Chaim Potok, noted author, DEAD.

[Passner]

Chaim Potok, author of such novels as The Chosen and The Promise died today. He was 73 years old and had been battling cancer for more than a year. It is truly a sad day for the literary world, and perhaps, the world as a whole.


On a personal note, Chaim Potok was my favorite novelist. He wrote in such a way that on page one you were drawn in and by the last page you would be completely drained because in the pages in between you would laugh, you would cry, and above all, you would think. The emotions Potok could ellicit through his words were tremendously powerful and he could change your views on an issue simply through the suddle persuasion of his writings.

I hope all of you take some time and go to your library or Amazon or whatever and read "The Chosen," if you like what you read I suggest you read "My Name is Asher Lev" if that touches you, then read "The Promise" and "The Gift of Asher Lev." I guarantee your life will be changed for the better through the simple reading of his books.

A great voice was silenced.

 

[Passner]

up to the top this goes so that maybe someone who cares enough to post will see this.

 

[sheselectric]

read "the chosen" in high school...loved it.

he will be missed.

 

[UberNeuman]

Well, I'm sorry for his loss - and I'm interested about the books you spoke about - what's the premises of his novels?

 

[Jzero]

I'm not Jewish, but I think the customary response is something like

"Baruch dayan emet."

I was doubly disturbed to learn that for at least 5 years I have lived and/or worked literally around the corner from Potok's Temple. Merion is a largely Jewish area, and I see bearded conservatives and Hasids walking around all the time in their distinctive clothing. I have probably passed him on the street and never even realized it.

The Chosen is about a young Jewish mystic who becomes best friends with another boy. IIRC, their fathers subscribe to different schools of Judaism, and the friend's father considers him to be less of a Jew (I think Apikoros was the word, although I might have spelled it wrong), and tries to keep them separated. It's a very good story.

I haven't read The Promise or any of the Asher Lev books.

 

[Passner]

His most famous novels, "The Chosen" "The Promis" and "My Name is Asher Lev" centered around the Orthodox or Chassidic Jewish community, however, as his sales would indicate, the books had an effect on people from all backgrounds.

Summaries

Chosen- (takes place in the 40's and 50's) A young Modern Orthodox boy, Ruben Malter, befriends the son of an exceedingly popular rabbi named Reb Saunders. Reb Saunders son Danny, wants desperately to suceed in the secular world, while his father wants him to follow in his footsteps. Ruben and Danny grow apart over the issue of the founding of Israel (due to Reb Saunder's pressure on his son), but they reconcile soon after the actual founding of the State of Israel. That is all I will give away, for now and the book is much more complex and elaborate then my short summary.

The Promise- The Sequel to the Chosen, documents Danny's time at Columbia and Ruben's adulthood.

My Name is Asher Lev (Set in the 1950's) Asher Lev's father is the chief assistant to a man based on the Satmer Rebbe a man so revered that Satmer Chassidim view him as an almost Jesus-like figure. Asher grows up in an environment of intense religious pressure. Through all of this, he wants to become a painter, a wish which his father is staunchly opposed to. While the plot may seem similar to that of the Chosen, the two books are very different in content.

 

[UberNeuman]

Passner - I'll check "Chosen".... I haven't read a good book in a very long time...

 

[Passner]

Uber, you will not be disappointed.

 

[Passner]

Here is a link to an obituary: Potok Obit

 

[glenn1]

Can't say i've ever heard of him, but rest with the angels, Mr. Potok.

 

Sorry to hear about his death - The Chosen is a great book...one of my favorite summer reading books of all time.