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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is Reuven?

2. What problem has Professor Gordon had?

3. How is Rachel's aunt helping Professor Gordon?

4. What is one image Michael sees in the clouds?

5. About what does Michael display much knowledge?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Reuven say about the Hasid?

2. How does the narrator's neighborhood change in the early 1950s?

3. When does Michael get a nosebleed at the fair, and what do Reuven and Rachel do?

4. What happens between October and December for Reuven?

5. What does Michael tell Reuven about Michael's nosebleeds?

6. What does Reuven reveal in a flashback?

7. What has Reuven's father completed during the Fall and early Winter?

8. What does Kalman discuss with Reuven after class concerning Professor Gordon?

9. How does Danny become involved with the Gordon family?

10. What does Danny tell Reuven about Michael?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Much of The Promise concerns theology. Many of the major characters are either Rabbis or studying to become a Rabbi. Michael, who is still a boy, makes perhasp some of the most interesting statements about god. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think Michael means when he says "God is smoke"?

2. Michael says he cannot get God out of his mind--discuss that statement in light of Michael's personality.

3. Are Michael's problems mostly spiritual; mostly psychological, or a combination of the two? Discuss thoroughly with examples.

Essay Topic 2

Kalman reminds Reuven that Professor Gordon was excommunicated and demands that Reuven respect the excommunication by dissociating from Gordon. Discuss the following:

1. What is ex-communication in the Jewish tradition? What are the reasons for ex-communicating someone?

2. Do other religions practice ex-communication? Which ones? What are the reasons for ex-communicating someone?

3. Does ex-communication seem like a good way to deal with a dissenter? Why or why not?

4. How is ex-communication a form of control?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 8, Rav Kalman says he wants to impress upon the class the importance of choosing Torah over all else. Kalman says that he could only give his approval to students who put it above all else because he had had one of the greatest teachers of Torah in the world, and since his teacher had been killed, as had all his European students, his approval is the lone approval of an entire great line of Torah commentators. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think Rav Kalman means by the statement that his lone approval of an entire great line of Torah commentators?

2. What is the definition of tradition?

3. How important do you think tradition is in matters of religious belief?

4. Should religious belief change with cultural beliefs? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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