Chaim Potok The Importance Of Silence Analysis

The Importance of Silence The Chosen is one of the famous works of Chaim Potok’s numerous books. It was published in 1967, and it portrays the cultures and norms of two Jewish sects: the Modern Orthodox and the Hasidic. The story takes place during the Great Depression, a period when Jewish tradition was threatened to become extinct all together. The main protagonists of the story, Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders, represent the two opposing sects. The story depicts how these two sects looked at each other on unfriendly terms at beginning, but learned to set their differences aside and got along very well at last. Reuven and Danny experienced multiple hardships, as their cultures clashed and nearly destroyed their friendship. The author

Danny’s father, Reb Saunders, is a tzaddik (a leader acting as intermediary between God and man) who is highly respected by the Hasidic community. He rarely communicates with Danny, except when discussing about the Talmud. Reuven grew up in a Zionist community, so he is unable to understand why Danny’s father is subjecting him to arbitrary teachings of the Jewish faith through silence. Even though Danny has been subjected to these trials for his entire life, he cannot understand why his father does this either. All he can do is tune in to the silence, because that is the only way he can connect with his father. Even when Danny tried explaining that silence can teach those that are willing to listen, Reuven was still unable to comprehend what he meant. Whenever Reuven asks his father why Reb Saunders is doing this to his son, his dad keeps muttering to himself that there are much better methods to teach their sons than through silence. Those words confuse Reuven, but at the end, he understands what his father meant. It is not until the near-end of the novel that he heeds Danny’s advice and tunes his ears to the never-ending silence of Danny and his