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In the Beginning

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 1,343 ratings · 76 reviews

David Lurie learns that all beginnings are hard. He must fight for his place against the bullies in his Depression-shadowed Bronx neighborhood and his own frail health. As a young man, he must start anew and define his own path of personal belief that diverges sharply with his devout father and everything he has been taught....

From the Paperback edition.

Paperback, 416 pages

Published September 10th 1997 by Ballantine Books (first published 1975)

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Apr 20, 2010 Joyce Lagow rated it 5 of 5 stars

Young David Lurie� s life is dominated by accidents in which he is both an unwitting participant and helpless victim. When bringing him home from the hospital, him mother tripped on the front steps to their apartment and fell, with the infant David in her arms; the left side of his face and his nose hit the pavement. A doctor� s examination showed nothing wrong, but unseen was damage to the nasal septum; as a result of this accident, David spent his childhood constantly ill, and grew up fragile....more Young David Lurie� s life is dominated by accidents in which he is both an unwitting participant and helpless victim. When bringing him home from the hospital, him mother tripped on the front steps to their apartment and fell, with the infant David in her arms; the left side of his face and his nose hit the pavement. A doctor� s examination showed nothing wrong, but unseen was damage to the nasal septum; as a result of this accident, David spent his childhood constantly ill, and grew up fragile. Trying to protect his baby brother� s carriage from the unwelcome attentions of a neighbor� s dog, David shooed the dog away--who promptly ran into the street, was hit by a car, and killed. The dog� s owner blamed David. On his tricycle, he accidentally ran over the hand of an anti-Semitic neighborhood bully,who harassed and frightened David for years. The Great Depression nearly destroyed his father, a man of action who had fought in the Polish Army in World War I, and dedicated his life to bringing Jews out of Europe into the U.S.[return][return]But the greatest accident of all was the Holocaust. No one--not David, not his grim father, not his uncle nor any of his friends--can even begin to imagine the mentality that would bring about such a catastrophe. As a result, anything German became taboo.[return][return]For David, who, although in fragile health, is a genius, this presents major difficulties. He has become interested in studying the Bible, not just the Torah, which is bad enough in his Orthodox Jewish community; it means reading questionable sources--Jews who, in Orthodox thought, are more like goy. Worst of all, it means reading German scholars; even if they are Jewish, David is surrounded by hostility from members of his yeshiva. David, aided by the greatest Talmudic scholar alive, is forced to choose between the heritage he loves and his passion for learning and understanding.[return][return]Chaim Potok, in his finest books, always writes about the conflict between the secular world and that of Orthodox Jewry. He writes about it with the most obvious love for his Orthodox heritage, but with enormous empathy for those in conflict. Whatever the resolution, it isn� t easy for his protagonist and always comes at great cost.[return][return]Potock not only is a master storyteller, but he is also a superb writer. Outside of a few words that anyone of my generation heard while growing up on the East Coast of the U.S., I have never heard Yiddish spoken. Potok narates his main story line and conversations with short, simple declarative sentences that have a sort of sing-song (the best way I can describe it) rhythm; I have no doubt that it imitates spoken Yiddish.[return][return]But David is someone who loves nature, finds comfort in the zoo and the parks. When Potok describes these scenes and David� s reactions, his prose becomes lyrical; his sentences are complex and filled with the wonder and delight that David feels when he feeds the zoo� s billy goat or is walking along a path in the park to a picnic area. David also dreams, and many are nightmares; then the prose is composed of long run-on sentences, clauses strung together by the conjunction � and� and darkly stunning in their descriptive power.[return][return]Potok moves easily with the skill of a master writer among these three styles, weaving a story that is both moving and thought-provoking. His stories are never simple, but they do reveal a world that is mostly hidden from the gentile view, one that is never filled by stereotypical characters but by real people who come from a revered and precious tradition and who must make their way in a secular world. In sum, a powerful book, beautifully written. Highly recommended.(less)

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May 07, 2013 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This reflective post originally appeared on www.readinasinglesitting.com.

Of late it seems that I am being haunted by intertextuality. Each book that I pick up seems to slot into the vast Connect Four board of hermeneutics that is my reading life, and with everything I read, I find my to-read list growing ever broader and ever deeper.

I seem to be at a stage in my reading where so many unknown unknowns are swiftly becoming known unknowns. It’s a tantalising, maddening point to reach, and my readin...more

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Oct 31, 2012 John H.D. Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars

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...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Lynn Joshua rated it 4 of 5 stars

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...more

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Jun 09, 2008 Isaiah Kallman rated it 5 of 5 stars

"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.

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Apr 15, 2013 Cassandra rated it 3 of 5 stars

My brother had this from the library but lost interest in it, so I picked it up. It was interesting and frustrating both. Part of the frustration is that Potok's prose style is not very much to my liking, and part of it is that he places such a premium upon the lived experience of childhood that the novel felt very unbalanced. I was much more interested in the latter half, the studies and the time in school and the relationships there, and the lived experience of World War II, whereas that is a...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Philip rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Technically a re-read, as I read this when it was first published in 1975 but remember nothing about it. It's a somewhat slower read than its three predecessors.

