Editing Chaim Potok (section)

==Biography==
Herman Harold Potok was born in [[the Bronx]], [[New York City]], to Benjamin Max Potok (died 1958) and Mollie ({{née|Friedman}}; died 1985), [[Jewish]] immigrants from [[Poland]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/24/books/chaim-potok-73-dies-novelist-illumined-the-world-of-hasidic-judaism.html|title = Chaim Potok, 73, Dies; Novelist Illumined the World of Hasidic Judaism|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|date = July 24, 2002|last1 = Fox|first1 = Margalit}}</ref> He was the oldest of four children, all of whom either became or married rabbis. His [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] name was Chaim Tzvi (חיים צבי). He received an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] Jewish education. After reading [[Evelyn Waugh]]'s novel ''[[Brideshead Revisited]]'' (1945) as a teenager, Potok decided to become a writer (he often said that ''Brideshead Revisited'' was what inspired his work and writing). He started writing fiction at the age of 16. At age 17, he made his first submission to the magazine ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]''. Although it was not published, he received a note from the editor complimenting his work. He attended high school at [[Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy]], Yeshiva University's boys high school.

In 1949, at the age of twenty, Potok's stories were published in the literary magazine of [[Yeshiva University]], which he also helped edit. In 1950, he graduated ''[[summa cum laude]]'' with a BA in English Literature.

[[File:Kelty WL Price.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|left|Potok's house in suburban Philadelphia]]
After four years of study at the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]], Potok was ordained as a Conservative [[rabbi]]. He was appointed director of the Leaders Training Fellowship (LTF), a youth organization affiliated with [[Conservative Judaism]].

After receiving a master's degree in [[English literature]], Potok enlisted with the [[U.S. Army]] as a chaplain. He served in [[South Korea]] from 1955 to 1957. He described his time in South Korea as a transformative experience.<ref>{{Citation | first = Chaim | last = Potok | title = Wandering&nbsp;— The History of the Jews | publisher = Ballantine Books | year = 1983 | chapter = Introduction}}</ref>{{Rp | needed = yes | 2012‐11‐18|date=November 2012}}  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 Orthodox synagogues at home.

Upon his return to the U.S., he joined the faculty of the [[University of Judaism]] in [[Los Angeles]]. Potok met Adena Sara Mosevitzsky, a [[psychiatric]] [[social worker]], at [[Camp Ramah in California|Camp Ramah in Ojai, California]], where he served as camp director from 1957 to 1959. They were married on June 8, 1958. In 1959, he began his graduate studies at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and was appointed scholar-in-residence at [[Har Zion Synagogue]] in [[Philadelphia]]. In 1963, the Potoks were instructors at Camp Ramah in Nyack.  Also in 1963, he began a year in Israel, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on [[Solomon Maimon]] and began to write a novel.

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. The following year, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the [[Jewish Publication Society]] in Philadelphia and later, chairman of the publication committee.<ref>Sanford V. Sternlicht Chaim Potok: A Critical Companion  2000 page 8 "...to work with the Jewish Publication Society of America, while making his final revisions of The Chosen, published in 1967. Potok had been made editor in chief of the publication society in 1966, and he remained in that capacity until 1974."</ref> During this time, Potok received a doctorate in philosophy from  the University of Pennsylvania. In 1970, the Potoks relocated to [[Jerusalem]] and then returned to Philadelphia in 1977.

After the publication of ''Old Men at Midnight'' (2001), Potok was diagnosed with brain cancer. He died at his home in [[Merion, Pennsylvania]] on July 23, 2002, aged 73.