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In the Beginning: A Novel
“Powerful . . . It successfully recreates a time and place and the journey of a soul.”—The New York TimesAll beginnings are hard—that is the lesson David Lurie learns early and painfully in his life. As a boy in the depression-shadowed Bronx, he must begin to hold his own against neighborhood bullies and the treacherous frailties of his own health. As a young man in a world menaced by a distant, horrifying war, he must begin once more—this time to define a resolute path of personal belief that departs boldly from the tradition of his teachers and his own father, a courageous defender of their people.Learning how to remember his past as he nourishes the future, David struggles to complete his first long journey into ancient beginnings.“A major work in every sense.”—Pittsburgh Press
540 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1975
199 people are currently reading
1855 people want to read
About the author
Chaim Potok
69 books1,858 followersHerman Harold Potok, or Chaim Tzvi, was born in Buffalo, New York, to Polish immigrants. He received an Orthodox Jewish education. After reading Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited as a teenager, he decided to become a writer. He started writing fiction at the age of 16. At age 17 he made his first submission to the magazine The Atlantic Monthly. Although it wasn't published, he received a note from the editor complimenting his work.
In 1949, at the age of 20, his stories were published in the literary magazine of Yeshiva University, which he also helped edit. In 1950, Potok graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English Literature.
After four years of study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America he was ordained as a Conservative rabbi. He was appointed director of Leaders Training Fellowship, a youth organization affiliated with Conservative Judaism.
After receiving a master's degree in English literature, Potok enlisted with the U.S. Army as a chaplain. He served in South Korea from 1955 to 1957. He described his time in S. Korea as a transformative experience. Brought up to believe that the Jewish people were central to history and God's plans, he experienced a region where there were almost no Jews and no anti-Semitism, yet whose religious believers prayed with the same fervor that he saw in Orthodox synagogues at home.
Upon his return, he joined the faculty of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and became the director of a Conservative Jewish summer camp affiliated with the Conservative movement, Camp Ramah. A year later he began his graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and was appointed scholar-in-residence at Temple Har Zion in Philadelphia.
In 1963, he spent a year in Israel, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on Solomon Maimon and began to write a novel.
In 1964 Potok moved to Brooklyn. He became the managing editor of the magazine Conservative Judaism and joined the faculty of the Teachers’ Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary. The following year, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society in Philadelphia and later, chairman of the publication committee. Potok received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1970, Potok relocated to Jerusalem with his family. He returned to Philadelphia in 1977. After the publication of Old Men at Midnight, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died at his home in Merion, Pennsylvania on July 23, 2002, aged 73.
In 1949, at the age of 20, his stories were published in the literary magazine of Yeshiva University, which he also helped edit. In 1950, Potok graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English Literature.
After four years of study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America he was ordained as a Conservative rabbi. He was appointed director of Leaders Training Fellowship, a youth organization affiliated with Conservative Judaism.
After receiving a master's degree in English literature, Potok enlisted with the U.S. Army as a chaplain. He served in South Korea from 1955 to 1957. He described his time in S. Korea as a transformative experience. Brought up to believe that the Jewish people were central to history and God's plans, he experienced a region where there were almost no Jews and no anti-Semitism, yet whose religious believers prayed with the same fervor that he saw in Orthodox synagogues at home.
Upon his return, he joined the faculty of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and became the director of a Conservative Jewish summer camp affiliated with the Conservative movement, Camp Ramah. A year later he began his graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and was appointed scholar-in-residence at Temple Har Zion in Philadelphia.
In 1963, he spent a year in Israel, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on Solomon Maimon and began to write a novel.
In 1964 Potok moved to Brooklyn. He became the managing editor of the magazine Conservative Judaism and joined the faculty of the Teachers’ Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary. The following year, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society in Philadelphia and later, chairman of the publication committee. Potok received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1970, Potok relocated to Jerusalem with his family. He returned to Philadelphia in 1977. After the publication of Old Men at Midnight, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died at his home in Merion, Pennsylvania on July 23, 2002, aged 73.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 217 reviews
August 18, 2024
Mar 21, 930am ~~ Oh, my. Ten stars if it could be done. Review asap.
Mar 24, 1240pm ~~ The fifth title of my Chaim Potok challenge list, In The Beginning was the most intense so far. Which is saying something, because the previous four were also intense reads. But so many threads were tied up here: it seemed to me that Potok put all the issues the Jewish people have dealt with for centuries (and still deal with today) but seen through the eyes of David Lurie, followed from birth to young adulthood in these pages as he sorts out the world around him.
The first thing that happens to David is an accident. While climbing the steps to the front door of the apartment house where the family lives, on the very first day of bringing baby David home from the hospital, his mother trips and falls, and David's little face hits the steps. Baby has a nosebleed but when the doctor comes he says everything is fine. But as David grows he is sick more than other children, intensely sick with headaches and throat infections. This forces him to spend much of his life in bedridden fever dreams in which he tries to understand what the adults in his world are doing, why they seem so tense and worried all the time. What can be happening?
