Potok's parents discouraged his writing and reading of non-Jewish subjects. His parents were Benjamin Max Potok, who had emigrated to the United States from Poland in 1921, and Mollie Friedman Potok, also a Jewish immigrant from Poland. In 1978 he published his non-fiction work, Wanderings: Chaim Potok’s Story of the Jews, a historical account of the Jews. Potok said of this novel, "In The Promise the confrontation is between a fundamentalist religion and another gift to us from our general civilization. From 1964 to 1975, Potok edited Conservative Judaism and also served as editor, from 1965-1974, of the Jewish Publication Society. His first novel, The Chosen, was written while he was living with his family in Jerusalem. He described his time in South Korea as a transformative experience. His parents were both immigrants from Poland whose life in Brooklyn was not so different from the Old World shtetl they had left behind. Potok died of brain cancer in Merion, Pennsylvania, on July 23, 2002.[3]. Potok cited James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ernest Hemingway, and S. Y. Agnon as his chief literary influences. He was born in February of 1929 in New York City, where he attended religious schools. In 1967 Potok published The Chosen, which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and was nominated for the National Book Award. He served in South Korea from 1955 to 1957. Brought up to believe that the Jewish people were central to history and God's plans, he experienced a region where there were almost no Jews and no anti-Semitism, yet whose religious believers prayed with the same fervor that he saw in the Orthodox synagogues at home.[1]. To a great degree, he is describing not only the lives of the characters in the novel but his own life — ac-cording to Potok, the novel is very much an autobiography of his young-adult life. This book won the Athenaeum Literary Award the same year of its publication. During this time, Potok began translating the Hebrew Bible into English. Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 – July 23, 2002) was an American Jewish author and rabbi. Chaim Potok Quotes #1 “A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life. Set in the 1940s, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, the story takes place over a period of seven years, beginning in 1944 when the protagonists are fifteen years old. Of course, Danny's passion for Freudian psychology also represents a "gift right from the heart of [Western] civilization." His Hebrew name was Chaim Tzvi. A central point to the novel is a painting called `Brooklyn Crucifixion.' It is set against the backdrop of the historical events of the time: the end of World War II, the death of President Roosevelt, the revelation of the Holocaust in Europe, and the struggle for the creation of the state of Israel. On October 29, Seattle Pacific University welcomed to campus renowned author and scholar Chaim Potok.A professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, Potok has written numerous novels: books which often examine coming-of-age dilemmas in settings where culture, art and faith collide. In 1990, he published a sequel to My Name is Asher Lev titled The Gift of Asher Lev. At that point the two are able to talk and reconcile. From his early youth, Danny's father only speaks to him when they study Jewish law together. He then spent some time teaching at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. [8]Potok described his 1981 novel The Book of Lights as an account of his experiences in Asia during the war. After four years of study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America he was ordained as a Conservative rabbi. Chaim born under the Aquarius horoscope as Chaim's birth date is February 17. Benjamin Potok worked as a jeweler and watchmaker. However, as a young man he became fascinated by less restrictive Jewish doctrines, particularly the Conservative side of Judaism. The Chosen is a story of the friendship between two Jewish boys growing up in 1940s Brooklyn. [2] Potok's 1985 novel Davita's Harp is his only book featuring a female protagonist. He later became a scholar at Temple Har Zion in Philadelphia. The Chosen book. Chaim Potok was born Herman Harold Potok on February 17, 1929, in New York City's Borough of The Bronx. While growing up in New York City, Chaim Potok lived the strict life of a Hasidic Jew. His father immigrated from Poland in 1921 where he married and had two sons (both rabbis) and two daughters (both of whom married rabbis). [3] He was the oldest of four children, all of whom either became or married rabbis. Lecture at the Southern College of Seventh-Day Adventists, Collegedale, Tennessee. Potok had a cameo role as a professor. Potok is most famous for his first book The Chosen (1967), which was listed on The New York Times' best seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies. His father immigrated from Poland in 1921 where he married and had two sons (both rabbis) and two daughters (both of whom married rabbis). Upon his return to the U.S., he joined the faculty of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles. A rabbi turned author whose Hasidic rearing inspired his 1967 novel The Chosen (later translated to both screen and stage), Chaim Potok's frequent meditations on religious life and its effect on secular living propelled a lifelong dedication to studying the impact religion had on his career as both a writer and artist. Herman Harold Potok was born in the Bronx to Benjamin Max (d. 1958) and Mollie (Friedman) Potok (d. 1985), Jewish immigrants from Poland who were Hasidic. After receiving a master's degree in English literature, Potok enlisted with the U.S. Army as a chaplain. After receiving a master's degree in Hebrew literature, and his later rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1954, Potok joined the U.S. Army as a chaplain. Danny is the genius son of a Hasidic rabbi, whose people live completely within the bounds of traditional Jewish law. [6] Not long afterward the Jewish Publication Society appointed him as its special projects editor. Chaim Potok, original name Herman Harold Potok, (born February 17, 1929, New York, New York, U.S.