Customer Reviews

The Promise

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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One of the most important aspects of Potok's novels is the conflict between traditional, Orthodox Judaism and the modern world of ideas that infringes upon it and challenges its authority. The conflict may be within Judaism (as in "The Promise's" battle between old and modern Jewish scholarship or "The Chosen's" consideration of Hasidism vs. modern Orthodoxy) or from outside of Judaism (art in "My Name is Asher Lev" or politics in "Davita's Harp").

What makes Potok's novels so compelling is that he frames these battles with skillful and deft plotting and beautiful heartfelt language. This aspect of his work reaches its apex with "The Promise", his most brilliantly constructed novel. From the first chapter, he skillfully interweaves the characters' struggles so that they relate to each other in a very meaningful way.

In addition, not since Carson McCullers, has a writer dealt so sensitively and realistically with the mind and struggles of youth and adolescence. Potok takes great pains to delve into the troubled Michael's psyche and helps us understand his demons. His other novels also share this sensitive dealing with youth and with the often stormy relationship between parent and child.

Danny Saunders, the Hasidic Jew we first encountered in "The Chosen" is, ironically, Potok's most "enlightened" creation. His is firmly rooted in his tradtions (in this case, Hasidism) but is also open to new ideas from the "modern world". He becomes a Psychologist, weds a woman outside of Hasidism, and dresses like a modern Jew. He is the realization of Potok's wish: the ability of man to be grounded in and love his faith without being rigid and intractable and intolerant of other ideas and opinions. It is the absence of this tolerance that causes much of the conflict in Potok's novels.

Although "The Chosen" may be his most moving, "Davita's Harp" his most lyrical (large portions of it are like reading poetry), "Asher Lev" his most powerful, "The Promise" is his most skillfully written. It is like a textbook lesson on how to write a novel. It firmly establishes him among America's greatest writers.

A sequel of sorts to "The Chosen", although this book stands quite well on its own, "The Promise" is the story of Reuven, a young rabbinical student, who befriends Michael, a troubled young man who eventually has to be institutionalized under the care of Reuven's friend, Danny. Meanwhile, Reuven is struggling with his teacher, Rav Kalman, a hard-line traditionalist who clashes with Reuven because Reuven has come under the influence of modern critical scholarship due to the influence of Reuven's own father and of Michael's father, Abraham Gordon. The clash of differing schools of Jewish religious thought and the conflict between religious and non-religious Jews is a major theme of this book. Meanwhile, Michael is making no progress in his therapy which leads Danny to propose a radical method of treatment.

This book is absolutely riveting, and it's very hard to put down once begun. The late Chaim Potok, in my opinion, is one of the best novelists of the late 20th century. His evocation of modern Jewish life and issues is unsurpassed, and he tells his stories so effortlessly that even a non-Jew like myself cannot help but be captivated at the same time as I'm being educated. In my opinion, this book is better than "The Chosen" and nearly equal to my favorite Potok novel, "My Name is Asher Lev". I give "The Promise" my highest recommendation.

The Promise continues with the two main characters of The Chosen: Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter, both in the throws of graduate school/seminary in this book. The tension between traditional ( read fundamental) beliefs... represented by Hasidism... and less orthodox Jewish practices and beliefs is not only hammered out intellectually but is embodied in characters in the book: teachers on the staff of the various yeshiva , Reuven's father who is a textual/critical scholar of the Talmud, and Gordon, a liberal scholar and writer, finally, the vitriolic East European Talmud teacher, partisan, and survivor of the death camps.

The value of the book reaches far beyond a sympathetic depiction of Jewery (thouge it paints a vivid picture of the very fabric of Jewish emotional and religious life ); it casts a bright light on the entire controversy revolving around textual criticism in religious study and and the sometimes bitter exchanges between fundamental scholars trying...{in this book} to rebuild the remnants of European Jewery and their devastated world following the holocaust) and the community of textual critics who are moving deeper and deeper into the sacred texts with their "destructive" academic tools. A must read for anyone interested in scholarship, belief, faith, psychology and the tensions that connect all thinking humans, no matter what faith.

Interesting sub-plot relates to Danny Saunder's treatment of an emotionally wounded boy and his rebuilding of his psyche with the techniques and tools he "learned" from his father, a Hadid tzaddik. Simply a wonderful book...worth crying over. The chain smoking, crooked fingered Rav who teaches Talmud and is juxopposed to Rev Gershon (also a Talumd teacher) is worth the read alone. All the characters are drawn with great sympathy.

It's nice when you can finish a book you like, and find that the major characters reappear in a later book. You really have to read The Chosen first, to meet the teenage Danny and Reuven. The Promise gives us a second chapter of their lives, when they are on the brink of beginning their chosen careers, Danny as a psychologist, Reuven trying to become an ordained rabbi.

There are two storylines going on simultaneously. Most of our time is spent on the conflicts between Hasidic doctrine and modern thought. The conservatives (Hasids) are like fundamentalist Christians in the sense that they believe every word of their holy books, literally. The moderns (including Reuven Malter and his father) apply their intelligence, and evaluate what they read. Perhaps the biggest conflict is when the Malters point out errors in the holy books, and arouse the fury of the Hasids. Will Reuven still be allowed to become a rabbi, even though he is a bit of a dissident?

The other storyline centers around Danny, the psychologist, taking on his first challenge. Michael is a mentally sick little boy, and it is up to Danny to crack the case, find out why he is sick, and find a way to cure him. In today's world we would be thinking in terms of lithium and various drugs to try to straighten Michael out, but this isn't that kind of book. The answer here has nothing to do with medicine or drugs. In Potok's world, Danny must find what is troubling Michael.