Of course the reader knows in general what is happening, because the story is set between the two World Wars. But even so, the narrative is so strong that emotionally we only see things through David's eyes and are just as befuddled by the world as he was. He had some rude introductions to intolerance even from people with whom he thought he would be accepted. These passages are painfully sad to read.
Will humanity ever learn to be humane? I am close to giving up on us as a whole. Individually we can be decent, but put us all together and we become ignorant intolerant fools. More so these days than ever before. Sorry, let me take a minute to back away from that depressing thought.
David turns out to be an incredible scholar, full of curiosity, asking questions that even most older students don't think of. He has an agile mind with an imposing memory, but he doesn't just parrot what he learns, he wants to understand it too. He is merely being himself, but he intimidates his teachers and his fellow students. As the years pass he must face the unknown future that his thirst for knowledge is leading him towards. Does he dare to follow his own thinking or must he stay within traditional educational paths?
I was impressed at the knowledge needed merely to write about David's scholarly pursuits. I was fascinated by the approach to religious commentary. I loved reading about the discussions over various passages, when David or some other student is supposed to demonstrate their Talmudic knowledge to the teacher. I have ordered a few books that explore the lives of some of the Rebbes mentioned in this book, such as Rashi. I am looking forward to those and to the remaining five books of my Chaim Potok list.
I feel like this is not nearly enough to say about all the things this book made me feel, but it is the best I can do, except that I wish everyone would read it and see what an artist Potok was with his words and ideas.
Mar 24, 1240pm ~~ The fifth title of my Chaim Potok challenge list, In The Beginning was the most intense so far. Which is saying something, because the previous four were also intense reads. But so many threads were tied up here: it seemed to me that Potok put all the issues the Jewish people have dealt with for centuries (and still deal with today) but seen through the eyes of David Lurie, followed from birth to young adulthood in these pages as he sorts out the world around him.
The first thing that happens to David is an accident. While climbing the steps to the front door of the apartment house where the family lives, on the very first day of bringing baby David home from the hospital, his mother trips and falls, and David's little face hits the steps. Baby has a nosebleed but when the doctor comes he says everything is fine. But as David grows he is sick more than other children, intensely sick with headaches and throat infections. This forces him to spend much of his life in bedridden fever dreams in which he tries to understand what the adults in his world are doing, why they seem so tense and worried all the time. What can be happening?
Of course the reader knows in general what is happening, because the story is set between the two World Wars. But even so, the narrative is so strong that emotionally we only see things through David's eyes and are just as befuddled by the world as he was. He had some rude introductions to intolerance even from people with whom he thought he would be accepted. These passages are painfully sad to read.
Will humanity ever learn to be humane? I am close to giving up on us as a whole. Individually we can be decent, but put us all together and we become ignorant intolerant fools. More so these days than ever before. Sorry, let me take a minute to back away from that depressing thought.
David turns out to be an incredible scholar, full of curiosity, asking questions that even most older students don't think of. He has an agile mind with an imposing memory, but he doesn't just parrot what he learns, he wants to understand it too. He is merely being himself, but he intimidates his teachers and his fellow students. As the years pass he must face the unknown future that his thirst for knowledge is leading him towards. Does he dare to follow his own thinking or must he stay within traditional educational paths?
I was impressed at the knowledge needed merely to write about David's scholarly pursuits. I was fascinated by the approach to religious commentary. I loved reading about the discussions over various passages, when David or some other student is supposed to demonstrate their Talmudic knowledge to the teacher. I have ordered a few books that explore the lives of some of the Rebbes mentioned in this book, such as Rashi. I am looking forward to those and to the remaining five books of my Chaim Potok list.
I feel like this is not nearly enough to say about all the things this book made me feel, but it is the best I can do, except that I wish everyone would read it and see what an artist Potok was with his words and ideas.
October 2, 2025
"... ci sono molti animi buoni (...). Aiutano a tenere vivo il mondo".
Chi inizia a leggere Potok quasi mai rimane deluso e sovente lo inserisce fra gli autori prediletti. Così è stato per me.
Anche questo libro, lento nella prima parte, ben presto si è rivelato assai coinvolgente. Ha una scrittura che rincuora e apre spiragli. Vi si avverte qualcosa di intensamente vissuto, un substrato dal sapore autobiografico.
Un romanzo di formazione. E si sa, "gli inizi sono sempre difficili". "Specialmente un inizio che vi create da soli. Quello è il più difficile di tutti".
Il giovane protagonista è figlio di ebrei fuggiti dalla Polonia.
Che cosa significa per questa famiglia vivere in America , affrontare la Grande Crisi, seguire le vicende della Seconda Guerra Mondiale e l'espansione nazista in Europa, con quasi tutti i parenti rimasti là? E nel dopoguerra la scoperta dell'olocausto?
