Comments on: Question About A Chaim Potok Book

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:09:39 +0000

I’m a newbie/lurker here finally deciding to comment.

I thought a lot about that passage when I read The Chosen earlier this year. I interpreted it to mean that Reb G. has no real passion for the subject matter. While R’s dad, on the other hand, had an unbridled passion, working himself to death teaching and publishing. I think Potok is saying that orthodoxy can stifle sincere religious passion.

By: MCQ

MCQ — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:25:11 +0000

Love that book. I re-read it recently too.

http://www.nine-moons.com/2009/01/19/a-new-perspective-on-the-chosen/

By: danithew

danithew — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:32:29 +0000

John, that whole “core-core collisions” concept will probably be something for me to ponder for a long time to come.

Thanks for sharing that experience.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:52:49 +0000

I’ve read and reread those, and always see them as very applicable to LDS scholars in RelEd at BYU. I think there’s a lot of self-censorship there.

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:05:34 +0000

Around 1994, Potok was a visiting professor in my university’s writing seminars program. A public lecture in the evening in a not-large classroom filled by a few dozen people was a delight. I mention this mainly to share vicariously with Danithew and Ardis, but something he said relates to Rav Gershenson.

Potok went on at length about “core-core collisions.” He mentioned taking his collie for a walk in his Brooklyn neighborhood, and passing a Hasidic boy who said in Yiddish, “Look, there’s Lassie.” He wondered how the kid had ever heard of Lassie. A meeting of cultures, but very peripherial. The study of Talmud in The Chosen using philosophies or techniques coming from outside that tradition is one of those core-core collisions, and how people deal with that is what Potok wanted to write about.

By: danithew

danithew — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:52:27 +0000

Ardis, thanks for going to the work of finding that and writing all of that out! That is very helpful.

Sounds like he (Gershenson) was self-censoring after all.

By: Ardis Parshall

Ardis Parshall — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:02:25 +0000

danithew, this morning I looked for the passage I remembered as having explained the question you had. Found it — in The Promise (p. 345 in my edition). Being careful to avoid spoilers:

Reuven sits for the examination that will determine whether or not he is ordained. His examiners are Gershenson (who is accepting of new methods, within limits), Kalman (who is a die-hard traditionalist who opposes the merest suggestion of textual criticism) and the college’s dean (whose opinions we don’t really know). Risking all he has worked for toward ordination, Reuven uses his father’s new critical methods, with spectacular effect. When he leaves the exam room, it is not at all certain that he will be ordained.

After the decision is made, Reuven discusses it with Gershenson, who says, “Tell me, Reuven, will you write articles on the Gemora using this method?”

“Yes.”

“I am not sure Rav Kalman will like that.”

I did not say anything.

He smiled. “It is hard for an old tree to bend, Reuven. Be careful in your aticles. Be very careful. Do not be afraid to write.” He smiled sadly. Years ago, I had looked up his name in the English and Hebrew catalogues in the school library and discovered he had never published anything. “No,” he said. “You should not be afraid to write. But be careful that you know what you are saying.”

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:37:21 +0000

I remember an article about twenty years back where Potok said he was planning to revisit Danny and Reuben as fathers. Then The Gift of Asher Lev came out, but I guess the other story never came together. A couple years ago, I read The Chosen aloud with my sons.

By: danithew

danithew — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:59:42 +0000

Ardis, I will continue my re-reading then. I have only finished the Chosen.

By: Ardis Parshall

Ardis Parshall — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:42:19 +0000

Have you finished your re-read, danithew? I re-read all the Potok books this summer, and I remember not only feeling puzzled at the same point you were, but also finding something that explicitly answered the question and left me feeling satisfied. It may not have been in The Chosen, though; it might have been in The Promise.