Relationships in Potoks The Chosen Essay -- Potok The Chosen Relation

In The Chosen, Potok describes the Jewish culture during the period of World War I. start-off with the affluence of Polish Jews before the war, Potok established a circle of human relationships. In the book, there are three main relationships. The first one is father- watchword, in the midst of Danny and his father, insurrectionist Saunders and in the midst of Reuven and his father, David Malter. The relationship between Reuven and Danny is the second main relationship in The Chosen. The third main relationship is Hasidism verses Zionism. The relationship between the dickens fathers and the two sons is a very important theme in this book. Because of their disparate backgrounds, Reb Saunders and David Malters approached raising a child from two totally antithetic perspectives. Despite the obvious differences in the two mens beliefs, two did what they thought was right for their sons. Reb Saunders was a Hasidic tzaddik and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. He rai sed Danny in silence, hoping to teach him to comprehend to silence, to learn compassion, and to develop a soul to go with his mind. Unless it had to do with spectral studies, Reb never had an actual conversation with Danny after the age of 3. Reb wanted Danny to find things out for himself. On the other hand, Reuvens father, Mr. Malters, matt-up it very important that he had good and frequent communication between himself and his son. The two would sometimes talk for hours about life, different religions, friends and anything else Reuven would want to ...