Customer Reviews

My Name Is Asher Lev

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I am not an artist. Nor am I a gifted person in any respect. But, for a few moments, I had a notion of what it could be like to be blessed and cursed with a talent so rare, and so special. This feeling occured when I read and delved into the world of Asher Lev.

"My Name is Asher Lev" is Chaim Potok's best novel. It is complete, subtle and passionate; devastating to its core. It tells the poignant and difficult story of Asher Lev, a New York-born religious Jew who finds the gift of painting within him early on, yet is isolated from his community due to the philosophy that Judaism, modern art, and Christianity are distinctly seperate worlds.

In my favorite scene from the book, detailing the power of Potok's imagination, Asher Lev is a young boy, who looks at his mother one day and creates a rendition of her on paper. Because she is depressed at the time, and smoking, Potok has Lev use the leftover ash from her finished cigarettes as the drawing object; his mother is created in shades of gray. A story this original, this creative, and this imaginary deserves to be read.

Potok, a rabbi, has done an excellent job in detailing a Jewish community in the United States, as well as conveying the relationship it holds with the Christian majority. Besides being a good read on art, the novel offers a fascinating glimpse into the tensions that separate two religious worlds.

"My Name Is Asher Lev" is a wonderful read and I recommended it to all.

MY NAME IS ASHER LEV by Chaim Potok

A story about a young man's struggle between the secular world of an artist, and life as a Ladover Hasidic Jew, Chaim Potok's masterpiece MY NAME IS ASHER LEV is truly a classic.

Asher Lev is born to parents who are devoted to the life of the Ladover Hasidic Jew. As his mother supports and stands by the work Asher's father does, Aryeh Lev devotes his life to the causes closest to his people. Most of his life is dedicated to preserving the culture of this Jewish sect, and also to helping those who are being persecuted in other countries. He travels often, sometimes to countries as far away as The Soviet Union to help out his fellow Jew. He's rarely home, and young Asher is often angry and upset, wishing his father had more time for him.

From a very young age, Asher has a deep sense of art, and learns to express his innermost feelings through his creativity. As with any artistic genius, creating art is in Asher's blood and it soon gets in the way of his schooling and his religion and culture. His parents are not happy with the way things are going with Asher, but they tolerate his strange obsession, thinking this is just a passing phase. He will grow out of it, they think. His mother in particular does not dissuade Asher from drawing, if only to keep him happy, hoping that he would reward her with better grades in school. And with the help of local storeowner Yudel Krinsky, Asher obtains the necessary pencils and other art equipment to continue his fascination with drawing.

However, his obsession with art does not die, as his parents had hoped. The older he becomes, the more his passion with art drives a wedge between himself and his parents. He becomes more independent in the way he thinks, and soon his parents find they cannot control him. The life of a Ladover Hasidic Jew is one of structure and daily prayer and obedience to one's elders, to one's Rebbe, and to one's God. Asher lives in direct conflict with all this, although he tries to keep his daily prayers in his routines, and is often dwelling on things that pertain to his religious background.

Torn between his great desire to express himself as an artist and the need to please his parents and in particular his father, Asher's life is full of torment and guilt. But he is happiest when he is painting, or drawing, or walking amongst the masterpieces at a museum. When Asher takes up with a fallen Jew who also happens to be one of the greatest living artists in the country, Asher's artistic life goes into full swing. He lives and breathes his art, as Jacob Kahn teaches young Asher all he knows. Jacob convinces him that in order to become a true artist, he needs to live in the secular world. Again, Asher questions whether he is doing the right thing by following his passions and his God-given gift, or should he turn his back on art and follow the route of an obedient Hasidic Jew?

What more can I say about a book that has become a modern classic? Chaim Potok wrote a truly powerful story in which a person is torn between two worlds. A rare view into the world of a small Jewish sect, the reader senses the world of alienation and loneliness that comes to someone born into this society but living amongst the "goyim" that surrounds him. The author also makes the reader question whether it is better to be true to oneself, or to deny oneself the destiny that a higher being may have intended. There is no doubt that this book cannot be rated anything lower than 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Having read "The Chosen" and "The Promise," I had to try "My Name is Asher Lev." Those first two were wonderful stories, but "Asher Lev" is such a powerful and (in the good sense) disturbing novel that it left me trembling.

I am not a Hasidic Jew -- in fact, I am a Roman Catholic priest. But Potok welcomes even the stranger into the Hasidic world so that a reader feels at home. Yet even more foreign to me is the world of the artist, for the Lord has given me absolutely no talent or vision in that area. Yet here, too, one learns to see with the artist's eye, or at least to understand.

