The Chosen

Reuven asks about Danny, and his dad replies with a history of Hasidism. In the 13th century, while most of Europe persecuted the Jews, struggling Poland embraced them, and the Jews became integral to Poland’s success. Since the Jews were aligned with the wealthy, the less well-off people resented the Jews. In 1648, the Cossacks (Greek Orthodox people from southern Russia and Ukraine) and Polish peasants spearheaded an “uprising,” destroying 700 Jewish communities and killing 100,000 Jews.

As disaster supposedly signals the arrival of the Messiah, people believed the Messiah was on its way, and the Jews fasted and prayed to quicken the Messiah’s arrival. Judaism devolved, and the discourse became pilpul (tedious and fussy).

To fill the vacuum, some Jews claimed they could dispel demons. They called themselves Ba’ale Shem (Masters of the Name) because their imputed power derived from their skill at altering the letters that spelled God’s mystical names.

In 1700, in Poland, a Jew named Israel was born. His parents weren’t rich or educated, and they died when he was a child. He liked the woods, and when he became an assistant teacher at 13, he took students into the woods, where they’d sing or stand silently. As he grew older, Israel got a job at the village synagogue, but he studied the Kabbalah (mystical Judaism embraced by Ba’ale Shem) instead of the Talmud.

Israel built a holy and wise reputation, and the father of a rabbi asked him to marry his daughter Hannah. The dad dies and the rabbi brother disapproves of the marriage—Israel dresses badly—but Hannah marries him. After failing to teach him the Talmud, her brother expels Israel and Hannah. They create a tranquil life in the mountains, where Israel meditates and sings. The brother feels guilty and brings Israel and Hannah back. Hannah runs a tavern while Israel wanders and has unpretentious discussions about God.

Israel becomes Ba’al Shem Tov (the Good Master of the Name). Israel believes a spark of goodness (God) is in the hard shell of evil. To get through the shell, people need to pray and love one another, not study the Talmud or pray at predetermined times. After Israel dies, his followers start new synagogues, so Hasidim takes off. Each Hasidic sect has a tzaddik (a leader), and the people are extremely loyal to the tzaddik and think of him as a “superhuman” connection between God and them.

By the 1800s, Hasidism devolves, and the tzaddik becomes cruel and corrupt, with the son automatically inheriting the role. Some sects ban secular books and isolate themselves, freezing their lives. Yet Reuven’s dad says Danny's dad is an admirable tzaddik and a brilliant Talmudist.

Reuven’s dad asks him if he’s asleep, but he’s awake, so Malter continues. He compares Danny to Solomon Maimon—a man from 1800s Poland whose genius gave him no peace and who died at 47 while with a Christian friend. Like Solomon, Danny is “torn” and “lonely.” Reuven and Danny should be friends and help each other—Reuven is also quite smart.

Reb Saunders wants to meet Reuven, so Danny and Reuven walk to Danny’s house. On their way, they talk. Reuven’s mom died soon after he was born, and Reuven doesn’t have brothers or sisters. Danny has a 14-year-old sister and a six-year-old brother who’s sick (there’s something wrong with his blood). His dad doesn’t want them to interact with “outsiders"––that's why he wants to meet Reuven. Reb Saunders broke his silence to tell his son to bring Reuven over. Reuven wouldn’t like having a dad who doesn’t talk to him. Danny agrees—it’s not pleasant, but his dad is still a “great man.”

Around World War I, Cassocks killed Reb Saunders’s wife, daughter, and son in Russia. They wounded Saunders, but he survived and led his sect to America. At Ellis Island, he said his last name was “Senders,” which became “Saunders,” and Jewish social workers helped him and his followers settle in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 1929, two days before the American stock market crashed and the Great Depression arrived, Danny was born.

Reuven can’t fathom how people can uncritically follow someone. He compares Reb Saunders to God and Hasidism to Catholicism, but he doesn’t mean to offend Danny. Danny isn’t offended—he wants Reuven to be honest.

A group of 30 men in black tunics stand outside Danny’s house. He gets them to move, and they enter the brownstone. The first floor is the synagogue, and the other two floors are where Danny and his family live. Reuven recognizes Dov from the baseball game, and Dov stares at him with disbelief and anger.

Two men approach Danny—they can’t agree on the correct interpretation of the Talmud passage. Danny recites the passage and supplies his interpretation. When the men leave, Danny wonders what Reuven’s dad would say, and he praises Malter’s articles on the Talmud.

Reuven meets Reb Saunders. After Reuven says he knows mathematics and Hebrew, Reb Saunders replies, “We will see.” He also uses the word “nu,” which means “so” or “well” in Yiddish. After an older man leads a service, the worshipers eat and sing.

Reb Saunders talks about will. If people do what the Master of the Universe (God) wants, He will do what the person wants. Yet why should God care about people and their will? People are born in pain. They’re weak and like dust. However, people can rise above the dust by studying the Torah and aligning themselves with the “holy Presence.” Yet studying the Torah isn’t easy. Rabbi Meir says a person who stops studying the Torah to admire a tree gives up his life.

Reb Saunders adds that the world isn’t fit to study the Torah. The world is Hitler and Cossacks. The world condemns, kills, and seduces Jews, so the people of Israel have to study the Torah. This world is only a “vestibule” for the next world. To live a full life now, people need the Torah. When Jews study the Torah, God listens. To prove his points, Reb Saunders uses gematriya—assigning a number to a Hebrew word or phrase—and he says prozdor (“vestibule”) is 513.

Done speaking, Reb Saunders asks Danny if he has something to say. Danny corrects his dad: The tree quote is from Rabbi Yaakov, not Rabbi Meir. Shabbat tradition allows the dad to quiz his son, but Reb Saunders conducts a “public quiz.” He asks Danny to discuss other passages, and Danny supplies thorough answers.

Reb Saunders asks Reuven if he liked the gematriya, and Reuven says they were all good. Reb Saunders clarifies: They were all good? Reuven says one was wrong: Prozdor is 503, not 513. Reb Saunders congratulates Reuven and is glad Danny is friends with him. As Reuven’s dad publishes critical articles on Jewish texts, Reb Saunders worries. Yet Malter obeys the Ten Commandments, so Reb Saunders isn’t too worried.

Danny walks Reuven home, and Reuven is perplexed. Reb Saunders is a tyrant one moment and nice the next. Danny says his dad intentionally makes mistakes so he can catch them. If he doesn’t notice them, his dad makes a joke, and they move on.

The quizzes will stop soon, as Danny will start studying with the acclaimed Rav (Rabbi) Gershenson at Samson Raphael Hirsch Seminary and College (Hirsch College)—the sole yeshiva in America that offers a secular college education. Danny is going to major in psychology. Reuven will go to Hirsch College too.

Reuven’s dad scolds him for coming home late, and Reuven tells him what happened with Reb Saunders and Danny. Malter provides secular examples of “public quizzes.” When the 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant became a professor, he had to argue publicly on a philosophical topic. If Reuven becomes a professor, he might have to read an essay and answer questions in public.