Annika-The+Chosen

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 * Plot [|Synopsis] (don't give away the ending!)
 * Criticism section (What worked, What didn't)
 * Literary Information (genre, style, etc.)
 * Citations (quotations) from the novel
 * Why was the book placed on the [|"Outstanding Books for the College Bound"]list?
 * Why would you recommend the book to someone else?
 * What makes the book “outstanding”? Think about the elements of literature—plot, character, symbolism, etc.

3. Link your page to others:

 * Books in the same genre (either in class or from the web)
 * Author biography (start with your own, then link to your source)

=Biography: Chaim Potok=

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Chaim Potok (Herman Harold Potok) Harold Ptotk was born in the Bronx, to Benjamin Max and Mollie Potok. They were Jewish immigrants from Poland. Herman Potok's Hebrew nome was CHaim Tzvi. He was raised with an Orthodox Jewish education and after reading Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, as a teenager he decided he wanted to become a writer. Potok graduated from Yeshiva University in English Lit. with a B.A.. summa cum laude. He recieved a master's degree in Hebrew Literature, and his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Potok joined the U.S. Army as a chaplain. he served in South Korea from 1955 to 1957. On June 8, 1958, he married Adena Sara MOsevitzsky, a psychiatric social worker. They met at Camp Ramah in 1952 in the Poconos. Together they had three children: Rena, Naama, and Akiva. IN 1965-1974, Potok served as an editor for the Jewish Publication Society. In 1965, a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania was awarded to Potok. Later he wrote the award winning novel, The Chosen, while he and his family lived in Jerusalem. July 23, 2002, Potok died of brain cancer in Merion, Pennsylvania.=====

=The Chosen= By: Chaim Potok

The Chosen is, all over, a story of the friendship between two teenage, Jewish boys. The tall, sandy haired, Hasidic, Danny Saunders, and popular, smart, Modern Orthodox, Reuven (Bobby or Robert) Malter. The author places the story in the 1940's, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City. The second world was was coming to an end and we find ourselves in the middle of two Jewish neighborhoods. One Modern Orthodox, and the other, old fashioned Hasidic.

Now, we find our boys, Danny and Reuven, on rival baseball teams. Danny is known for his batting style; meaning he sends every ball speeding back up the middle, thus trying to kill pitchers. But Reuven is a skilled pitcher and, supposedly, can strike anyone out. Angered by two unsuccessful attempts at hitting Reuven's pitches, Danny sends a line-drive straight towards him. The ball shatters his glasses, sending him to the hospital with an injured eye. Danny returns, later to try and apologize. After two unsuccessful attempts, Reuven's father suggests that he make peace with the boy, saying that "a boy like that needs friends" (Chapter 3). Reuven takes his father's advice and after becoming good friends with Danny, realizes why his father said what he said. He finds out that Danny's father permits him to practice baseball and read books only after he completes his required daily quota of Talmud-a whopping 4 pages a day. He could use good friend.

Reb Suanders, Danny's father, is a very old fashioned Hasidic Jew. He was raised in silence by his father, and in turn, raises Danny in silence. The method is used to force the child to find compassion within his own heart, and to feel others' pain. He welcomes Reuven as his son's friend, even though he disapproves of his father's work (and vice versa for Reuven's father) saying "You think it is easy to be a friend?", when they first meet, "If you are truly his friend you will learn otherwise." (Chapter 4). This statement comes into play when he communicates to Danny, through Reuven.

Danny's phenominal photographic memory drives him to seek knowledge...Even if it is outside what is permitted. He spends most of his time at the local library and eventually meets a man, a Jewish man. In this search for knowledge, this man gives him guidence to what books he should read and what is not worth his time. It's only later that he finds the man to be Reuvan's father. After catching on, Danny's father, Reb Saunders, finds out what Danny is doing in his spare time, and secretly communicates through Reuvan, his disapproval. This happens multiple times up until the end when he reveals out loud, to Reuvan, in front of Danny, that he knows what Danny's plans are for the future. But no more can be said on that topic, it would give the ending away. Reb Saunders is imperssed by Reuven's understanding of Jewish law and tradition. Reb Saunders impresses Reuven, in turn, as he sees the impact Reb Saunders has on his congregation. Going back to the silence concept of raising a child, Reuven comes to experience the pian of silence himself, while the two young men are in college togther. Though accepted as family after he stays with the Saunders' while his father is away, he becomes subject to Reb Saunders wrath when he talks favorably of the idea of establishing a secular Jewish nation in Palestine.