E che cosa significa per un giovane scegliere il proprio percorso di vita tra venti contrari e difficoltà, benché sorretto da eccezionale intelligenza e forte determinazione?
Chi inizia a leggere Potok quasi mai rimane deluso e sovente lo inserisce fra gli autori prediletti. Così è stato per me.
Anche questo libro, lento nella prima parte, ben presto si è rivelato assai coinvolgente. Ha una scrittura che rincuora e apre spiragli. Vi si avverte qualcosa di intensamente vissuto, un substrato dal sapore autobiografico.
Un romanzo di formazione. E si sa, "gli inizi sono sempre difficili". "Specialmente un inizio che vi create da soli. Quello è il più difficile di tutti".
Il giovane protagonista è figlio di ebrei fuggiti dalla Polonia.
Che cosa significa per questa famiglia vivere in America , affrontare la Grande Crisi, seguire le vicende della Seconda Guerra Mondiale e l'espansione nazista in Europa, con quasi tutti i parenti rimasti là? E nel dopoguerra la scoperta dell'olocausto?
E che cosa significa per un giovane scegliere il proprio percorso di vita tra venti contrari e difficoltà, benché sorretto da eccezionale intelligenza e forte determinazione?
June 7, 2025
I haven’t met a Potok book I didn’t love and this was no exception. It was especially meaningful since so much of the ultimate arc of the book is centered on issues of Biblical studies. The feeling of wrestling with truth, especially the truth about Scripture, in a strong group cultural context resonates with my own experience, albeit my experience is far less pronounced. The coming of age of an orthodox Jewish boy before and around the time of WW2 was an appreciated historical grounding.
February 9, 2012
A superbly written story of a exceptionally intelligent young Jewish boy, David, his family, and their struggle to establish their lives in the United States, and to aid other Jewish families who wish to leave Poland and settle in New York. The family thrives in the US in the prosperous 1920's, though the school-age David is bullied by anti-Semitic local boys, and he is haunted by whispered secrets of his father's past as a militant activist among Jews in the "old country." We follow this family through the Great Depression and into World War II, as its members learn of the Nazis' cruelty to family and acquaintances they left behind in Europe. It seems like this is primarily the story of the Jewish experience in NYC in the 1920's -1940's. Then in the final portion of the book, there is a completely new plot twist as the author focuses on David's decision to lay aside his orthodox beliefs to pursue secular Biblical criticism, thereby shocking his family and friends at a time when they were still reeling from the reality of the Holocaust.
Each of the main characters are completely life-like and compelling. Their story is told from an uncommon perspective, and gives you an empathy and understanding for their conflicts even though their culture is foreign.
I was a bit disappointed in the change of focus near the end, and thought the conclusion seemed almost too abrupt after such deep emotional involvement. I was left wishing I knew the rest of the story!
Each of the main characters are completely life-like and compelling. Their story is told from an uncommon perspective, and gives you an empathy and understanding for their conflicts even though their culture is foreign.
I was a bit disappointed in the change of focus near the end, and thought the conclusion seemed almost too abrupt after such deep emotional involvement. I was left wishing I knew the rest of the story!
June 9, 2008
"All beginnings are hard..."
Potok had a gift for communicating the significance of familial and cultural relationships. Seemingly normal interactions have life-long consequences for his characters. You feel the pain of a mocking look or a bigoted sneer. You bond with the warmth of the common American sidewalk. A mother's song, a father's beard. Potok never puts you through too much emotional strain without giving you enough hope and courage to get to the next chapter.
Potok had a gift for communicating the significance of familial and cultural relationships. Seemingly normal interactions have life-long consequences for his characters. You feel the pain of a mocking look or a bigoted sneer. You bond with the warmth of the common American sidewalk. A mother's song, a father's beard. Potok never puts you through too much emotional strain without giving you enough hope and courage to get to the next chapter.
August 13, 2024
I love Chaim Potok, but this isn't my favorite novel by him. At times the story is a little long winded and could have done with a few pages less. Still it gives a good story of what Jewish families had to deal with in life.
November 22, 2015
In The Beginning is quite different in style than Potok’s earlier novels. The story is told through -somewhat non-sequential flashbacks. We see a lot of David as a young boy, but then it moves quickly through his adolescent years. He is brilliant, bookish, and intellectually rebellious—though in a quiet and confident way. It shifts back and forth from great narrative and descriptive detail to more emotional impressions. It is a lot in David’s head – sometimes when he sick with fever or lost deep in daydreams.
The overall mood of the novel is melancholy. There are moments of joy and happiness, but a lot of sadness and loneliness. It is beautiful in many ways; painting an impressionistic picture of American Orthodox Jewish life in early middle part of the 20th century.
