Chaim Potok's novel, The Chosen, describes a friendship between two Jewish boys who grew up in two different Jewish sects. Danny Saunders, a Hasidic Jew, slowly develops a true and lasting friendship with Rueven Malter, a Modern Orthodox Jew. Although Danny and Rueven encounter difficulties early in their friendship due to their different religious beliefs and practices, they learn to overcome their differences and form a friendship that overcomes all their religious inconsistencies. The story is set in the 1940s in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Jews inhabit most of the Williamsburg area, and few non-Jews live here. During this time in the United States Jews suffered a tremendous amount of persecution due to World War II and the Holocaust. Potok uses his novel to describe the differences between the different sects of Judaism and how the different sects learn to appreciate each other. The Hasidim, or "pious" in Hebrew, belong to a special movement within Orthodox Judaism, a movement that, at its height in the first half of the nineteenth century, claimed the allegiance of millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe , perhaps the majority of Eastern European Jews. Hasidism gained popularity among ordinary people due to its charismatic leaders and the emotional appeal of its messages that emphasized joy, faith, and ecstatic prayer, accompanied by song and dance. Hasidism experienced a great decline during World War II and the Holocaust, but was transplanted by immigrants to America, Israel, Canada, Australia, and Western Europe. Hasidism thrives today in areas such as New York and other American cities. Hasidic Jews thrive as a creative minority because they have preserved many of the…half of the paper…of the world, but he breaks that rule by showing readers that Danny reads books other than the Talmud and other Jewish books. readings. Potok describes the Hasidim in depth and reveals the rigorous traditions achieved by Hasidic Jews. The extremely close-knit community of Hasidic Jews proves to be immensely admirable and beneficial to its culture, but their lack of sharing of Hasidim is not admirable in any sense. As Christians we must spread the Gospel and our faith as much as possible, which the Hasidim reject. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This verse reinforces our need, as Christians, to spread the Gospel and not keep it to ourselves. In The Chosen we see the disadvantages of not being able to talk about Hasidim outside of Hasidic culture.