McEndarfer 1 Anthony McEndarfer Mr. Snyder Eng. 9 H., Per. 1 24 October 2022 Secularity Kills Religion The Chosen is a novel written by Chaim Potok. Reuven, one of the main characters, is playing a good game of American baseball when he gets hit in the eye with a baseball by a boy named Danny. They went to study together and went to college together. Danny is secular, which means he studies books outside of his religion. Danny's father expects him to be the next rabbi, but Danny refuses because he is reading secular books that are changing his mind. Danny keeps reading secular books like Freud, which makes him move away and cut his earlocks, which are keys to Hasidic religion. Danny is just like Rebs' brother; he also became secular and his secularity killed his beliefs. Danny is a Jew, but he feels like he is drifting off of the Hasidic ways. He desires to pursue studies outside of his religion, indicating that he is secular. " Secular literature was forbidden, and the Hasidim lived shut off from the rest of the world. Anything that was not Jewish and Hasidic was forbidden "(Potok 100). Danny does not know if he should do this. He feels like he should but shouldn't because his father has serious expectations of him becoming the next rabbi, which is the closest thing to a god in Hasidic Judaism. Danny goes to the library to study secular books that push him further away from Hasidis. This leads to him becoming more and more out of his religion, almost like secularity is killing his religion inside of him. McEndarfer 2 When Danny's father discovers that Danny has been reading secular books, he realizes that Danny is almost becoming Reb Saunders' brother, because he has done the same things as Danny. " 'Reuven, I did not want my Daniel to become like my brother. May he rest in peace. It was better that I should have had no son at all than to have a brilliant son who had no soul. I looked at my Daniel when he was four years old, and I said to myself, "How will I teach this mind what it is to have a soul How will I teach this mind to understand pain? How will I teach it to want to take on another person’s suffering? How will I do this and not lose my son, my precious son whom I love as I love the Master of the Universe Himself? How will I do this and not cause my son, God forbid, to abandon the Master of the Universe and His Commandments? (264.) Danny’s College Samson The Raphael Hirsch Seminary and College was the only yeshiva in the United States that offered a secular college education. It was located on Bedford Avenue, a few blocks from Eastern Parkway. My father had told me once that it had been built in the early twenties by a group of Orthodox Jews who wanted their sons to have both a Jewish and a secular education. Its college faculty was supposed to be excellent, and its rabbinic faculty consisted of some of the greatest Talmudists in the United States. The rabbinic ordination of its Talmud faculty was looked upon as the highest of Orthodox Jewish honors.Danny’s College Samson The Raphael Hirsch Seminary and College was the only yeshiva in the United States that offered a secular college education. It was located on Bedford Avenue, a few blocks from Eastern Parkway. My father had told me once that it had been built in the early twenties by a group of Orthodox Jews who wanted their sons to have both a Jewish and a secular education. Its college faculty was supposed to be excellent, and its rabbinic faculty consisted of some of the greatest Talmudists in the United States. The rabbinic ordination of its Talmud faculty was looked upon McEndarfer 3 as the highest of Orthodox Jewish honors. Danny has figured out his pathway of picking whether to be the next rabbi and has chosen to be an orthodox Jew. He wants to be a psychologist rather than a rabbi. The next rabbi will be his brother Levi, rather than Danny. He is becoming a psychologist because he wants to explore his hasidic nature. Levi is to be the next rabbi, so Reb might have to wait because Levi is still in school. Chaim Potok is the author of the book Chaim Potok is the author of the book The Chosen. It is about a two-jews named Reuven who is enjoying a wonderful game of American baseball when a boy named Danny hits him in the eye with a baseball. They make up and become friends as they travel to study and attend college. Danny is a secular person. He reads novels that have nothing to do with his religion. Danny rejects his father's expectations for him to succeed him as the next rabbi because he has changed his mind after reading nonreligious literature. As a consequence of reading secular books like Freud and other studies, Danny is moving away and getting rid of his earlocks, which are essential to Hasidic religion. Danny is completely like Rebs' brother; he incorporated a secular lifestyle and did the same things as him.