—died July 23, 2002, Merion, Pennsylvania), American rabbi and author whose novels introduced to American fiction the spiritual and cultural life of Orthodox Jews. After reading Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited as a teenager, he decided to become a writer (he often said that the novel Brideshead Revisited is what inspired his work and literature). Read 4 287 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. He was appointed director of LTF, Leaders Training Fellowship, a youth organization affiliated with Conservative Judaism. Chaim Potok lives a very full life he has served his country, peoples, and religion very well and with great impact. [18] He taught a highly regarded graduate seminar on Postmodernism at the University of Pennsylvania from 1993 through 2001. First, to be discussed is his life birth through the present. The sequel, The Gift of Asher Lev, won the National Jewish Book Award for fiction. The film featured Rod Steiger, Barry Miller, Maximilian Schell and Robby Benson. Overview (3) Mini Bio (1) Born in New York City but raised in Philadelphia, Chaim Potok ("Chaim Tzvi") was raised in a Hasidic family. We pick and choose those elements of that alien culture toward which we feel a measure of affinity. The following year, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society in Philadelphia and later, chairman of the publication committee. He was born at a very early age on February 17, 1929, in New York, New York to Benjamin and Mollie Potok. New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article In 1950, Potok graduated from Yeshiva University with a B.A., summa cum laude, in English Literature. Biography. In 1992 Potok completed another novel, I am the Clay, about the courageous struggle of a war-ravaged family. Chaim Potok, March 20, 1986. In 1959 he began his graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and was appointed scholar-in-residence at Temple Har Zion in Philadelphia. The story is told in the form of a first person narrative from Reuven's point of view, but in many ways the protagonist is Danny, whose character plays out the tension between the demands of the Orthodox tradition and the pull of modern, secular learning. Chaim Potok lives a very full life he has served his country, peoples, and religion very well and with great impact. Potok's next novel was a sequel to The Chosen. A methodology we call scientific text criticism." Asher decides to become a painter, which upsets his family. Reuven Malter, the narrator of the story, is the son of a writer and scholar who follows modern methods of studying Judaism and is Orthodox. On June 8, 1958, Potok married Adena Sara Mosevitzsky, a psychiatric social worker, whom he met in 1952 at Camp Ramah in the Poconos. Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 – July 23, 2002) was an American author and rabbi. A rabbi turned author whose Hasidic rearing inspired his 1967 novel The Chosen (later translated to both screen and stage), Chaim Potok's frequent meditations on religious life and its effect on secular living propelled a lifelong dedication to studying the impact religion had on his career as both a … In The Chosen, Chaim Potok (pronounced Hi em Poe talk) describes the condition of American Jews living in two cultures, one secular and one religious. After reading Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited as a teenager he decided to become a writer. [19], He bequeathed his papers to the University of Pennsylvania. It is hard work to fill one’s life with meaning...A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. Chaim Potok, Actor: The Chosen. (Danny tells Reuven about an older man he met there who has been recommending him books; both are astonished when the man turns out to be Reuven's own father.) Potok helped to introduce to an American audience the inner world of Jewish culture. In 1964 the Potoks moved to Brooklyn, where Chaim became the managing editor of the magazine Conservative Judaism and joined the faculty of the Teachers’ Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Many more novels would follow, including numerous more examinations of the relationship between traditional Judaism and modern secular culture. Chaim Potok was a novelist who paved the way for a younger generation of religious American Jewish writers — and a Jewish scholar who worked tirelessly to … Potok had been made editor in chief of the publication society in 1966, and he remained in that capacity until 1974. ", The Jew Confronts Himself in American Literature, Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews, "Chaim Potok, 73, Dies; Novelist Illumined the World of Hasidic Judaism", https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/24/books/chaim-potok-73-dies-novelist-illumined-the-world-of-hasidic-judaism.html, "2008/09 Press Releases: Arden Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of My Name Is Asher Lev", "Mars Hill Review Interview With Chaim Potok", "Biography of Chaim Potok | List of Works, Study Guides & Essays", "Obituary Chaim Potok Dead at Age of 73, Was Literary Pioneer and Scholar", Interview with Quiara Alegría Hudes in Guernica, July 2012, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chaim_Potok&oldid=1007300947, Jewish Theological Seminary of America semikhah recipients, Articles with dead external links from October 2010, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2012, Articles with dead external links from July 2020, Articles with permanently dead external links, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 17 February 2021, at 11:25. It also became a short-lived Broadway musical and was subsequently adapted as a stage play by Aaron Posner in collaboration with Potok, which premiered at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia in 1999. Although it was not published, he received a note from the editor complimenting his work. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. Danny does not want to inherit his father's position as leader of their sect, as is expected of him; he desires instead to become a psychologist. [14][15][16][17] His work was significant for discussing the conflict between the traditional aspects of Jewish thought and culture and modernity to a wider, non-Jewish culture. It has a quality and a dimension … Chaim Potok (17 February 1929 - 23 July 2002) was an American author and rabbi. At age 17 he made his first submission to the magazine The Atlantic Monthly. He said “it reshaped the neat, coherent model of myself and my place in the world.”[9], His novel The Chosen was made into a film released in 1981, which won the most prestigious award at the World Film Festival, Montreal. Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 – July 23, 2002) was an American Jewish author and rabbi. His Hebrew name was Chaim Tzvi (חיים צבי). In 1972, he published My Name is Asher Lev, the story of a boy struggling with his relationship with his parents, religion and his desire to be an artist. His work was significant in raising the issue of the conflict between the traditional aspects of Jewish thought and culture and modernity to a wider, non-Jewish culture. Chaim Potok One time rabbi and best-selling novelist Chaim Potok has died at the age of 73. Herman Harold Potok (Hebrew name: Chaim) was born in New York City, to Polish-Jewish immigrants Benjamin Max and Mollie Potok, on February 17, 1927.