8/27: IN THE BEGINNING was Potok’s fourth novel – they got longer and longer at this point – Robert Gottlieb was his editor at Knopf (I suspect Potok followed him there after Gottlieb – who was the editor of Joseph Heller’s CATCH-22 at Simon & Schuster, who published THE CHOSEN – went there, as did Heller, and Potok remained a Knopf...more

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Jan 03, 2010 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

I love Potok. This book involves familiar themes for him: brilliant Jewish boys with troubled childhood, growing up and charting their own path in the world, out away from their orthodox upbringing, but somehow still remaining faithful.

Unfortunately, I read somewhere that this book was about the boy's journey to come to grips with modern biblical scholarship and that is only a small part of the book, toward the end, and there isn't much detail about it. I read the book for that reason, so I was...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Florence rated it 2 of 5 stars

Potok is skilled in creating a milieu. I could picture the Bronx neighborhood of David Lurie and his family. However the pages of reference to Torah and other religious tomes were tedious. And everything in David's world was so dismally pessimistic. The characters were obssessed and surrounded by anti-semites. David had seeimingly unending health problems throughout his youth. His central struggle with finding the truth about the origin's of Judaism's holy texts was not a good choice for dramat...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Chez rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book has been finished and awaiting my review for 2 weeks, and I feel I am still waiting for one of the conflicting opinions to take root and stay with me. It took me, as all good books do, to another time and place and lifestyle. I feel more 'Jewish' now that I have read it; it has opened a new awareness of what it means to grow up in the rich traditions of the chosen ones, and also a taste of fear of the hatred in the world toward them. (The main character was coming of age during the tur...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 Davi...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Cyndi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

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 hi...more

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Nov 17, 2008 Melissa Mann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Setting aside the fact that the apple never falls far from the tree (laugh with me and my shiktse lifestyle so clearly influenced by the Yiddish that peppered my upbringing) and the fact that I am a sucker for historical novels, Potok has an extremely beautiful way of grasping the raw emotions of human beings as he writes. The perspective of a child (albeit tainted by the fact that indeed an adult writes) adds an element of honesty that I mentioned in another review (The Fallen Idol by Graham Gr...more

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May 06, 2008 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

After Becky read Asher Lev, I decided it was time to examine why I read Potok still. I had this book hiding on my shelf, and had never read it, as the last Potok I read (Book of Lights) had been so emotionally draining for me. I loved this book, though. Totally absorbing from the first page, unforgettable visual images, starkly and austerely beautiful. Potok is never a light encouraging read--sometimes he is dark and painful but magnetic--like when you see something hard to see but simply cannot...more After Becky read Asher Lev, I decided it was time to examine why I read Potok still. I had this book hiding on my shelf, and had never read it, as the last Potok I read (Book of Lights) had been so emotionally draining for me. I loved this book, though. Totally absorbing from the first page, unforgettable visual images, starkly and austerely beautiful. Potok is never a light encouraging read--sometimes he is dark and painful but magnetic--like when you see something hard to see but simply cannot look away. I hate it when he includes the strong language I hate, and this book certainly had some, but it was easier to "take" (and skip over) when I found that nearly all of it was spoken by a couple of childhood bullies.
Somewhere in The Chosen or The Promise, a character discusses how someone asks good questions. Comes up with answers he didn't like, but how he did like the questions. This theme reoccurs in this book, and I think it is the reason I still read Potok. I find many of his answers far too bleak for myself. But I still like his questions. What is faith? What happens to faith when it rests on the wrong foundation? What is the meaning of the relationship between father and son (or, in the case of Davida's Harp, daughter?) Is this relationship always difficult, even toxic? What is the place of geniune faith in this modern, cold, scientific world? What should one do with an unusual mind? Reading Potok for me probes old wounds--but since, for me, the wounds are now healed, perhaps that is part of my enjoyment. I can travel down the painful path of Potok's protagonists and understand, but remain whole myself.
I liked the family of this book, David Lurie's family, perhaps better than the family of any other Potok book, and loved the feeling of quiet hope at the end (which seemed to me to be missing from Book of Lights)
I have to admit to being incredibly curious about Potok and his own family relationships, and hope I can find a good book on that sometime! I may actually soon attempt a re-read of Asher Lev, and then try the sequel, which I've never read.
Excellent book, I'm sorry it's finished. :-)

(less)

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May 12, 2011 Jenny Porritt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Chaim Potok is an AMAZING writer. This book starts out from the view of a 5-year-old, and it goes through his life until he's in his early twenties. It's amazing how in the book, he slowly merges from how 5-year-olds think, to 20-year-olds. This book is based after World War II, and it's about jews living in New York and what life is like there. I wouldn't buy it, but I would recommend reading it.

