Asher heard about this ancestor so often that he began to appear in Asher’s dreams: “a man of mythic dimensions” who “left a taste of thunder in my mouth.” In these dreams, Asher’s mythic ancestor would echo his father ’s questions about Asher’s childhood love of drawing.
What is the main idea of my Name is Asher Lev?
My Name Is Asher Lev. My Name Is Asher Lev is a novel by Chaim Potok, an American author and rabbi. The book's protagonist is Asher Lev, a Hasidic Jewish boy in New York City. Asher is a loner with artistic inclinations. His art, however, causes conflicts with his family and other members of his community.
Who is Lev Asher in the Ladover?
Asher Lev. Asher is a fascinating creature with two powerful and conflicting forces pulling him in opposite directions. The first is the community in which he is raised. The Ladover community is tight-knit and all encompassing.
What is Asher’s dream about his father?
That night, Asher dreams of his mythic ancestor, raging and storming, telling Asher he’s “wasting time.” Asher wakes up and sees his father praying in front of the window. He vows to himself that through his drawing, he will “bring life to all the wide and tired world.”
Who are Asher Lev’s parents?
Asher himself, born in 1943 to Rivkeh and Aryeh Lev in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, “was the juncture point of two significant family lines […] freighted with Jewish responsibility. But he was also born with a gift.” Asher’s family history is a heavy weight in his life.
What does Asher see when he reaches his street?
What does Aryeh tell Asher?
What happens to Rivkeh the next day?
What questions does Asher ask his father during the Shabbos meal?
What does Rivkeh whisper to Asher?
Where does Asher go to school?
Who did Asher ask about Vienna?
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Who frequently appears in Asher's dreams?
The mythic ancestor is that dude Asher keeps on having dreams about: the mysterious great-grandpa who made a ton of money for the goyische landowner before setting out to wander continental Europe on his own, teaching everyone he met about the Torah and Judaism.
What happens at the end of Asher Lev?
The ending is pretty tragic, because it's basically Asher being cast out of his community and shunned by his parents. Not a great start to a career, huh? The ending emphasizes one of the book's themes, which is the struggle between individual and community.
Who is the mythic ancestor in My Name Is Asher Lev?
The mythic ancestor is Asher's great-great-great grandfather on his father Aryeh's side. From early childhood, Asher hears stories of his ancestor's exploits—he initially worked as the overseer for a Russian nobleman's estates, enriching himself and the nobleman in the process.
What does Asher learn about becoming an artist?
If he wants to be an artist, he will have to master the history of art, which will include crucifixions and naked women. One day Kahn brings a model into the studio. Asher is, at first, hesitant to draw her in the nude.
How many pages does My Name Is Asher Lev have?
370My Name Is Asher Lev is a novel by Chaim Potok, an American author and rabbi. The book's protagonist is Asher Lev, a Hasidic Jewish boy in New York City. Asher is a loner with artistic inclinations....My Name Is Asher Lev.First editionAuthorChaim PotokPages370ISBN0-394-46137-1OCLC22124210 more rows
Why do Asher's parents decide not to leave Asher with his uncle?
Originally, Asher's parents had decided to go to Vienna and leave Asher with his Uncle Yitzchok. But, seeing the burden Asher was, they decided it would be best if Rivkeh stayed with him.
Why does Asher not want to go to Vienna?
During the Shabbos meal, Asher asks his father questions about Vienna—where he will study, what languages are spoken there. Later, he tells his mother he is afraid. He doesn't want to fly, and he can't speak German.
How does the mythic ancestor impact Asher's self perception?
The stories of Asher's ancestor have a powerful effect on his psyche; in fact, from an early age, Asher begins to conflate dreams of his ancestor with his own father's disapproval of him—a notion that will haunt Asher as he grows up. Asher's grandfather, after whom he is named, was a scholar and recluse.
Is My Name Is Asher Lev Based on a true story?
The story in My Name is Asher Lev is not based on a particular person or actual events. The community Asher grows up in is strongly based on the Hasidic Lubavich community — also known as Chabad, Lubavitch, or Chabad-Lubavich — in Brooklyn Heights, New York.
Asher Lev Character Analysis in My Name is Asher Lev | SparkNotes
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My Name Is Asher Lev Questions and Answers - eNotes.com
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Jacob Kahn Character Analysis in My Name is Asher Lev | LitCharts
“Now, between today and the middle of March is a long time. You will do something for me in that time. You will take a journey to the Museum of Modern Art, you will go up to the second floor, and you will look at a painting called Guernica, by Picasso.You will study this painting.
