Chaim Potok Friendship Quotes

Friendship is something that can become so dear to everyone, but once in awhile that friendship will have to go through trials. Through out the book the theme of friendship come up very often and its one of the main themes the book stresses on. Chaim Potok is a great author that made it clear that differences between people can be put aside is true friendship exits. Most, if not all of his book were about the religious aspect of life. Since he was a religious figure religion was a very important part of his life and every since he was little he grew up in a religious home. He also believed that friendship was very powerful and that it could overcome any obstacle as long as it was true friendship. One of the quotes that shows the beginning

One example of Danny’s and Reuven’s friendship trial is shown in this upcoming quote, “I saw Danny all the time in school, but the silence between us continued. I had finally come to accept it. We had begun to communicate with our eyes, with nods of our heads, with gestures of our hands. But we did not speak to each other. I had no idea how he was getting along in psychology, or how his family was. But I heard no bad news, so I assumed things were more or less all right”(239). This quote shows that something has come between their friendship and it is not allowing them to communicate like they used to. In this case the person that came between their friendship is Danny’s father because he since both Danny and Reuven are from different beliefs of the Jewish religion, Danny’s father considered Reuven a bad example for his son. As the books continues Potok makes us believe in true friendship when Danny and Reuven get past this rough patch and become really good friends

“Reuven, you and your father were a blessing to me. The Master of the Universe sent you to my son. He sent you when my son was ready to rebel. He sent you to listen to my son’s words. He sent you to be my closed eyes and my sealed ears. I looked at your soul, Reuven, not your mind. If you had not found the gematriya mistake, Reuven, it would have made no difference? No. The gemitriya mistake only told me you had a good mind. But your soul I knew already. I knew it when my Daniel came home and told me he wanted to be your friend. Ah, you should have seen his eyes that day. You should have heard his voice. What and effort it was for him to talk to me. But he talked. I knew your soul, Reuven, before I knew your mind or your face. A thousand times I have thanked the Master of the Universe the He sent you and your father to my son”(267). This was such a powerful quote that it brought tears to my eyes. I was left speechless. I think Potok is trying to say how God puts special people in our lives to guide us through the right