The Chosen

The boys begin Hirsch College, but the college only teaches experimental psychology, and Danny is upset: He doesn’t understand how mazes and rats relate to the mind. Yet Danny soars with Jewish studies and the Talmud. The department raves about him, and people ask him to settle Talmudic spats. Rav Gershenson likes to spend three days on two lines, so Danny learns a lot from him.

Reuven and Danny discuss the psychology professor and chairperson, Nathan Appleman, who dismisses Freud’s followers as “Dogmatic Freudians”—they don’t want to challenge his theories but confirm them through “dubious” inferences and analogies. Reuven wonders if Appleman is on to something, and Danny says any followers of a genius are “dogmatic,” and Freud was a genius. Reuven jokes about turning Freud into a tzaddik.

Reuven’s dad has had three colds in five months, and he’s dedicated himself to the increasingly violent Zionist movement (people who support the creation and preservation of Israel). With his Zionist activities and teaching duties, Malter often comes home after 11 p.m.

Reuven thinks his dad works too much, and he insists his dad visit Dr. Grossman for a checkup. Reuven’s dad says people don’t live forever. In the