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Jan 12, 2008 brian tanabe rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is my first Potok book. Every once in a while I would hear about this author and how powerful his books were, so I was pleasantly surprised to receive it as a gift this Christmas and I eargerly jumped in.

The book didn't grab me. I can appreciate the story quite a bit, about the intellectual and spiritual struggle of a young boy. I appreciate the way this main character faced the struggles in his life and in his mind and I enjoyed watching him gain strength. And I appreciate the insights int...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Allison rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love Potok's understated and thoughtful style and this is a deeply moving book, but it's not an easy read. It traces the coming-of-age of a Jewish boy living in New York shortly after the wars in Poland and through the Great Depression, World War II, and his decision to follow a vocational path against the grain of his Orthodox family. Although the tone of the entire book is pensive and heavy, it is real and beautiful.

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Jul 22, 2007 Chelsea rated it 5 of 5 stars

i read this book in high school but i remembered so little of it that i decided to re-read it. i thoroughly enjoyed it.
i have only read three of his novels and seen one movie... but he seems to always write on the same theme - an individual's struggle to remain true to their faith and honor their family while having to follow the truth and passion that has emerged from their own heart. the question of "who am i and what is my purpose?" and the resistance that accompanies that from without. the...more

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Jul 25, 2008 June rated it 5 of 5 stars

This novel is a very moving account of a Polish Orthodox Jewish family who had uprooted themselves from about 150 relatives in Poland to come to America. Their lives and history are revealed as the brilliant and intellectual elder son, David Lurie, grows up trying to understand and piece together what he hears and sees even as a very young child. The story includes many of the Orthodox customs, beliefs, rituals, and myths which shed light on many areas unfamiliar to me.
Even though it took me aw...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Melodee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: misc

Chaim Potok does an excellent job of portraying the Orthodox Jewish lifestyle. It is obvious that he knows his material well- frequent references to specific passages in the Torah or Talmud abound, sometimes to the point of pedantry. But his character development is always right on target. The characters interact in complicated ways, and his plot lines draw us in. My only criticism is that there is a small amount of what feels like repetition once you have read "My Name is Asher Lev," "The Chose...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Kathidfsmc rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing book that goes through the trials and tribulations of a young boy who is part of an immigrant Jewish family. It gives such a real representation of Jewish life in NYC during the Depression. It brings in all of the aspects of family, religion, hatred, stereotyping and breaking free of obligation. It was so well written. I read this book 30 years ago and liked it even more as I reread it.

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Aug 06, 2012 Ksorb rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoy Chaim Potok, but this book less than The Chosen. It is a fascinating coming-of-age story of an Orthodox Jewish boy growing up in New York in the 1930s, overshadowed by terrible illness, building antisemitism in the neighborhood and in Europe, and Zionism. The conclusion bothered me.

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Aug 18, 2008 Ken rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who read and liked "The Chosen" and "My Name is Asher Lev"

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...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Alisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was my favorite of Potok's books, next to My Name is Asher Lev. After I finished In the beginning, I started to read it for a second time. The beginning of the story was enriched by just having finished the ending.

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Aug 31, 2012 Julie Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

First line "all beginnings are hard". Took me forever to get into this book - psychological perhaps?!?! Once I got past the first 100 pages or so I was good. Another amazing story

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Jul 15, 2010 Christine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ah, another Potok novel. I just get into these odd moods. More about a Jewish family in the Bronx during WWII. Didn't like it as well as his others but enjoyed none the less.

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Dec 31, 2012 Tracy Jones rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book gives you a great insight into the lives of Jewish Americans during the 30s-40's. Its worth reading; however it cannot compare to Potok's best works in my mind (The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev).

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Mar 09, 2011 Kirsten rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

Similar to his other stories, and equally authentic. I love the portrayal of intellectual awakening, but the Holocaust connection is gut-wrenching.

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Aug 11, 2009 Cathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Generally considered his best work I think, though it is not my favorite. Reread it a couple of years ago with my book group. It is a very interesting window into what it was like for Jews living in the U.S. during WWII and its aftermath: worrying about relatives left behind, and adjusting to a new life in a new world.

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Jun 09, 2010 Annette rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really like Chaim Potok. His books tend to have a similiar theme, but his characters and settings are wonderful.

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About Chaim Potok

American author and rabbi. Herman Harold Potok was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Poland.

His parents, Benjamin Max (d. 1958) and Mollie (Friedman) Potok (d. 1985), gave him a Hebrew name, Chaim Tzvi. His Orthodox education taught him Talmud as well as secular studies.

He decided to become a writer as a teenager, after reading Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.

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Quotes from In the Beginning

“I will go wherever the truth leads me. It is secular scholarship, Rebbe; it is not the scholarship of tradition. In secular scholarship there are no boundaries and no permanently fixed views.”
Lurie, if the Torah cannot go out into your world of scholarship and return stronger, then we are all fools and charlatans. I have faith in the Torah. I am not afraid of truth.” — 9 people liked it

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