The Chosen

Reuven Malter's yeshiva team plays Danny Saunders' Hasidic team in a fierce neighborhood baseball game. Danny's line drive shatters Reuven's eyeglasses, sending glass into his eye.

Reuven recovers in the hospital, befriending other patients. His father visits and explains why he must befriend Danny. Danny returns and they talk for hours.

Reuven visits the Saunders household for Shabbat, witnesses Reb Saunders' Talmud quiz ritual, and first notices that Danny's father speaks to his son only through Reuven.

The friendship deepens through regular Shabbat visits. Danny confesses his desire to study psychology. Reuven and his father discuss Danny's extraordinary mind and the weight of his inheritance.

News of D-Day dominates Jewish Brooklyn. David Malter becomes increasingly active in Zionist causes. Reb Saunders' anti-Zionism is established. The first fault line between the fathers opens.

Reuven attends a Rosh Hashanah service and hears Reb Saunders preach. The sermon on suffering — on why God allows Jewish pain — is the theological center of the novel.

Reuven returns home and asks his father about the silence. David Malter explains Reb Saunders as best he can. Reuven grows closer to his father through discussing Danny's constraint.

David Malter has a heart attack and is hospitalized for weeks. Reuven is forced to stay with Danny's family. His presence in the Saunders household deepens, and he observes the silence more closely.

David Malter recovers and intensifies his Zionist work. Reb Saunders formally opposes Zionism from the pulpit. The two fathers are now in open ideological conflict.

Reb Saunders learns of David Malter's Zionist activities and forbids Danny from seeing Reuven. The boys are separated for months. The friendship is suspended but not broken.

The months of separation. Reuven's Talmud studies deepen under his father's guidance. He learns about the Wissenschaft des Judentums (scientific study of Judaism) and begins to develop his own scholarly identity.

Israel declares independence in May 1948. The Jewish community is divided. David Malter's health deteriorates. Reb Saunders lifts the prohibition; Danny and Reuven are reunited.

Danny reveals he has applied to Columbia University for psychology. He and Reuven discuss what it means to leave the Hasidic world without leaving Judaism. The question of identity after inheritance.

Reuven tells his father about Danny's Columbia application. David Malter confirms he has been guiding Danny's reading for years. The hidden structure of the novel is revealed.

Danny is accepted to Columbia's graduate program in experimental psychology. He tells Reuven but not his father. The question of when and how to tell Reb Saunders looms.

Danny and Reb Saunders' first conversation about Columbia — conducted, as always, through Reuven — reveals that Reb Saunders already knows. He has known for some time.

Reb Saunders speaks to Danny — finally, directly, through tears — and explains why he raised him in silence. The novel's central mystery resolved. Danny is released.

The novel's final chapter. Reuven begins his rabbinical studies. Danny leaves for Columbia, beard and earlocks intact. Both boys carry their fathers forward into their separate futures.