Editing Chaim Potok

{{Short description|American author and rabbi (1929–2002)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Chaim Potok
| image            = Chaim Potok.jpg
| caption          = Potok in 1986
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = Herman Harold Potok
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1929|2|17|mf=y}}
| birth_place      = [[The Bronx]], New York City, U.S.
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2002|7|23|1929|2|17}}
| death_place      = [[Merion, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| occupation       = Novelist, Rabbi, Painter
| education        = [[Yeshiva University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| period           = 
| genre            = [[Literary fiction]]
| subject          = 
| movement         = 
| notableworks     = 
| website          = 
| children         = Rena Potok<br>Naama Potok<br>Akiva Potok
| spouse           = Adena Potok
| signature         = Chaim_Potok_Signature_from_the_Goldman_Collection.png
}}
'''Chaim Potok''' (February 17, 1929&nbsp;– July 23, 2002) was an American [[author]], [[novelist]], [[playwright]], [[editor]] and [[rabbi]]. Of the more than a dozen novels he authored, his first book ''[[The Chosen (Potok novel)|The Chosen]]'' (1967) was listed on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]] for 39 weeks and sold more than 3.4 million copies,<ref>{{Citation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8vOG2EXef4EC&pg=PA8 | title = Chaim Potok: a critical companion | first = Sanford V | last = Sternlicht | page = 8 | publisher = Greenwood Publishing | year = 2000| isbn = 978-0313311819 }}</ref><ref name="Fox">{{cite news|last=Fox|first=Margalit|title=Chaim Potok, 73, Dies; Novelist Illumined the World of Hasidic Judaism|work=The New York Times|page=17|date=July 24, 2002|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/24/books/chaim-potok-73-dies-novelist-illumined-the-world-of-hasidic-judaism.html|author-link=Margalit Fox}}</ref> and was adapted into a well-received [[The Chosen (1981 film)|1981 feature film by the same title]].

==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.

==Literary career==

In 1967, Potok published ''[[The Chosen (Potok novel)|The Chosen]]'', which won the [[Edward Lewis Wallant Award]] and was nominated for the [[National Book Award]]. Potok wrote a sequel to ''The Chosen'' in 1969, entitled ''[[The Promise (Potok novel)|The Promise]]'', which details the issues of the value and identity between Orthodox and Hasidic Jews. This book won the [[Athenaeum Literary Award]] the same year of its publication.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.philaathenaeum.org/literary.html | publisher = Philadelphia Athenaeum | title = Literary Award | access-date = March 14, 2011 | archive-date = May 22, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110522052022/http://www.philaathenaeum.org/literary.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> Not long afterward the [[Jewish Publication Society]] appointed him as its special projects editor. 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. In 1975, he published ''[[In the Beginning (novel)|In the Beginning]]''.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.philaathenaeum.org/newsletter/v.1-n.11/v.1-n.11.html | journal = Philadelphia Athenaeum | volume = 1 | number = 11 | title = NEWS: Mid-November | access-date = January 19, 2011 | archive-date = May 22, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110522081337/http://www.philaathenaeum.org/newsletter/v.1-n.11/v.1-n.11.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> From 1974 until his death, Potok served as a special projects editor for the Jewish Publication Society. During this time, Potok began translating the Hebrew Bible into English. In 1978, he published his non-fiction work, ''Wanderings: Chaim Potok’s Story of the Jews'', a historical account of the Jews. Between 1978 and 1989, Potok contributed articles to ''[[Moment Magazine]]''.<ref>{{cite archive|first=Chaim|last=Potok|item-url=http://search.opinionarchives.com/Moment_Web/digitalarchive.aspx|type=Textual record|date=September 1978|collection=Moment Magazine|institution=Opinion Archives|location=Digital Archives}}</ref> Potok described his 1981 novel ''The Book of Lights'' as an account of his experiences in Asia during the war. He said “it reshaped the neat, coherent model of myself and my place in the world.”<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chavkin|first1=Laura|title=A "MELUS" Interview: Chaim Potok|journal=MELUS|date=Summer 1999|volume=24|issue=2|pages=147–157|doi=10.2307/467704|jstor=467704}}</ref>

