summa cum laude in 1950; at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he received the M.H.L. and rabbinic ordination in 1954; and at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1965. Potok's interest in Jewish studies and the influence of Evelyn Waugh are evident in his efforts to show man in relation to God and to examine the importance of religion in a secular age and society. Potok's characters, like Waugh's, display a strong sense of continuity with national history and are often presented against a backdrop of the demands of family and religion. Furthermore, the interplay, as in
Brideshead Revisited , of two sensitive, intelligent young men of parallel yet divergent interests has become Potok's major character construct.
Unlike his fellow American-Jewish novelists, to whom scholarship in Judaica has been of peripheral interest, Potok stands in the European tradition of Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Leib Peretz, and Chaim Nachman Bialick, pursuing a Judaic professional role in conjunction with that of the creative artist. Following service as a U.S. Army chaplain in Korea (1956-1957), Potok married Adena Sarah Mosevitzky and began a distinguished teaching and publication career in Jewish studies.
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