De uitverkorenen chaim potok biography

American author and rabbi (1929–2002)

Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 – 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 (1967) was listed on The New York Times’ bestseller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies,^[1][2] and was adapted into a well-received 1981 feature film by the same title.

De uitverkorenen chaim potok biography

Biography

Herman Harold Potok was born in the Bronx, New York City, to Benjamin Max (died 1958) and Mollie (née Friedman) Potok (died 1985), Jewish immigrants from Poland.^[3] He was the oldest of four children, all of whom either became or married rabbis.

His Hebrew name was Chaim Tzvi (חיים צבי). He received an Orthodox Jewish education. After reading Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited (1945) as a teenager, he decided to become a writer (he often said that Brideshead Revisited is what inspired his work and lit