The novel “The Chosen One” by the American writer Chaim Potok is very popular all over the world; the total circulation of the book has exceeded three million copies. The heroes of the novel, American teenage boys Danny and Reuben, grow up, learn about the world and themselves during the Second World War and after its end. The boys' friendship is seriously tested after the proclamation of the State of Israel, when their fathers, an Orthodox rabbi and a Zionist religious figure, accept this event differently. Danny, who has phenomenal abilities, is interested in psychology and does not want to follow family tradition to become a rabbi. To teach his son the most important thing - compassion for people, Danny's father teaches him a life lesson...

The novel by American writer Chaim Potok (1929–2002) “The Chosen One,” published in 1967, stayed on the bestseller list for 39 weeks “ New York Times", was quickly adapted into a film and transferred to the Broadway stage. The author himself was surprised at the success of his debut autobiographical novel. “And I thought that this story about two American boys and their fathers would be read by about five hundred people, no more,” he once said. But the questions posed in the book, which are painful for every young person: what is better - to continue the family tradition or to find your own way in the world, how to separate from the family without breaking with it, turned out to be in tune with millions of readers. The book is being published in Russian for the first time.