My Name is Asher Lev Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis | LitCharts
When Asher was growing up, his mother had seemed more like an older sister; she was just 19 when he was born. They were happy days filled with laughter. Sometimes Asher and his mother would go rowing together in Prospect Park. Once Asher drew a picture of his mother after she fell in their boat while awkwardly pulling at the oars.
My Name is Asher Lev Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis | SparkNotes
A summary of Part X (Section1) in Chaim Potok's My Name is Asher Lev. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of My Name is Asher Lev and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
My Name Is Asher Lev Quotes by Chaim Potok - Goodreads
“But it would have made me a whore to leave it incomplete. It would have made it easier to leave future work incomplete. It would have made it more and more difficult to draw upon that additional aching surge of effort that is always the difference between integrity and deceit in a created work.
What is Asher taught?
He is inculcated with the values of the community and is taught to love God, Torah, and his fellow Jews. Furthermore, as an only child, he is raised to be particularly close to and dependent on his parents, who are, for Asher, at the center of this community.
Who did Asher study with?
As an adolescent, Asher begins his study with Jacob Kahn. Kahn teaches him to channel his emotions into art. Asher begins to grow up and to gain some control over his gift. In these years, Asher balances his commitments to his community and to art.
What is Asher's community?
Asher is a fascinating creature with two powerful and conflicting forces pulling him in opposite directions. The first is the community in which he is raised. The Ladover community is tight-knit and all encompassing. A person can live his entire life in this community without ever interacting with someone from the outside. Growing up, Asher's life is filled with religious indoctrination in school, at home, and from the people in his community with whom he interacts. He is inculcated with the values of the community and is taught to love God, Torah, and his fellow Jews. Furthermore, as an only child, he is raised to be particularly close to and dependent on his parents, who are, for Asher, at the center of this community.
What does Lev do as a boy?
As a boy, Lev is unable to control this desire and does not really understand it. Sometimes, he simply spaces out and draws. On one occasion, this desire leads him to steal; the strong influences in his life begin to come into conflict. As an adolescent, Asher begins his study with Jacob Kahn.
Where does Asher leave his home?
He leaves his home for Europe. There, free from his parents, he is finally able to understand his community better. He reflects on his upbringing and his parents and grows tremendously. For the first time in his life, Asher faces serious internal conflict. He is tormented by his mother's anguish.
Is Asher still a child?
As his period of time studying with Kahn comes to a close, Asher is at a crossroad. He has developed significantly as an artist, but is still a child. He leaves his home for Europe.
Is Asher Lev fully resolved?
Still, he is not fully resolved to his decision. My Name is Asher Lev concludes with Asher still, in many ways, unresolved. He was not fully comfortable with his decision to display his crucifixions, not comfortable with bringing pain to his parents.
What did Asher dream about?
In these dreams, Asher’s mythic ancestor would echo his father ’s questions about Asher’s childhood love of drawing.
Why does Asher join his father at the Ladover headquarters?
Because Rivkeh is in such a helpless, grief-stricken state, Asher begins joining his father at the Ladover headquarters, where he gets firsthand insight into Aryeh’s work for the first time. Access to the Rebbe himself is carefully controlled, and Aryeh’s own work has a sense of mystery about it, too, for the young boy.
What did Asher's father do before his mother became ill?
In the days before Asher ’s mother became ill, his father traveled a lot, meeting with government representatives at the request of the Rebbe. Aryeh had come to America at 14 and had earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science at the Rebbe ’s request. Rivkeh takes great pride in Aryeh’s work, and Aryeh takes pride in continuing the work his own father had done for the Rebbe ’s father. Sometimes Aryeh would leave early in the morning, after preparing a glass of fresh orange juice for each member of the family. “Have a safe journey,” Rivkeh would always tell him. Asher would watch him out the window —tall, neatly dressed, and walking with a slight of limp from childhood polio.
What is the significance of Asher watching his father's departures from the window?
Aryeh’s absences ask a lot of the family, and even as a small child, Asher watches his father’s departures from the window—a place that is symbolic of the physical and emotional rifts among Aryeh and his family members. Active Themes. Asher often drew his father praying.
What does Aryeh say about his father?
One day, Aryeh explains a passage from the Talmud which says that if someone causes a single person to perish, it’s as if he has killed a whole world. Aryeh explains that it’s as if that person has killed all the descendants that might have come from the deceased person. He explains to Asher that his own father had often studied this passage, too.
What does Asher's ancestor do to his psyche?
The stories of Asher’s ancestor have a powerful effect on his psyche; in fact, from an early age, Asher begins to conflate dreams of his ancestor with his own father’s disapproval of him—a notion that will haunt Asher as he grows up.
Why did Asher travel?