Potok’s novels take me into a world both familiar and utterly foreign. It is a deeply Jewish world, but it’s not my Jewish world. Potok stirs in me a desire to know more about this Orthodox world, a (ever so slight) regret that I didn’t grow up and live in this world filled with Torah and Talmud. At this same time, I am repulsed by this closed, ghettoized world; one so fearful and disdainful of different knowledge and ways. I think this tension is at the heart of Potok’s novels. Be it Danny Saunders (The Chosen), Asher Lev (My Name is Asher Lev), or David (In The Beginning), the main character always straddles and struggles with this gap between the Yiddish, Orthodox world and the secular world. He wants to keep and maintain this world he knows and loves, but there is too much in him—a desire for more than what the insular Orthodox world can offer—for him to stay. He does not want to reject the past, but he also knows that life requires moving forward…to a new beginning.
The overall mood of the novel is melancholy. There are moments of joy and happiness, but a lot of sadness and loneliness. It is beautiful in many ways; painting an impressionistic picture of American Orthodox Jewish life in early middle part of the 20th century.
Potok’s novels take me into a world both familiar and utterly foreign. It is a deeply Jewish world, but it’s not my Jewish world. Potok stirs in me a desire to know more about this Orthodox world, a (ever so slight) regret that I didn’t grow up and live in this world filled with Torah and Talmud. At this same time, I am repulsed by this closed, ghettoized world; one so fearful and disdainful of different knowledge and ways. I think this tension is at the heart of Potok’s novels. Be it Danny Saunders (The Chosen), Asher Lev (My Name is Asher Lev), or David (In The Beginning), the main character always straddles and struggles with this gap between the Yiddish, Orthodox world and the secular world. He wants to keep and maintain this world he knows and loves, but there is too much in him—a desire for more than what the insular Orthodox world can offer—for him to stay. He does not want to reject the past, but he also knows that life requires moving forward…to a new beginning.
October 26, 2023
Potok’s coming-of-age books are always so cerebral and inspiring. The protagonists are always truly analytical types: totally focused, with searing intellectualism. The characters have such dedication and depth. This story spans two continents and many centuries, and the small, localized hatreds suffered by a young Jewish boy in 1930s NYC are no less real than the grand scale hatreds suffered by his people through the ages, including and perhaps especially today.
September 21, 2016
This was wonderful - I am starting to think that everything Chaim Potok writes is magically beautiful.
November 5, 2016
Wonderful writing, at times a stream of semi-consciousness or dreaming.
March 5, 2012
I love Chaim Potok and this isn't my favorite novel by him but it takes us into the life of a young boy growing up in New York. His mother had been married to a man named David but he died. She married David's brother and had two boys, David and Alex. David is sickly and studious while Alex is strong and a bit wild. David loves the Torah and his Jewish culture. He excels at school but lives in 1930, a time filled with anti-semitism. His father is a leader of the Jewish community who fled with his wife from Poland and pogroms. They bring many people to America through their Jewish community and watch over each other. Their families do not all come and Hitler rises to power. During David's growing years he sees the anguish of his family as they lose everything material first to the stock market crash and then family to Concentration Camps.
They rebuild their lives, speaking to the resiliancy of the Jewish people as a whole. I marvel at their history and the dedication required to be a practicing Jew. I learned more about their culture and took many times to pause for reflection at the cruelty of the world we live in but also the beauty that can be enjoyed. What forces make a person decide to do terrible things and what forces bring out the best in us.
They rebuild their lives, speaking to the resiliancy of the Jewish people as a whole. I marvel at their history and the dedication required to be a practicing Jew. I learned more about their culture and took many times to pause for reflection at the cruelty of the world we live in but also the beauty that can be enjoyed. What forces make a person decide to do terrible things and what forces bring out the best in us.
October 16, 2019
Another absolutely remarkable book by Chaim Potok. As in most of the other books I've read from him this follows a young extremely intelligent student who is studying Talmud and other Jewish teaching and eventually questioning some of what he has learned. My suspicion is that much of what Potok writes about mirrors his own life because the extent of his knowledge regarding the subject is astounding. The main story of the book follows David Lurie as he navigates life as a young Jew during the period of the Depression and on into the years of WWII. A background theme running through the book is the extreme prejudice, hatred and murder of Jews throughout history and, also, the resulting hatred of the Goyim by many Jews.
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October 23, 2015uno dei migliori romanzi di Potok, considerato come romanzo di formazione lo trovo ottimo. E questa è la sua formazione ...
March 14, 2019
I wish I could give it six stars. I loved this book. That is all.
October 5, 2025
When I saw this in the catalog the title wasn’t familiar, so I hoped I’d found a missed book by the author. But reading it I knew I’d read it before, but I don’t regret moving again into the tight knit world of Jewish immigrants in the 1920s, and the depression and then the war that changed everything. I see David more through the lens of neurodivergence now, but he still rings true. And the themes of loyalty to one’s community even when stepping outside it still resonate for me.