His novel ''The Chosen'' was made into a [[The Chosen (1981 film)|film]] released in 1981, which won the most prestigious award at the [[Montreal World Film Festival|World Film Festival]], [[Montreal, Canada|Montreal]]. Potok had a [[cameo role]] as a professor. The film featured [[Rod Steiger]], [[Barry Miller (actor)|Barry Miller]], [[Maximilian Schell]] and [[Robby Benson]]. It also became an  [[Off-Broadway]] musical and was adapted as a stage play by Aaron Posner in collaboration with Potok, which premiered at the [[Arden Theatre Company (Philadelphia)|Arden Theatre Company]] in [[Philadelphia]] in 1999.<ref>{{cite web|title=2008/09 Press Releases: Arden Theatre Company presents the World Premiere of My Name Is Asher Lev|url=https://www.ardentheatre.org/news/2008_1222.html|website=Arden Theatre Company|access-date=23 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418105411/http://ardentheatre.org/news/2008_1222.html|archive-date=April 18, 2016|date=December 22, 2008}}</ref>

Potok's 1985 novel ''[[Davita's Harp]]'' is his only book featuring a female protagonist. In 1990, he published a sequel to ''My Name is Asher Lev'' titled ''[[The Gift of Asher Lev]]''. It won the [[National Jewish Book Award]] for Fiction.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners|title=Past Winners|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|access-date=2020-01-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308182757/https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners|archive-date=March 8, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref> Potok wrote many plays, among them ''Sins of the Father'' and ''Out of the Depths''. In 1992, Potok completed another novel, ''I Am the Clay'', about the courageous struggle of a war-ravaged family. His 1993 young adult literature ''The Tree of Here'' was followed by ''The Sky of Now'' (1995) and ''Zebra and Other Stories'' (1998).

==Literary influences==
Potok's parents discouraged his writing and reading of non-Jewish subjects. Nevertheless, he spent many hours in the public library reading secular novels. Potok cited [[James Joyce]], [[Thomas Mann]], [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]], [[Ernest Hemingway]], and [[Shmuel Yosef Agnon|S. Y. Agnon]] as his chief literary influences. Many of his novels are set in the urban environments in New York in which he himself grew up.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://potok.lasierra.edu/Potok.faqs |website=Chaim Potok |title=Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=La sierra |access-date=2010-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719231418/http://potok.lasierra.edu/Potok.faqs |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> While not [[Hasidic Jew|Hasidic]], Potok was raised in an Orthodox home. In the book ''[[My Name is Asher Lev]]'', Asher Lev wants to be a painter, which causes much conflict with his father who wants him to do something else, much as Potok did during his childhood. Asher decides to become a painter, which upsets his family. Potok went into writing and painted in his free time. Potok said he related to Asher Lev more than any of his other characters.<ref>{{cite interview |url=http://potok.lasierra.edu/Potok.interviews.MHR.html |title=Mars Hill Review Interview With Chaim Potok |first=Chaim |last=Potok |date=Winter–Spring 1997 |interviewer-first=Michael J. |interviewer-last=Cusick |journal=Mars Hill Review |via=La sierra |access-date=2010-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305165003/http://potok.lasierra.edu/Potok.interviews.MHR.html |archive-date=March 5, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Legacy==
Potok has had a considerable influence on Jewish American authors.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Potok.html |title=Chaim Potok | format = biography | publisher=Jewish virtual library |date= July 23, 2002 | access-date = 2010-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gradesaver.com/author/chaim-potok |title=Biography of Chaim Potok &#124; List of Works, Study Guides & Essays |publisher=Grade Saver | access-date=2010-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | publisher = Class zone | title = Novel guide | contribution = Potok | url = http://www.classzone.com/novelguide/authors/potok.cfm}}{{dead link | date =October 2010}}</ref><ref>Great American Writers;Twentieth Century</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/2002/07/24/archive/obituary-chaim-potok-dead-at-age-of-73-was-literary-pioneer-and-scholar|title=Obituary Chaim Potok Dead at Age of 73, Was Literary Pioneer and Scholar|date=2002-07-24|website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|access-date=2017-01-24}}</ref>  He taught a highly regarded graduate seminar on Postmodernism at the University of Pennsylvania from 1993 through 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0103/potok.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030415200456/http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0103/potok.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 15, 2003 |title=Pushing the 'frontiers of thought' |first=DS Neil |last=van Leeuwen |access-date=2012-10-15 }}</ref>

