When Herman Wouk was 13, his maternal grandfather, Mendel Leib Levine, came from Minsk to live with them and took charge of his grandson's Jewish education. Wouk was frustrated by the amount of time he was expected to spend studying the Talmud, but his father told him, "if I were on my deathbed, and I had breath to say one more thing to you, I would say 'Study the Talmud.'"
Eventually Wouk took this advice to heart. After a brief period as a young adult during which he lived a secular life, he returned to religious practice and Judaism became integral to both his personal life and his career. He said later that his grandfather and the United States Navy were the two most important influences on his life.
