The Holocaust Exposed In The Chosen By Chaim Potok

A novel unparalleled to any other during its time period, The Chosen by Chaim Potok introduced outsiders to the life of Hasidic Jews and modern Jews during the horror of World War II and the aftermath of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was not the only time in the history of the Jewish people when they were persecuted and oppressed. Starting long before the thirteenth century, the Jews were always looked down upon and victimized; however, the resentment from torment during the thirteenth century of the Jews had been carried to members of the Jewish sects in the mid-twentieth century. The distinct sects lashed out at each other instead of the world. That hatred carried from the 1200s through the 1950s fueled the revulsion between Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter, thus creating the conflict that fueled

The baseball game would never have occurred, the baseball would not have potentially blinded Reuven, and he and Danny would never have become friends. Despite the oppression faced by the Jews, the act of proving oneself to the world was obviously felt by the Jews through the example of organized athletics. The excitement of the baseball game, however, was never matched throughout the remainder of the book.

Not only do the ideals of the two sects separate each from the other but also the clothing was completely different. The Hasidic Jews, from the creation of Hasidism in the thirteenth century to the time of the novel in the mid-twentieth century, had a constant uniform to differentiate their sect:

…In fashion of the very Orthodox, their hair was closely cropped, except for the area near their ears from which…tumbled down into the long side curls...They all wore the traditional undergarment beneath their shirts, and the tzitzit came out above their belts and swung against their pants as they walked... In contrast, our team had no particular uniform, and each of us wore whatever he wished. (Chosen, p.