In 1950, Potok graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English Literature.Īfter four years of study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America he was ordained as a Conservative rabbi. In 1949, at the age of twenty, his stories were published in the literary magazine of Yeshiva University, which he also helped edit. He attended high school at Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, Yeshiva University's boys high school. Although it was not published, he received a note from the editor complimenting his work. At age 17 he made his first submission to the magazine The Atlantic Monthly. He started writing fiction at the age of 16.

After reading Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited as a teenager, he decided to become a writer (he often said that the novel Brideshead Revisited is what inspired his work and literature). He received an Orthodox Jewish education. His Hebrew name was Chaim Tzvi (חיים צבי). He was the oldest of four children, all of whom either became or married rabbis. Herman Harold Potok was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Benjamin Max (died 1958) and Mollie (née Friedman) Potok (died 1985), Jewish immigrants from Poland. Of the more than dozen novels he authored, his first book The Chosen (1967), was listed on The New York Times’ best seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies and which was adapted into a well-received 1981 feature film by the same title. Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 – July 23, 2002) was an American author, novelist, playwright, editor and rabbi.

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