He bequeathed his papers to the University of Pennsylvania.<ref>{{Citation |department=Arts, Briefly |first=Julie |last=Bloom |title=Papers of Chaim Potok To Go to Penn |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 18, 2010 |page=C2}}</ref> The university houses a collection of Potok correspondence, writings, lectures, sermons, article clippings, memorabilia and fan mail. One of his admirers was [[Elie Wiesel]], who wrote to Potok saying he had read all his books "with fervor and friendship".<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1798 | title = Penn Libraries Receive Chaim Potok Papers | publisher = U Penn | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120806004952/http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1798 | archive-date = August 6, 2012 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

==Published works==
{{library resources box|by=yes}}
* ''Jewish Ethics'' (1964–69, 14 volumes)
* ''[[The Chosen (Potok novel)|The Chosen]]'' (1967)
* ''[[The Promise (Potok novel)|The Promise]]'' (1969)
* ''[[My Name Is Asher Lev]]'' (1972)
* ''[[In the Beginning (novel)|In the Beginning]]'' (1975)
* ''The Jew Confronts Himself in American Literature'' (1975)
* ''[[Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews]]'' (1978)
* ''[[The Book of Lights]]'' (1981)
* ''[[Davita's Harp]]'' (1985)
* ''Theo Tobiasse'' (1986)
* ''[[The Gift of Asher Lev]]'' (1990)
* ''I Am the Clay'' (1992)
* ''The Tree of Here'' (1993)
* ''The Trope Teacher'' (1994)
* ''The Sky of Now'' (1994)
* ''The Gates of November'' (1996)
* ''Zebra and Other Stories'' (1998)
* ''Isaac Stern: My First 79 Years'' (with Isaac Stern; 1999)
* ''Old Men at Midnight'' (2001)
* {{Citation | title = Conversations with Chaim Potok | editor-first = Daniel | editor-last = Walden | year = 2001| title-link = Conversations with Chaim Potok }}

==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
*[[List of brain tumor patients]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* Finding aid to the [http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ead/upenn_rbml_MsColl730 Chaim Potok papers Ms. Coll. 730]{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at the [http://www.library.upenn.edu/ University of Pennsylvania Libraries]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100312001805/http://potok.lasierra.edu/ Chaim Potok resource site] created by William M. Allen, PhD, [[La Sierra University]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120720072121/http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/water-by-the-spoonful/ Interview with Quiara Alegría Hudes in Guernica, July 2012]

{{Chaim Potok}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potok, Chaim}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century American essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American rabbis]]
[[Category:20th-century American translators]]
[[Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:21st-century American essayists]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American rabbis]]
[[Category:21st-century American translators]]
[[Category:American Conservative rabbis]]
[[Category:American male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American male essayists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American postmodern writers]]
[[Category:American psychological fiction writers]]
[[Category:Deaths from brain cancer in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Jewish American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Jewish American essayists]]
[[Category:Jewish American novelists]]
[[Category:Jewish Theological Seminary of America semikhah recipients]]
[[Category:Jewish translators of the Bible]]
[[Category:Rabbis in the military]]
[[Category:Translators of the Bible into English]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:Yeshiva University alumni]]