November 21, 2025
I enjoyed this novel more my second time through it; I guess I was too young to really appreciate it before. The novel centers upon David Lurie, a young boy in the conservative Jewish tradition growing up in New York City after the first world war, through the depression, and through the second world war. His father has been very instrumental in bringing Jews from Poland to the USA and settling them with jobs and a community, but he and his wife have been unable to persuade her parents and other relatives to leave Poland. We watch as they view with growing alarm events in Europe, praying for their family, hoping that they will flee the growing Nazi menace.
David struggles with sickness, which is only finally relieved once he is old enough to have an operation that clears up his condition. He is a brilliant scholar in Talmud, the pride of his teachers and the object of scorn and ire from some of his fellow students. His younger brother Alex gradually develops a love for literature, so both brothers are constantly reading, but very different books (in a way, they mirror the author's experience; Potok had degrees in both literature and theology).
What I appreciated more on this reading of the novel was Potok's skill in showing us the depression and World War II (and in particular the holocaust) as it might have been experienced by an ordinary Jewish family in the eastern United States. It made the deprivations of the depression and the horror of the holocaust come more alive, more wrenching, as we see them impacting the lives of the characters. Which is one of the benefits of literature, to give us a window on the world that we might not otherwise have.
At one point, David complains to Alex about his incessant novel reading, saying that he will find no facts in those books. Alex replies, "I don't read them for facts. I read them to find out about people and the different kinds of worlds they live in." Yes; well said.
David struggles with sickness, which is only finally relieved once he is old enough to have an operation that clears up his condition. He is a brilliant scholar in Talmud, the pride of his teachers and the object of scorn and ire from some of his fellow students. His younger brother Alex gradually develops a love for literature, so both brothers are constantly reading, but very different books (in a way, they mirror the author's experience; Potok had degrees in both literature and theology).
What I appreciated more on this reading of the novel was Potok's skill in showing us the depression and World War II (and in particular the holocaust) as it might have been experienced by an ordinary Jewish family in the eastern United States. It made the deprivations of the depression and the horror of the holocaust come more alive, more wrenching, as we see them impacting the lives of the characters. Which is one of the benefits of literature, to give us a window on the world that we might not otherwise have.
At one point, David complains to Alex about his incessant novel reading, saying that he will find no facts in those books. Alex replies, "I don't read them for facts. I read them to find out about people and the different kinds of worlds they live in." Yes; well said.
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October 29, 2025Not my favorite Potok. The first three-quarters were a slog as we follow young David riding his tricycle, visiting the zoo, avoiding a bully, suffering through illness after illness, and cautiously taking interest in the world of his immigrant parents. However, it held my interest more toward the end as David grows up, moving from the Depression to the War. The novel treads a common Potok theme: facing terror and the unknown while breaking the shackles of tradition to forge one's own path and seek one's own truth. The anguish of the Holocaust is front and center, as the newspapers reveal the horrors of Europe to the Bronx and beyond.
July 21, 2024
This book was a fantastic read, for many reasons. It was paced a little slower, but if you’re the kind of person that enjoys details and subtle yet perfectly executed narration, this is a great story to check out. If I had the option to give more stars I would, and I think this book has earned a place in my top five favorite novels.
November 20, 2020
In Chaim Potok's novel In the Beginning, the author explores modern Jewish identity by showcasing a young Jewish American's experience of the holocaust, the great depression, and his own journey into adulthood.
There's your closed thesis statement. I won't bother you with an essay just yet.
Honestly, though. This book was really interesting. I'm definitely starting to pick up on symbolism a lot more, and this book had a lot of it. Windows, photographs, chronic unexplainable illnesses, etc.
It was one of those texts that tells the story of a life in such a vulnerable way that the aging of a character is audible in the writer's words. In the Beginning reminded me of Roots in that it was really the story of a family tapestry and the never-ceasing influence of those who have long been gone.
There's your closed thesis statement. I won't bother you with an essay just yet.
Honestly, though. This book was really interesting. I'm definitely starting to pick up on symbolism a lot more, and this book had a lot of it. Windows, photographs, chronic unexplainable illnesses, etc.
It was one of those texts that tells the story of a life in such a vulnerable way that the aging of a character is audible in the writer's words. In the Beginning reminded me of Roots in that it was really the story of a family tapestry and the never-ceasing influence of those who have long been gone.
September 17, 2018
“The Jewish people is going to have a big phone bill these next few months,” Alex said.
Brilliant story of a precocious Jewish boy growing from about six to twenty-one, starting from just before the Great Depression; it is mostly low key with major events happening only in the background; the child does not keep track of dates. You have to know when the events in the background occurred—black Tuesday, the invasion of Poland, and so on.
It’s all very light; nothing major happens to the child, except, of course, that his parents came from Poland and Hitler is rising in Germany. The juxtaposition is striking throughout the book.
