Jack Eskew Mrs.Brown Adv. Literature 15 December 2016 Chaim Potok Potok was born in New York City on February 17, 1929, to Polish-Jewish immigrants Benjamin Max Potok and Mollie Friedman Potok. His father had emigrated from Poland to the United States in 1921. Chaim Potok, along with his younger brother and two younger sisters, was raised in the Orthodox Jewish religion. In his literature, Chaim Potok uses his experiences growing up as an orthodox Jew during World War II, a time of segregation among the different Hasidic Jew sectors, where friendships from different groups were forbidden and loyalty to one’s own group was arduous. Potok lived a very conflicted life because he wanted to become a writer but his parents discouraged it. All they …show more content…
Hasidic Jews lived in different areas called sectors. The book states, “Each with its own rabbi, its own little synagogue, its own customs, and its own fierce loyalties” (Potok 3). All of these sectors were very different but connected to the same idea. Potok, like Danny from the novel lived in a house called a Brownstone. “Set tightly together, none taller than three or four stories. In these houses lived Jews, Irish, Germans, and some spanish refugee families that had fled the new Franco regime before the onset of the second world war”(Potok 3). Most of the stores in the area were run by orthodox Jews and members of the hasidic sectors. “They could be seen behind their counters, wearing black skullcaps, full beards, and long earlocks”(Potok 4) The description of the Hasidic community connects with the community that Potok grew up …show more content…
He wanted to change from his extreme Hasidic sector to an Orthodox way of life. When talking about the Talmud, Danny says, “I get bored studying just Talmud”(Potok 60). This is exactly how Potok felt about his studies. Potok found it to be very interesting to read books outside of the religion. Danny says, “But it’s exciting being able to read all those books”(Potok 60). This is an exact representation of how Danny symbolizes the Author. Danny’s desire to read books occupies most of his time. He is described as, “A boy who comes into the library, climbs to the third floor, the room with old journals, looks carefully around, finds a table behind a bookcase where almost no one can see him, and sits down to read”(Potok 63). This shows how like Potok, he had to be very secretive when going to library to read these books. This makes Danny feel very guilty. The book states, “He smiled but said nothing. It was a sad smile, and his blue eyes seemed sad too”(Potok 60). Both Potok and Danny feel as if they are betraying their family and religion by reading books of secular