Synopsis
The story of a boy who grows up in the Bronx through the twenties, the Depression, World War II and its aftermath, and is forced by these events into radically reassessing what it means for him to be a Jew. The author also wrote "The Chosen".
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About the Author
Chaim Potok was born in New York City in 1929. He graduated from Yeshiva University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, was ordained as a rabbi, and earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. He also served as editor of the Jewish Publication Society of America. Potok's first novel, The Chosen, published in 1967, received the Edward Lewis Wallant Memorial Book Award and was nominated for the National Book Award. He is author of eight novels, including In the Beginning and My Name Is Asher Lev, and Wanderings, a history of the Jews. He died in 2002.
From the Back Cover
All beginnings are hard--that is the lesson David Lurie learns early and painfully in his life. As a boy in the Depression-shadowed Bronx, he must begin to hold his own against neighborhood bullies and the treacherous frailties of his own health. As a young man in a world menaced by a distant, horrifying war, he must begin once more--this time to define a resolute path of personal belief that departs boldly from the tradition of his teachers and his own father, a courageous defender of their people.
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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Search results for IN THE BEGINNING
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In the Beginning
Published by
Random House Publishing Group, 1981
ISBN 10: 0449240320
ISBN 13: 9780449240328
Used
Softcover
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 17023163-20
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In the Beginning
Seller: -OnTimeBooks-, Phoenix, AZ, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: good. A copy that has been read, remains in good condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. The spine and cover show signs of wear. Pages can include notes and highlighting and show signs of wear, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. 100% GUARANTEE! Shipped with delivery confirmation, if you're not satisfied with purchase please return item! Ships via media mail. Seller Inventory # OTV.0449240320.G
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In The Beginning
Published by
Fawcett Crest, New York, 1975
ISBN 10: 0449240320
ISBN 13: 9780449240328
Used
Mass market paperback
Seller: Ground Zero Books, Ltd., Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Mass market paperback. Condition: Fair. Later printing. 432 pages. Some damp staining to cover and some pages. David Lurie learns that all beginnings are hard. He must fight for his place against the bullies in his Depression-shadowed Bronx neighborhood and his own frail health. As a young man, he must start anew and define his own path of personal belief that diverges sharply with his devout father and everything he has been taught. Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 - July 23, 2002) was an American author, novelist, playwright, editor and rabbi. 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 which was adapted into a well-received 1981 feature film by the same title. After receiving a master's degree in English literature, Potok enlisted with the U.S. Army as a chaplain. He served in South Korea from 1955 to 1957. He described his time in South Korea as a transformative experience. In 1964, the Potoks moved to Brooklyn, where Chaim became the managing editor of the magazine Conservative Judaism and joined the faculty of the Teachers' Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary. The following year, he was appointed editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publication Society in Philadelphia and later, chairman of the publication committee. Potok has had a considerable influence on Jewish American authors. His work was significant for discussing the conflict between the traditional aspects of Jewish thought and culture and modernity to a wider, non-Jewish culture. He taught a graduate seminar on Postmodernism at the University of Pennsylvania. In the Beginning is the 1975 fourth novel by Chaim Potok. The novel tells the story of David Lurie, an Orthodox Jewish boy from the Bronx growing up in the Great Depression of the 1930s up to the revealing of the fate of the Lurie family's relatives in Poland at the end of World War II. During World War II, the German invasion of Poland cuts off contact between the Luries and their families there. After the war ends, the Luries learn that everyone in both families -- nearly one hundred and fifty people -- were killed in Bergen Belsen. During the course of the novel, David develops an interest in Bible scholarship, and eventually discovers secular authors who discuss the human origins of the Bible, in direct opposition to the belief that the Bible is the word of God as revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. David perceives an edge of anti-Semitism in many of these works, but finds it difficult to ignore the scholarly arguments these authors are making. David's ultimate destiny is to become a Bible scholar who is still a person of faith -- to employ modern methods to make a new beginning for his people. Seller Inventory # 85683