Torah Goes To The Movies: The Chosen

Torah Goes To The Movies: The Chosen

In the film, The Chosen, Danny Saunders, next in line to inherit Reb Saunders’ Chasidic Rebbe dynasty, employs an analogy to emphasis the superiority of the intellect over the heart.

To paraphrase, melech, the word for king starts with a ‘m’ (mem) and then there is an ‘l’ (lamed) whereas the word for clown/fool – lemach– begins with an ‘l’ and then an ‘m.’ Furthermore, the word for heart – lev– begins with an ‘l’ (lamed) and the word for intellect –moach -ends with an ‘m’ (mem) . Thus, if the heart comes before the intellect, one is a fool whereas if the intellect comes before the heart one is a ‘king.’

Chasidism, to the regret of it’s opposition the Mitnagdim, restored the heart to at least parity with the intellect & disciplined pursuit of Judaism.

Since childhood, due to Danny’s intellectual ‘superiority yet indifference to the pain and suffering of others, Reb Sauders doesn’t talk to Danny. Danny suffers this silence by his father (who loves him dearly) in order to open up his heart. As Reb Saunders states, ‘a man without ‘heart’ is nothing.’ (1) (Without heart does a Jew become one of the ‘frozen chosen?-jds’)

Yet, in most Judaic intellectual thought (and resulting word & behavior) takes priority over feeling (‘the heart’) as the heart is fickle. (And note, even behavior takes precedence over ‘wisdom.’)

So herein is the ‘confusing’ dialectic of tension between intellect (of the King)  in conflict with  the feeling of the heart (of the Fool) as the intellect can be anti-septic & smugly indifferent while the heart can be fickle & foolish.

Reb Saunders could have easily resolved this precise haughty superior indifference had Danny grown up with a dog. Dog in Hebrew is ‘kelev’ containing the word ‘heart (lev).’

Dogs – keleveim – have a way of getting in, staying in, and opening the closed,  walls around the arteries while maintaining the moach (intellect) of the melech  (king) necessary in dealing with humans (given their fearful and foolish inclinations).

So on one hand ‘a man is nothing without a heart’ and yet ‘intellect takes precedence over feeling/heart! The ‘answer’ to this Judaic conundrum is the Judaic dialectic of tension ‘and’ (2) which maintains the individual integrity of both the moach (intellect) and the lev (heart) – without losing either’s identify into a metaphorical milkshake wherein neither is discernable.

Yes, it’s a High ‘Wire’ (Fox) Terrier balancing act.

(Standard Poodles just ‘observe.’)

Author’s Pawnote: Being chosen by my keleveim (K9 Stars of David, The Crown JEWels) is one of the lessons that Hashem has given this Dogged Jew –though without silence – and if anything, with hearty Bark Mitzvahs, daily.

1. Without heart does a Jew become one of the ‘frozen chosen?
2. The Hegelian Dialectic of ‘thesis’ and ‘anti-thesis’ resolves the conflict via a ‘synthesis’ (a melding losing the identity of the original ‘thesis and anti-thesis’ unlike the Judaic dialectic where the elements in conflict retain their identity but in tension – the ‘and.’