Portrait of Chaim Potok

Birthday profile

Chaim Potok

Chaim Potok, American rabbi and author (died 2002)

Born
February 17, 1929
Died
July 23, 2002
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1929

About Chaim Potok

Chaim Potok, was an American author, novelist, playwright, editor and rabbi. Among the more than a dozen books he authored, his first novel The Chosen (1967) was listed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3.4 million copies, and was adapted into a well-received 1981 feature film by the same title. In 1967, Potok published The Chosen, which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and was nominated for the National Book Award.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Chaim Potok timeline

  1. In 1967, Potok published The Chosen, which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and was nominated for the National Book Award.
  2. Among the more than a dozen books he authored, his first novel The Chosen (1967) was listed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3.4 million copies, and was adapted into a well-received 1981 feature film by the same title.

The world when Chaim Potok was born

Chaim Potok was born in 1929. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1929

  • #1 song"Singin' in the Rain"
  • Top movieThe Broadway Melody (first Best Picture winner)
  • Best-selling bookA Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst baseball All-Star Game proposed
  • Top headlineStock market crashes on Black Tuesday
  • Technology milestoneFirst Academy Awards ceremony held
  • Defining fadYo-yos
  • Notable inventionCar radio
  • World population2.10 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHerbert Hoover
  • Sports championPhiladelphia Athletics (World Series)
  • U.S. population121.8M

1929 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Chaim Potok's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19292026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,300$435,000
Average income$3,850$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population121.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.