Chaim Potok

Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 - July 23, 2002) was an American author and rabbi.

Potok is most famous for his 1967 novel The Chosen which was a semi-autobiographical story about two boys. Reuven Malter, a Modern Orthodox Jew, becomes friends with Danny Saunders, an exceptionally brilliant young son of a Hasidic rabbi. The father, Reb Saunders, expects his son to succeed him as a rabbi, yet Danny wants to study psychology, a secular field of study.

Herman Harold Potok was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Poland. Following tradition, his parents also gave him a Hebrew name, Chaim Tvzi; "Chaim" is the Hebrew word for "life". His Orthodox education taught him Talmud as well as secular studies.

After receiving an M.A in Hebrew literature, and his later rabbinic ordination, Potok joined the U.S. Army as a chaplain, where he spent over a year in the Korean War.

Potok edited Conservative Judaism and also served as editor of the Jewish Publication Society. In 1965, Potok was awarded a Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania.

Chaim Potok died of cancer in Merion, Pennsylvania, on July 23, 2002.

Bibliography

The Chosen (1967)
The Promise (1969)
My Name is Asher Lev (1972)
The Book of Lights
The Gift of Asher Lev (1990)
Davita's Harp
I Am the Clay (1992)
The Tree of Here (1993)
The Sky of Now (1994)
The Gates of November (1996)
Zebra and Other Stories (1998)

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External links:

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/potok.htm (contains bibliography)

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/3724245.htm

http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Literature/Authors/P/Potok,_Chaim/

http://www.lasierra.edu/~ballen/potok/

http://www.lasierra.edu/%7Eballen/potok/menu.html

Notes on The Chosen