Chaim Potok

Chaim Potok was the eldest of four children born to Jewish immigrants from Poland. The family were observant Orthodox Jews, and each of the children either became a rabbi or married one. Although his parents discouraged secular literature, Potok read Brideshead Revisited as a teenager, which inspired him to become a writer himself.  He began publishing his work while studying at Yeshiva University, from which he graduated in 1950. He then studied at Jewish Theological Seminary and was ordained as a Conservative rabbi. After earning a master’s degree in English literature, he served as a U.S. Army chaplain in South Korea, which he described as a transformative experience. While working as the director of a Jewish summer camp, he met Adena Sara Mosevitzky. They were married in 1958 and had three children. Potok later earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania and worked for the magazine Conservative Judaism and the Jewish Publication Society. Over the years, the Potok family lived in Brooklyn, Israel, and Philadelphia. Of nine published novels, Potok’s most famous is National Book Award nominee The Chosen, which he published in 1967. His novels helped bring questions of Jewish identity and culture before a wider, non-Jewish audience. He also left a legacy of highly-regarded Torah commentary.