Potok, Chaim (1929-2002)

US rabbi and writer. He wrote about the clash between religious and secular life and was credited with introducing US readers to Orthodox Jewish culture. His first and best-known novel was The Chosen (1967; filmed 1982).

The eldest son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, Potok grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in New York City. He graduated from Yeshiva University in 1950 and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1954. His other novels include The Promise (1969), My Name is Asher Lev (1972), In the Beginning (1975), The Book of Lights (1981), Davita's Harp (1985), The Gift of Asher Lev (1990), I Am the Clay (1992), The Tree of Here (1993), and The Sky of Now (1995).

Potok received an O Henry award for his short story ‘Moon’ (1999). His works of non-fiction include Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews (1978) and The Gates of November (1996), an account of a Soviet Jewish family.