JEM: The Rebbe and the Author
Herman Wouk, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of several bestsellers, passed away Friday at 103. Mr. Wouk, an observant Jew, had several interactions with the Rebbe. In 1972, he conveyed President Nixon’s blessings on the occasion of the Rebbe’s seventieth birthday, and his visit to the Rebbe in the winter of 1975 is recorded on video. As well, the Rebbe corresponded with him in writing, taking an active interest in his work.
Author of ‘This is My G-d,’ Mr. Wouk was born in 1915 to religious parents, and was deeply influenced by his grandfather to remain religious himself. He took an active role in Jewish communal affairs in the various communities in which he lived, and in his later years, he was a stalwart member of Chabad of Palm Springs, CA.
In 1972, Rabbi Moshe Feller, the Rebbe’s emissary to Minnesota, invited him to Minnesota to speak at a dinner. There, Mr. Wouk stated that the Rebbe had a profound impact on his life, calling him the “most optimistic Jew of our time.”
