“The Chosen” Screening
Hosted in CGS 527, English Professor Susan Bernstein screened the film The Chosen adapted from Chaim Potom’s award-winning novel about two Jewish boys forming an unlikely friendship as they come of age in 1940s Brooklyn. Directed by Jeremy Kagan, the film follows the conflicts and friendship between Reuven, the son of a liberal Jewish professor, and Danny, the son of a Hasidic Rebbe. In spite of their differing backgrounds Danny and Reuven form a close bond, as Reuven supports Danny’s thirst for knowledge and teaches him about the world outside of the Orthodox community of Brooklyn. As Reuven’s father becomes involved in the foundation of Israel following World War II, Danny and Reuven’s relationship becomes more strained as the Hasidic and Modern Orthodox Jewish communities drift further apart. The boys eventually part ways after college as Reuven sides more with his father. Reuven then is excommunicated from the Hasidic community, and it isn’t until Israel’s establishment that Reuven and Danny reconcile their friendship before parting ways. Danny also makes peace with his father, and Danny ends the film with a more modern approach to becoming a rabbi himself.
Professor Bernstein invited the audience to the In Her Own Time screening the following Tuesday, where producer Jonathan Bernstein would answer questions and discuss The Chosen as well as In Her Own Time.