There are many things about young David that any long-term book reader will identify with.
She read to me often after that. I could not really understand most of what she was reading. But I like listening to the words. It was always exciting to hear new words. It was what I had instead of good friends.
“I liked parks. I had the world visible to me while I read. It was important to have it visible so you could see how your reading changed it.”
There are also neat aspects of how the world has changed since the thirties and forties. The huge number of watch repairers available in downtown New York City, for example. And the detail work done by immigration officials. Part of what we learn that David’s father is doing early on is bringing Jews to America from overseas. They formed a society which would help people emigrate, at first, and then once in America would help others immigrate, by, for example, finding them jobs before they arrived, and serving as character references. At one point a State Department investigator comes to their apartment to question them about whether a potential immigrant was a criminal.
A large part of the book is dedicated to the question of evil and hatred, and how we can believe in a God who allows either. When he’s very young, David is of course mostly questioning why some other kids dislike him.
“We all have people who dislike us, David. Anyone who knows very clearly what he’s doing with his life will have people who dislike him.”
And as he gets older, the question becomes, how do you respond to violence?
“With a goy who wants to kill you a Jew should not be a gentleman. That was what I tried to teach my little brother in return for what he taught me. I failed. He died gentle. Most Jews who are dying now are gentle. There will not be many gentle Jews left after this war.”
And of course as the book goes on, the question of evil focuses on Germany and Hitler.
“Are the Germans killing Jews?”
“Yes.”
I shivered in the wind. “Is anyone doing anything?”
“It is not officially known as yet. When it becomes officially known, then governments will meet and decide that nothing can be done.”
June 8, 2012
It was ok, but not great.
The Chosen was a much better book.
I felt bogged down a lot of the time by lengthy descriptions of everything the Am Kedoshim society said and did, and I didn't understand much of it, as I'm not Jewish. I felt as though it did nothing to move the plot along.
I also fee that many of the characters were rather flat and static. Even though they all grow up over the course of the story, I feel that their essential personalities don't really change all that much. I suppose David's knowledge and areas of interest grow and change a lot, but personality-wise, he always seems like the same exceptionally intelligent yet shy kid. That goes for many of the other characters as well.
That said, some of the writing itself is beautiful. The descriptions of David's illness were very vivid, as were some of the visual imagery.
Bottom line: I liked it but it was by no means a page-turner, as I feel the Chosen was at times. Also, I feel as though it was much less accessible to non-Jews than The Chosen was.
The Chosen was a much better book.
I felt bogged down a lot of the time by lengthy descriptions of everything the Am Kedoshim society said and did, and I didn't understand much of it, as I'm not Jewish. I felt as though it did nothing to move the plot along.
I also fee that many of the characters were rather flat and static. Even though they all grow up over the course of the story, I feel that their essential personalities don't really change all that much. I suppose David's knowledge and areas of interest grow and change a lot, but personality-wise, he always seems like the same exceptionally intelligent yet shy kid. That goes for many of the other characters as well.
That said, some of the writing itself is beautiful. The descriptions of David's illness were very vivid, as were some of the visual imagery.
Bottom line: I liked it but it was by no means a page-turner, as I feel the Chosen was at times. Also, I feel as though it was much less accessible to non-Jews than The Chosen was.
May 30, 2019
Chaim Potok is één van mijn favoriete schrijvers vanwege zijn geweldige schrijfstijl en de rustige en overtuigende wijze waarmee hij mij aan zijn hand meeneemt in zijn leefwereld en op een even gedoseerde als indringende manier zijn verhaal doet. Dat is bij dit boek niet anders. Bovendien vind ik zijn beschrijvingen van de natuur en met name de hemel geweldig. Bijvoorbeeld: 'donkergrijze wolken als plassen vuile melk tegen de hemel', of, 'de bleke zon blinkt als een onverschillig oog.' Zo prachtig mooi gezegd. Maar dit boek vraagt, in tegenstelling tot de andere boeken die ik van Potok heb gelezen, een lange adem. Het is een traag verteld verhaal, wat ook komt door het vele en lange wachten op veranderingen in de Joodse gemeenschap.
Ik vind Potok bijzonder doordat hij me in het vertelde verhaal in aanraking brengt met Joodse en religieuze gebruiken. Ook dat is in dit boek niet anders, maar het was voor mij een teveel aan gebruiken, wat het verhaal verdunde. Ik had soms moeite met de buitengewoon begaafde zesjarige hoofdpersoon. Hij was mij soms net iets te wijs voor zijn leeftijd.
Ik vind Potok bijzonder doordat hij me in het vertelde verhaal in aanraking brengt met Joodse en religieuze gebruiken. Ook dat is in dit boek niet anders, maar het was voor mij een teveel aan gebruiken, wat het verhaal verdunde. Ik had soms moeite met de buitengewoon begaafde zesjarige hoofdpersoon. Hij was mij soms net iets te wijs voor zijn leeftijd.
