Abstract

While Chaim Potok's novel The Chosen remains one of the most popular works of Jewish fiction, it has not generally been regarded as a critical success. In contrast with authors such as Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, Potok is often charged with presenting a romanticized (rather than realistic) view of traditional American Jews in the mid-twentieth century. The article challenges this assessment, arguing that Potok's work is undervalued in part because he does not present the version of Judaism preferred by critics of his time. Traditional Jews, particularly Hasidic Jews, were viewed as a throwback to the past, not a significant modern American Jewish community. This assessment reveals a biased perspective on traditional Judaism, and it assumes that the key issue confronting mid-century Jews was assimilation. The Chosen presents an alternative to this common characterization of American Judaism, highlighting instead the variety of Jewish traditions in mid-century America, and how the conflicts between them contributed to the development of American Jewish identity.

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