The Hasidim and the Orthodox

The Chosen demonstrates how within the encompassing Jewish religion particular forms posses vast differences. The Hasidic sect finds themselves virtually miles apart from the other Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. Chaim Potok wrote this novel where Reb Saunders, his son Danny, and the Hasidic sect to they belong are compared in terms of their attitudes toward religious and secular aspects with David Malter, his son Reuven, and the Orthodox group that holds their beliefs. The feelings these characters show toward each other in terms of their religion are exaggerated in order to cause conflict. David Malter is compassionate and understanding of Reb Saunder's position, since he appreciates that "the fanaticism of men like Reb Saunders kept us alive for two thousand years of exile. If the Jews of Palestine have an ounce of that same fanaticism and use it wisely, we will soon have a Jewish state."

In spite of this understanding that David Malter shows, when he hears that Reb Saunders's is raising Danny in silence his reaction is closer to that of the eighteenth-century opponent: "He sat up straight on the bed, his body quivering. ÔHasidim!Õ I heard him mutter, almost contemptuously. ÔWhy must they feel the burden of the world is only on their shoulders?Õ" (266). This viewpoint is shared by the Orthodox Jews in the synagogue, where he prays with his son. Their distaste for Hasidism is based upon the HasidÕs self-righteousness and the enclosed nature of their communities. The reaction of non-Hasids to this set of beliefs is that they border on idolatry and have no place in true Jewish belief. In the OrthodoxyÕs minds it is wrong to think of someone as a go between God and their sect, as Rev Saunders is viewed as by the Hassidic. Jews are supposed to approach God directly, intermediaries are not required. Potok presents this conflict in The Chosen by making David Malter and Rev Saunders virtual opposites in their approach to Judaism. Reuven Malter is astonished at the manner in which Reb Saunders is treated by his followers, particularly when Danny tells him that his entire community uprooted from Russia and traveled to America because Reb Saunders said that they should go. They follow him, Danny says, because HeÕs a tzaddik." To Rueven this explanation is not sufficient:

"He's not just another human being."
"Is he like God?"
"Something like that. He's a kind of messenger of God, a bridge between his followers and God."
"I don't understand it. It almost sounds like Catholicism." (122)

As with most religious groups, the Hasidim are firmly convinced that their way of approaching God is right and all other ways are wrong, this includes other forms of their own religion. There is, however, a further level of belief among Hasids. They believe that their rebbe is right, has the only entirely true way of performing the various rituals, and places emphasis upon different aspects of the faith. The results of these Hasidic beliefs are depicted throughout The Chosen, particularly in relation to conflicts between Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish beliefs. The dramatic beginning to the novel turns a baseball game into a holy war. Reuven states that his school is looked down upon because it is filled with students who are interested in getting away from the ghetto mentality that is absent in other Brooklyn Jewish schools. The Hasidim consider observant Jews like Reuven little better than heathens, and Danny threatens to "kill you apikorsim":

The word had meant, originally, a Jew educated in Judaism who denied basic tenets of his faith, like the existence of God, the revelation, the resurrection of the dead. To people like Reb Saunders, it also meant any educated Jew who might be reading, say, Darwin, and who was not wearing side curls and fringes outside his trousers. I was an apikoros to Danny Saunders, despite my belief in God and Torah, because I did not have side curls and was attending a parochial school where too many English subjects were offered and where Jewish subjects were taught in Hebrew instead of Yiddish, both unheard-of-sins. . . . (30Ð31)

For many secular Jews, like Rueven Malter, Messianic belief exists; that is, a belief in a Messianic Age. This belief exists with that of a messianic individual in the writings of the prophets and certain Jewish sages, and stressed that "not that a single man would hold the messianic key but that through the work of good men the "Days of the Messiah" could be brought into existence." Basically, Hasidic Jews feel the age where there is a Jewish homeland cannot come before God himself brings them to it. This concept was paired with a belief that stressed the efforts of individuals here and now to work in order to bring about, with GodÕs help, a redeemed mankind on earth and a born again Israel. These beliefs cause much difference in interpretation. The first is interpreted by the Hasids as a direct order not to found a homeland until the Messiah brings it to them. The second however is interpreted by the Zionist to work for a homeland. Both beliefs lead to the same ends for mankind and for Israel; both require guidance from God. The response to Zionism, the founding of a Jewish homeland, in The Chosen is related to different attitudes toward Messianism, God's will, and the Holocaust. Reb Saunders's response to the murder of six million Jews is to say that it is God's will, which appears to be a passive acceptance of the catastrophe. David Malter's response is to say that American Jews, now constituting the largest Jewish community in the world, must work to give the tragedy meaning through preserving the Jewish people. His approach is an active one that finds expression in Zionism: "Some Jews say we should wait for God to send the Messiah. We cannot wait for God! We must make our own Messiah! We must rebuild American Jewry! And Palestine must become a Jewish homeland!" (197). Reb Saunders's "passive" approach is only so that he accepts what he believes to be God's will. He is, however, most active in his resistance to the efforts of people who believe as David Malter does, which belief he sees as hypocritical to this will. When Reuven mentions to him that many people now believe that the time has come for a Jewish homeland to be established in Palestine, he explodes: "God will build the land, not Ben Gurion and his goyim! When the Messiah comes, we will have Eretz Yisroel, a Holy Land, not a land contaminated by Jewish goyim!" (198). Even Danny sees the wrong-headedness of his father's approach to this issue, when he disclaims the belief for himself (he would join a Zionist group if not for his father) but tells Reuven, "ÔHerzel didn't wear a caftan and side curls,Õ Danny says. ÔNeither does Ben GurionÕ" (199).

The result of this difference of opinion is that Reb Saunders almost destroys Reuven's and Danny's friendship by refusing to let Danny speak to Reuven, and "excommunicating" both Reuven and his father from the Saunders's family. Reb Saunders emerges from the novel as a crazed mad man who rules his family and sect with an iron hand. However, Potok clearly does not want the reader to detest Reb Saunders but to appreciate the pressures under which he has. Even Danny holds him in great respect, and at times he emerges as a wise, compassionate man who carries on his shoulders the weight of suffering of his Hasidim and of the world. It is not the Reb that causes this animosity but the religion that he follows. It is very possible that Reb Saunders has nothing against people like the Malters but it is his duty to the Torah and his people to follow the word of God as they interpret it.

This book has a mixture of truth and drama. Without a doubt Potok emphasizes aspects of the plot to create dramatic conflict. Aside from that Potok uses an accurate description of both Orthodox and hasidic life. He has first hand experience with both religions because he was raised hasidic and later converted to Orthodox for whom he became a Rabbi. With the descriptions of the religions accurate it is amazing that two forms of the same religion have so many differences. These differences are so great that generally these two groups hate each other based on their religion, which is ironically their own religion. The Chosen clearly demonstrates how generalizations about religion can be very untruthful.