Excellent Reading and Sequal: This book, as well as "The Chosen", which was almost like an intro to it, were two of the best books I have ever read. While I found one of Potok's other books, "My Name is Asher Lev" thought provoking, yet quite disturbing, "The Promise" was still thought provoking, yet deeper, more complex, and not so disturbing. So for everyone who has read "The Chosen" and enjoyed it, they are bound to enjoy this book, which picks up with Reuvan Malter still in school studying to be a rabbi and his best friend Danny Saunders, almost a psychologist now who is about to embark on a very difficult case. Enjoy!

The sequel to The Chosen follows Reuven Malter as he studies for ordination (smicha). It’s the summer of 1950, 5 years after the end of World War II. On vacation, Reuven continues dating Rachel Gordon, the niece of a famous Jewish teacher and author who is considered heretical by the more traditional wing of Orthodox Jewry. Rachel, along with her 14 year old cousin Michael, is also vacationing at the same area as Reuven and his father. Rachel persuades Reuven to accompany her and and her 14 year old cousin Michael to a county fair. But the “fair” is in reality a carnival, and Michael, cleverly caught by a huckster in a con game run by an old Jewish man and realizing that the game is crooked, turns violent; Reuven and Rachel restrain him. Learning that Michael ha emotional problems, Reuven lout of compassion and a sincere liking for Michael, invites Michael to go sailing with him, and the boy forms a close bond with the quietly empathetic Reuven.

Back in New York, Reuven starts a Talmudic class under Rav Kalman, an extremely conservative teacher who is a survivor of the Shoah. Kalman is one of many such teachers brought over to the US as a way of preserving the Eastern European Jewish remnant; they and the Hasidim, also survivors, re changing radically both the daily life and the atmosphere in the yeshivas of the Orthodox Jewish community. Reuven immediately is repelled by what he sees as Kalamn’s fanaticism and rigidity, but the class he is taking is required for ordination, and he has to not just endure but win Rav Kalman’s approval if he wishes to obtain smicha.

Meanwhile, the Gordon family has requested that Reuven introduce them to Danny Saunders, who, even though he is still in graduate school at Columbia, is gaining a reputation as a brilliant clinical psychologist. Danny, Reuven’s oldest and best friend, becomes involved in Michael’s care as Michael’s condition deteriorates.

These two main threads—Reuven’s struggle with Rav Kalman and Danny’s treatment of Michael--become entangled.

The most remarkable thing about Chaim Potok's works is that he is concerned, not with the world without but totally with the world within Orthodox Judaism. The US can go through a world war, McCarthy can wreak his destruction from which we still have not completely recovered, but these are events that have meaning, yes, but are tangential to the world in which Reuven , his father, Rav Kalman, Danny, and others live. It is a world concerned nearly totally with morality--different views of how to live it, but that's the topic, and nothing else really matters.

Potok's language is gentle and utterly beautiful. It's a style that is dreamlike except when discussing Torah, and then a clean austerity enters. Potok is incredibly good at showing a gentile world what such Torah study is and what it means especially to Orthodox Jewry. Just as in other religions, there are struggles within the Orthodox world; Potok shows compassionate understanding for all sides involved. It is remarkable writing, done with great insight.

The resolution of the plot is utterly gripping; I have been less fascinated by best-selling thrillers or police procedurals. Again, Potok knows and loves the world of which he is writing and has the remarkable ability to make that world come alive and be real for those of us who would otherwise never know it existed.

Highly recommended. ( )

The Promise, sequel to The Chosen, finds Danny and Reuven now just in their early twenties and approaching the end of their studies. The battle between Orthodox and Reformed beliefs continues along with its consequential effect on Danny and Reuven, and now coming into the arena in addition to Reuven’s teachers is Abraham Gordon, the uncle of Reuven’s girlfriend Rachel. Then Danny and Reuven have an additional problem to contend with: Abraham Gordon’s emotionally disturbed fourteen year old son Michael; the two boys become deeply involved, Danny in his role as a student psychologist and Reuven as Michael’s new friend.

As in The Promise there are plenty of discussions centred around the Talmud, but they are so well explained and presented that they are of interest even for someone who has little or no knowledge of such. But the real beauty of the story is the relationship between the characters. The two boys are remarkable individuals who by their modest and respectful attitude along with their devotion to their faith seem to endear them to all whom they meet. Danny and Reuven remain best friends and show complete trust in each other; Reuven’s active concern for Michael is very touching; and Reuven’s relationship with his father, the love and respect he has for him, is a joy to behold.

The Promise is a remarkable book, a fitting conclusion to the fascinating story which started in The Chosen. Extremely well written, it is an enjoyable, thought provoking and heart warming tale which I highly recommend.
( )

3388 The Promise, by Chaim Potok (read 9 Jan 2001) This is the sequel to Potok's masterpiece, The Chosen. I found the part about Michael's mental illness not too interesting, but the fight of Reuven to become a rabbi even though his teacher was more Orthodox than he, is quite dramatic. The book resonates no doubt more for one who is Jewish, but I found it fascinating and wonder if it is really accurate. The brilliant students quote from memory much from the Talmud and commentators thereon--somehow I found it hard to believe they could quote so much from memory. But the author is a rabbi, and he should know. Quite a good book. ( )

This sequal to "The Chosen" is only a hair below that book. It didn't quite make me cry, as "The Chosen" did, but it was close. Reuven and Danny are now at the end of college. Reuven, the modern thinking Jew working for smicha (needed to be a rabbi) in his school from a hard line Hasidic teacher. Danny is working as an intern essentially, at a treatment center for disturbed children, and suggests a radical treatment for a patient of his, who is very close to Reuven. ( )