November 30, 2014
Stunning, as Potok always is, though more slowly paced and deliberate than others that I've read. The final pages resonate deeply with current issues in Mormonism regarding history, truth, and faith.
At the risk of draining the power of this quote without the context of the 430 pages preceding it, here is one of my favorite moments: "I am not bothered by questions of truth. I want to know if the religious world view has any meaning today. Bring yourself back an answer to that, Lurie. Take apart the Bible and see if it is something more today than the Iliad and the Odyssey. Bring yourself back that answer, Lurie. Do not bring yourself back shallowness...Everyone will be wondering what sacred truths of their childhood you are destroying. Merely to destroy--that is a form of shallowness."
At the risk of draining the power of this quote without the context of the 430 pages preceding it, here is one of my favorite moments: "I am not bothered by questions of truth. I want to know if the religious world view has any meaning today. Bring yourself back an answer to that, Lurie. Take apart the Bible and see if it is something more today than the Iliad and the Odyssey. Bring yourself back that answer, Lurie. Do not bring yourself back shallowness...Everyone will be wondering what sacred truths of their childhood you are destroying. Merely to destroy--that is a form of shallowness."
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June 23, 2014I don't know how to rate this book. I thought it was brilliant but I really don't know that I like a style of writing that has 100 pages of a little kid riding a tricycle between illnesses and lamenting the evils of antisemitism in his own childish way. It portrayed brilliantly many Jewish issues and was cleverly crafted to weave them into the everyday details of the "normal" life of a completely abnormal family. The heartrending foreknowledge that their family in Poland was going to be destroyed was also poignantly portrayed as they came out of the depression and were remaking a life for themselves in New York while Europe was being ravaged.
Well worth reading, but I can't say "I really liked it" so I'm not putting stars on this one.
Well worth reading, but I can't say "I really liked it" so I'm not putting stars on this one.
May 24, 2024
This is my third time reading Chaim Potok. Firstly I do want to say that Potok is a strong writer and I often enjoy reading the Jewish commentary he throws into his story. That being said, I did enjoy In the Beginning for all of those reasons, but there was also enough to bring my rating down to a three.
Firstly, I liked that we follow the main character David Lurie through birth to adulthood. Because Potok took us through such a long period of this character's life, we were able to follow him through big world events such as people coming off of WWI, the depression, and then WWII.
Because David is a child for most of the book, we are seeing things through his eyes. David is also a sickly child, so sometimes we are seeing things through his feverish eyes. Because of that, the narration is sometimes a bit unreliable. There are times where David isn't given all the facts from his parents, he is hallucinating so we are seeing things through his fever dream, or he makes believe things that may or may not have happened. This was a unique read for that reason, I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. There were times that I myself felt confused with all the jumping around that happens in David's head.
Some of the passages where David is sick are hard to read because you really feel like your sick too. Potok describes the suffering that David is feeling and it was almost brutal. And this didn't happen just once, no, David is sick a lot so we have to read these descriptions of his illness a lot. David's family also go through a lot of ups and downs, and the downs take center stage, so there are a lot of depressing descriptions. He is also the world's most teased kid, he gets bullied constantly in the beginning of the book by different people and these descriptions are difficult. I guess what I'm trying to tell you in all this is that Potok is a strong writer who does a good job making you feel his characters' pain first hand.
The book was just a bit too long, I felt that the last 100 pages or so were dragging on. As David grows older he becomes quite the scholar, and the last part of the book becomes more of a commentary on what David is studying and less of a moving of the story forward. And although some of that is interesting, if you don't know anything about Jewish writings it could be confusing.
The ending was meaningful, but a bit abrupt as well. This is definitely not Potok's most famous book and probably not one I would recommend to people starting to read Potok. But I did appreciate it and I felt that I learned something from it as well. It is a bit sad that more people aren't aware of it, I feel that it has been a bit forgotten.
Firstly, I liked that we follow the main character David Lurie through birth to adulthood. Because Potok took us through such a long period of this character's life, we were able to follow him through big world events such as people coming off of WWI, the depression, and then WWII.
Because David is a child for most of the book, we are seeing things through his eyes. David is also a sickly child, so sometimes we are seeing things through his feverish eyes. Because of that, the narration is sometimes a bit unreliable. There are times where David isn't given all the facts from his parents, he is hallucinating so we are seeing things through his fever dream, or he makes believe things that may or may not have happened. This was a unique read for that reason, I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. There were times that I myself felt confused with all the jumping around that happens in David's head.
Some of the passages where David is sick are hard to read because you really feel like your sick too. Potok describes the suffering that David is feeling and it was almost brutal. And this didn't happen just once, no, David is sick a lot so we have to read these descriptions of his illness a lot. David's family also go through a lot of ups and downs, and the downs take center stage, so there are a lot of depressing descriptions. He is also the world's most teased kid, he gets bullied constantly in the beginning of the book by different people and these descriptions are difficult. I guess what I'm trying to tell you in all this is that Potok is a strong writer who does a good job making you feel his characters' pain first hand.