But in middle age, he began to travel. Asher’s father always told him that his ancestor did this in order to “bring the Master of the Universe into the world.” His mother told him it was so that his ancestor could “find people in need and ] comfort and help them.”
What does Aryeh Lev tell Asher about Stalin?
Chapter 3. Aryeh Lev gets a call early in the week, telling him that Stalin is dying. The news becomes known officially a day later. By the end of the week, Stalin is dead. Asher's parents seem to think that this will bode well for Jews in Russia. Yudel Krinsky, however, tells Asher that Stalin's death will not quell Russian anti-semitism, ...
What does Asher draw in the midst of a lesson?
When the class is done, he gazes down at the page—he had drawn the deceased Stalin, lying in his coffin.
Why did Asher's mother ask the Rebbe to move to Vienna?
Asher's mother tells him that the Rebbe may ask the Lev family to move to Vienna in order for Aryeh to better perform his work. Asher falls ill for a few days and dreams of his Uncle Yitzchok, Krinsky, and his "mythic ancestor.".
Where does Asher go to visit Krinsky?
He then goes to his Uncle Yitzchok's store and asks if he can live with him, instead of going to Vienna with his parents.
What does Asher think in his dream?
Asher wakes, and in his dream, he thinks he is wasting his time so he wonders why he is given this gift if it causes so much worry (109).
What does Asher say to his mother?
On page 106, Asher says to his mother, "i don't want to lose it again". What is "it"?
How old is Asher Lev?
Asher Lev – Asher is the protagonist and narrator of the story. The book takes the reader through the first segment of Asher's life, ending when he's around 22 years of age. During his childhood, Asher is overwhelmed with his passion for drawing and painting so much that he becomes apathetic towards most of the world around him. Because of his lack of dedication and focus towards his education, the people surrounding him (mainly his father) begin to feel ashamed of what he has become. Asher isn't rebelling intentionally, but he has grown too strongly attached to his art that he can't help himself. As Asher grows older, he learns to channel his emotion and energy into his artwork and becomes immensely successful.
What is Asher Lev's real religion?
Just as they were oppressed and punished for their beliefs, Asher is negatively viewed by his father, his teachers, and his peers. Art is Asher's real religion, and not only he, but his mother suffers for it. When Asher tries to portray his mother's suffering, " [his] search for a motif reveals none powerful enough in [his] own tradition, and so [he] turn [s] to the central theme of suffering in the Christian tradition: crucifixion."
What book did Potok continue Asher Lev's story in?
Potok continued Asher Lev's story in the book The Gift of Asher Lev .
Why does Asher refuse to move to Vienna?
Asher becomes very upset about this and refuses to move to Vienna, in spite of requests from his parents and teachers alike. Rivkeh ultimately decides to stay in Brooklyn with Asher while Aryeh moves to Vienna alone.
Why does Krinsky tolerate Asher?
Krinsky feels that Asher shouldn't cause a good man like his father so much trouble. Despite this, he tolerates and enables the art because he is friends with Asher. Yaakov – Asher's uncle who died in a car crash when Asher was six years old. His death had a very profound effect on Asher's mother.
Why did Asher paint the crucifixion?
Later, after relocating to Paris, Asher paints his masterpiece: two works that use the symbolism of the crucifixion to express his mother's anguish and torment, since there is no artistic form in the Jewish tradition to fully express these feelings.
Why does Aryeh dislike his son?
Aryeh does not understand art and cannot comprehend why his son would spend his life making art. He gets in many disagreements over Asher's gift which causes him to dislike his son. Aryeh is close-minded, stubborn, and has difficulty with value systems other than his own.
What does Asher see when he reaches his street?
The streets are icy, and it takes Asher a long time to walk home. When he reaches his street, he sees his mother... (full context)
What does Aryeh tell Asher?
Once, Aryeh tells Asher, who is almost five, that he shouldn’t spend so much time on drawing. He calls... (full context)
What happens to Rivkeh the next day?
The next day, Rivkeh sleeps all day. That night, she finds Asher and Aryeh in the living room and explains to them that she wants to finish... (full context)
What questions does Asher ask his father during the Shabbos meal?
During the Shabbos meal, Asher asks his father questions about Vienna —where he will study, what languages are spoken there. Later,... (full context)
What does Rivkeh whisper to Asher?
Rivkeh’s eyes narrow, and she whispers to Asher that he “should make the world pretty.” Asher replies that the world isn’t pretty, so... (full context)
Where does Asher go to school?
Asher starts school at the Ladover yeshiva. He is treated with special respect because of his... (full context)
Who did Asher ask about Vienna?
The next day, Asher asks Yudel Krinsky about Vienna. Yudel explains that, like many people, he came to Western... (full context)
