danny visits again, he and Reuven discuss Darwin’s theory of evolution as well as Ernest Hemingway’s writing style. He also says that he will not like being a rabbi because it is too strict for him. It surprises Reuven when he hears this because at first it did not seem like anyone would dislike being a rabbi based on their appearance or behavior. David finds them together in the library one day, which surprises both of them since they had never met before then.

The story begins with Reuven returning home from the hospital. He learns about Hasidism, which began in Poland after a massacre of Jews by Cossacks and other Polish nobles. The Jewish community was devastated, but some people felt that Judaism should be more religious than it had been before. They formed the Hasidic movement, and Reb Saunders is one of its leaders. Danny will inherit this position from his father. David Malter then tells how Danny is an intellectual who wants to go beyond studying only Hasidism; he has always wanted to study secular subjects as well.

Danny’s father is not a typical human being, according to Danny. He does not allow his son to associate with anyone outside of the Jewish community. However, Danny insists that Reb Saunders isn’t just another tyrant. During a Shabbat dinner after services, Reb Saunders gives a speech about the Torah in which he claims that “the world kills us.” He refers to gematriya (a numerical frame of reference for the Torah) and asks if anyone has anything to say afterwards. Danny corrects him on one point but gets reprimanded by his father for catching only one mistake instead of all of them. Then Reuven mentions something from gematriya and it seems like he’s passed some sort of test with Reb Saunders

Danny is learning German so that he can read Freud in the original text. Danny’s father asks Reuven to tell him what his son is reading, but Reuven does not want to tell Reb Saunders about Danny’s interest in psychology because it might upset him.

Reuven meets Danny at a library where he finds him reading Graetz’ History of the Jews and learns from this that people are complicated. He discusses with David Malter how some Hasidic leaders were corrupt and not all Hasidim were good people, yet many still believe that they were great tzaddikim (Hasidic spiritual leaders).