The book was just a bit too long, I felt that the last 100 pages or so were dragging on. As David grows older he becomes quite the scholar, and the last part of the book becomes more of a commentary on what David is studying and less of a moving of the story forward. And although some of that is interesting, if you don't know anything about Jewish writings it could be confusing.
The ending was meaningful, but a bit abrupt as well. This is definitely not Potok's most famous book and probably not one I would recommend to people starting to read Potok. But I did appreciate it and I felt that I learned something from it as well. It is a bit sad that more people aren't aware of it, I feel that it has been a bit forgotten.
February 16, 2021
It’s taken a few days to read this book. It was well written, as one would expect for a book by this author. I feel quite churned up inside still after giving a space of time before reviewing. David Lurie was an exceptionally intelligent boy/man who suffered illness due to an accident shortly after birth. He also had visions of people and saw behind the temporal at times. The backdrop to his growing up was the depression and the Second World War. Being a Jew in America with European relatives took a toll on the family as they waited for news of those living in Poland. Ultimately both sides of his family in Europe were killed in Bergen-Belsen and that obviously grieved him, his parents, and American family. It was a traumatic book but worth the read.
February 28, 2025
Fascinating. Feels like an outlier among the talmud focus of other potok. Excellent, love potoks writing as always.
November 1, 2012
From the two books of Potok's that I've read, I gather that his "type" is rather clear: a young Jewish boy trying to navigate his faith, his family, his Jewish community, and his own desires and talents. Here that type gives an autobiographical account of his early life before becoming a professor.
Potok's writing style is so clear, so detailed, so real, that it's hard not to like the book, but particularly hard not to like Davey, the main character. You'll get along with him, relate to him, love him; feel his feelings and feel his tenderness and growing love for his father and his family, his growing care for his fellow Jews and his hatred toward the Nazis.
What most intrigues me about this book is not the end result, not the scholarly "life of truth" that Davey tries to live through exposing himself to secular and goyishe thoughts, though this is fun to read, but the account of a JEWISH life right after World War I, through the depression, and then through World War II. The tribulations of the Jews become real. For that reason I particularly love the autobiographical form of storytelling here.
I realize I'm not doing this book any justice with this review, so I'll end here. Just read it.
Potok's writing style is so clear, so detailed, so real, that it's hard not to like the book, but particularly hard not to like Davey, the main character. You'll get along with him, relate to him, love him; feel his feelings and feel his tenderness and growing love for his father and his family, his growing care for his fellow Jews and his hatred toward the Nazis.
What most intrigues me about this book is not the end result, not the scholarly "life of truth" that Davey tries to live through exposing himself to secular and goyishe thoughts, though this is fun to read, but the account of a JEWISH life right after World War I, through the depression, and then through World War II. The tribulations of the Jews become real. For that reason I particularly love the autobiographical form of storytelling here.
I realize I'm not doing this book any justice with this review, so I'll end here. Just read it.
June 4, 2025
This book took me to another place, another time and allowed me to experience the world through the eyes and imaginings of an astonishingly gifted Jewish boy named David (Davey) Lurie growing up in New York, in the 1930’s - 1940’s.
I liked the characters in this book, the protagonist, Davey, his mother, brother, father, cousin, aunt, uncle, family friends. It was refreshing to read a book that I didn’t know how it was going to end. I usually know how a book will end long before it does. Davey guided me to the end of the story and I loved it. I was captivated and read this book into the night. It's a well-written book, with an important story, a deep story told with the right amount of detail.
Chaim Potok is a favorite author of mine and I was pleased to find this treasure at the local library. Highly recommend.
I liked the characters in this book, the protagonist, Davey, his mother, brother, father, cousin, aunt, uncle, family friends. It was refreshing to read a book that I didn’t know how it was going to end. I usually know how a book will end long before it does. Davey guided me to the end of the story and I loved it. I was captivated and read this book into the night. It's a well-written book, with an important story, a deep story told with the right amount of detail.
Chaim Potok is a favorite author of mine and I was pleased to find this treasure at the local library. Highly recommend.
August 18, 2008
I love Potok's writing. I felt that I missed something in this book, and the story did not propel me forward in the way his other books I've read did. Towards the end, the plot becomes very involved in Jewish scholarship of the Torah and Talmud, to the point that as a non-Jewish reader I felt that I was surely missing a little of what was going on. David Lurie is a sickly boy who reads all the time and is constantly troubled by exactly WHY goyim seem to hate Jews so much. His studies as he grows older take him in directions his orthodox family and yeshiva friends do not approve of. While not really the subject of the story at any point, it takes place against a backdrop of the Great Depression and World War II.
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