Generally speaking, critics identified the great Jewish American writers as those who were in conflict with traditional Judaism. This is in sharp contrast to the Yiddish fiction tradition (as exemplified by Chaim Grade), which looked back to the old world, not necessarily as a utopian society but as a foundational community. Grade is best known for his novels The Agunah and My Mother’s Sabbath Days and for the short story “My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner” (later adapted for stage and film). Grade is an apt figure for comparison with Potok because he, too, left Orthodox Judaism, but his writing
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