The Chosen

The Chosen is a novel written by Chaim Potok. It was first published in 1967. It follows the narrator, Reuven Malter, and his friend Daniel Saunders, as they grow up in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1940s. A sequel featuring Reuven's young adult years, The Promise, was published in 1969. Plot In 1944 Brooklyn, fifteen-year-old Reuven Malter prepares to play a baseball game: his own Modern Orthodox school against a team from an ultra-orthodox Hasidic yeshiva. It becomes apparent that the only good player on the opposing team is Danny Saunders, the son of nearby Hasidic Rabbi Reb Saunders. The game becomes something of a war between the two teams, seemingly symbolic of their differing ideologies. In the last inning, with Reuven's team in the lead, Reuven is put in as pitcher. When Danny gets up to the plate, he hits a line drive straight at Reuven's head, which breaks his glasses and drives a small piece of glass into his eye. Reuven's team loses and Reuven is rushed to the hospital. Danny comes to the hospital in an attempt to apologize, but Reuven is still livid at Danny and rejects his attempts, which angers Reuven's father, who reminds Reuven it is important to listen to someone who asks to be heard. When Danny returns the next day, Reuven forgives him and they quickly become friends. Reuven learns that Danny possesses a photographic memory, enabling him to study an astonishing amount of Talmud per day (set by his father), yet still leaving him time to pursue other subjects. Danny tells Reuven that he goes to the library to read books on science and literature, and that a man at the library has been recommending books for him to read. Danny knows that he is expected to someday take over his father's position as the rabbi for his community, but wishes he did not have to and that instead, he could pursue psychology. Reuven would like to become a rabbi, though his father would like him to pursue academia. Reuven learns that his father, a teacher of Talmud, is the man who has been recommending books to Danny at the library.