The Book of Lights is a 1981 novel by Chaim Potok about a young rabbi and student of Kabbalah whose service as a United States military chaplain in Korea and Japan after the Korean War challenges his thinking about the meaning of faith in a world of "light" from many sources.

"[2] Raised by an aunt and uncle after his parents are killed in 1937, in terrorist cross-fire in Palestine,[3] Gershon is taught that Judaism has made "a fundamental difference in the world."

I spent fifteen and a half months of my life in Korea and a little bit of that in Japan, courtesy of the United States military in which I became a chaplain.

[7] The novel's title is a translation of a classic kabbalistic text, "Sefer HaZohar," commonly referred to simply as the "Zohar.

[10] The novel was widely discussed within religious circles as one that asked profoundly important questions about God and about ourselves in a world where we begin to encounter, sometimes for the first time, those of other faiths.

[11] In Diana Eck's God: A spiritual journey from Bozeman to Banaras, she describes the scene in the novel where Gershon and Leiden watch a religious Buddhist in a shrine in Japan, prompting Gershon to ask his friend whether he thinks that God is listening to this man's prayers.

[12] The play was produced by the Festival at the Harold Prince Theater, Annandale Center, in May 1992, receiving mixed reviews.

[14] It received a very favorable review in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, where it was described as "a drama of aura and far-reaching ambition... disturbing theater... [that] raises more questions than it answers, perhaps Potok's purpose; but it provides an evening of thoughtful play-going.