One weakness of the book is that the psychology seems extremely oversimplified, and not believable. We have to keep in mind that this isn't a psychology book. It's a story. And it really is a pretty good story. Even when I praise a book, I like to present the negatives, for the sake of fairness.

Potok gives us an interesting new character named Rav Kalman. In a sense he is the "bad guy" because he is the conservative who is making life difficult for the Malter family. But he is also described as a man who escaped from a German concentration camp twice, joined the partisans, and killed many Germans. This is a man of action, not just a teacher and rabbi.

I was a student at the University of Pittsburgh in its writing program when I took a hard cover copy of The Promise to a program where Chaim Potok was speaking about Davida's Harp, and I know I must have thrown him back when I asked him to sign it. He is a slight, gentle, soft-soken man, and he had noticed me taking notes as he spoke. "Is this your favorite of my books?" he asked me. I nodded my head, and he did sign The Chosen. Truly, the book had troubled me, because it's a troubling world and Mr. Potok's book lifted the veil of false expectancies for me, a young Jewish woman who expected the community of Judiasm to be without vices and a safe place. In truth it is full of people who are very much like others everywhere, the same motives, insecurities and yes, sometimes even unsavory characters. I have grown up to become an author myself, and my greatest hope is that one day, someone like the girl I was will become troubled by one of my books.

Read it for it's insight. It's about people. All people.

I read The Chosen in 7th grade for school, and when I read The Promise for the first time a year later, I thought The Chosen was the better novel. Now in 10th grade, I've reread them both and comr to the conclusion that despite the fact that they are about the same characters, they are so differt that it is hard to compare them, and anyways, both are amazingly weel writtin and deeply touching novels. Personally, as an Orthodox Jew, I was able to recognize most of the terminology and Hebrew and Aramaic words, but when I looked at the other comments here, I saw that the majority of Gentiles could too, there where a few who had difficulty. One thing I really liked about this book is that unlike The Chosen, it deals with issues still contreversial within the Jewish community. There are many who ask the questions of Abraham Gordon and others who condem those who ask as Heretics (apikorsim). There are some who believe that the Talmud was revealed word for word at Mt. Sinai and others who follow Reuven's stance that the Talmud is Rabbinic discussions and laws derived from the Penteteuch (chumash). I liked the way that although the story is told through Reuven's eyes and he explaines his views and why he holds by them (I agree with him), Potok does not favor any particular view in this story. I think that everyone, Jew of Gentile should read this book at least once. it taught me a lot about the conflicts within Judaism.

The Promise is the sequel to The Chosen. Both are excellent books - the plot moves quickly, the characters are great, and the story is riveting. I really appreciate the keen insights into orthodox Judaism that Potok reveals in these books. I highly recommend this book and "The Chosen" to all readers.

Reuven and Danny have aged several years since the closing of Potok's novel The Chosen. Each has moved on into life and each faces challenges in their individual quests to succeed at their selected fields of endeavor. Reuven is in training to become an Orthodox rabbi, but his slightly modern ideas clash with those of an inflexibly traditional instructor, a man some see as sadistic, and whose past has featured an incredible odyssey of escape from Nazi Germany thru the Soviet Union and finally to China and America. The man, surely a genius but scarred by life and hard to the core, sees the only path to preserving Judaism after the Holocaust is to permit no alterations whatsoever to its practice, and he feels Reuven to be a threat to his ideals.

Danny on the other hand, the brilliant young Talmudic scholar who abdicated from his birthright of succeeding his father as leader of an entire Chasidic community, has risen far in the practice of psychiatry, and he seeks to cure a disturbed young man by employing a risky, perhaps cruel technique once used on him by his own father, the "therapy of silence" whereby the patient is cared for but not spoken to or acknowledged in any way at any time by anyone. He hopes this isolation will bring the young man out of his catatonic state by forcing him to reach out for the help available in the outer world.

The Promise is every bit an equal to The Chosen, but the setting is more modern and less about conflicts within Judaism as it is simply about the lives of the Jewish characters we met in the earlier novel. Some of the new characters here are as good as those of the previous novel, and the ultimate sense of reconciliation and triumph at the conclusion of The Promise is nothing less than a cause for triumphant celebration for those of us who have traced the journeys of Danny and Reuven to break free in their lives.

At first glance the book did not interest me. However, I LOVED IT!!! After reading The Promise I read the Chosen as well. Both excellent. Chaim Potok's prose is simply amazing--vivid and strong.
At the end of the novel I realized just how attached I had gotten to the characters. I wasn't ready to end the adventure with the characters. I became submerged in the plot. This insightful masterpiece was just the kind of book to remind me why people write in the first place. This just proves how amazing Chaim Potok truly is.

The Chosen was bittersweet, especially since Danny's choice left me feeling somewhat bereft. There was no true closure, and I was not entirely sure of where his words would take him.

The Promise, on the other hand, breaks my heart.

I feel as though I have been put through a wringer. I could understand and relate to both R' Kalman, Reuven, Danny and Reuven's father. I was awed by the way in which Reuven was able to interact with R' Kalman. Having been in a very similar situation myself, with a teacher who was angry and cruel to me, I can say that I was unable to feel anything but anger/ hatred for a very long time.

I still do feel that anger, but now that I have witnessed Reuven's words and his father's gentle counsel, I am more prepared to deal with what has been thrown at me. Michael's catharsis, later on in the book, also meant a great deal to me, as his feelings are so understandable, and yet so very hard to express, especially if, as he writes, he truly does not mean to hurt anyone.

I feel as though I could cry. This book is incredibly powerful. The Chosen was beautiful, but The Promise is the land beyond beauty, the realm of power, the stuff of which myths and dreams are made. The Promise tells the story of our lives, of why we go on. It tells us who we are, and why we are. It tells us of ourselves.