Potok's writing becomes more and more terse as the tensions inside Asher Lev increase. He shifts themes within a single paragraph in a way that would earn a failing grade from any seventh grade English teacher, and yet he does so to very powerful effect, allowing the reader to be experience the difficulties that cause the protagonist such fear.

Asher Lev discovered that a gift of genius could be a true burden. Chaim Potok showed his own genius in allowing us a glimpse into this realm of creation.

I would perhaps not have been inspired to write a review of this brilliant book had I not read Rachel Grey's review... In general, other reviewers have said all the things I would want to say about "My Name is Asher Lev;" its exquisite writing, its heartbreaking and beautiful portrayal of a developing artist trying to reconcile his need to create with the demands of his family and his religious community - these are well covered. But Miss Grey's review moved me to respond.

Dear girl - how closely did you read this book? It does not take place in the present time; it was published in 1972, and is set somewhat earlier. Asher's family in no way represents mainstream Judaism, which I would think any careful reader - even one ignorant of Jewish culture and practice - would have understood. The Levs are Hasids, members of a small, conservative, fundamentalist segment of the Jewish world. In that respect, your identification with Asher's experience as similar to that of growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household is entirely appropriate.

Potok is not by any means suggesting that all Jews would be dismayed to find Picasso growing up in the back bedroom. He is portraying a very specific world, and through that world exploring the conflicts that an artist - one who is powerfully, passionately driven to realize his unique vision - may encounter with his family, his community, and even his own spiritual nature as a result of that need to create.

Please do read this book again, and please don't condemn Judaism or Jews - or even Hasids - for the behavior of Asher's family that you find distasteful. A work of art, a piece of literature, should not stand as a sweeping statement on an entire class of people, nor should a work of fiction be read as though it intends to make such a statement. In this case, at least, "My Name is Asher Lev" is a specific exploration of a microcosm inhabited by interesting, multi-dimensional, sometimes unsympathetic members of a minority sect. The general message to take from this book is not that Jews are intolerant of art and artists or communicate badly with their children, but the far more complex truths Potok investigates regarding the interplay of religion, family, and artistic vision.

I was hesitant to read this book at first, but I was quickly won over. My Name is Asher Lev is the story of a boy growing up as a Hasidic Jew who finds, to the great regret of his father, that he wants to become an artist. This original story is beautifully told by Potok, and I found that I could not put the book down.

Potok uses the first person to create an air of innocence and mystery from the very first page. Through the repetition of simple sentences and events, he captures the beauty of Hasidic and Jewish tradition. Without defining key terms, Potok exposes us to Shabbos, Zemiros, the Ribbono Shel Olom, Krias Shema, and other elements of Hasidim, making us feel that we are part of the culture.

Ahser Lev himself does not fully understand what is happening to him nor, often, what is going on around him. Sometimes Asher learns as he grows, such as when he gradually discovers what his father does for a living. Other times he never sees the whole truth. (An amusing example: when Asher's father is away, Asher says to his mother that he misses his father most on Shabbos. "I also miss him especially on Shabbos," his mother replies. Asher never learns -- or never reveals -- that it is a tradition for married Jewish couples to make love on the Sabbath.)

My Name is Asher Lev has inspired me to take up drawing as a hobby, something I have been toying with for a while. Although I never expect to match the fictional Asher Lev's talent, I do hope to be able to see things in new ways, to lose myself in my drawing, and to create something with my own hands. Few books have inspired me so.

I find that I am now reluctant to read the next in the series, The Gift of Asher Lev, out of fear that it cannot be as satisfying as My Name is Asher Lev. Will I find that my misgivings are unfounded? For now, only the Ribbono Shel Olom knows.

While The Chosen is the more popular book, this book is just a little bit better. It brings up the tension between secular art and religion, spirituality ad culture, Judaism and Christianity, as well as fathers and sons who can't seem to communicate no matter how much they want to know each other.

Asher Lev is an artist in a Chasidic community that does not encourage artwork amongst its members. While his father is completely perplexed, the rebbe (leader) has him train with an artist friend who is secular. As he develops as an artist he begins to feel more confident with his perspective no matter how much it bothers people around him. The book ends with him painting The Brooklyn Crucifixion which uses Christian symbolism to characterize the tension between him and his parents.

Unlike The Chosen in which both fathers are ultimately understanding (even if they don't seem it), in Asher Lev, the father is perplexed. He wants to love and understand his son but he also spends much of his time yelling in confusion and befuddlement. It's almost like they both need the rebbe to be the understanding part of the father-son relationship.

The character of the artist is also a great touch, because there are always people who are for the most part secular or assimilated but respect and admire Chasidic rabbis and rebbes (a particularly famous example is Rabbi Manis Friedman who attracts a diverse range of Jews and gentiles of various religious viewpoints to his lectures and is respected if not admired by all.)

This is a much more complex novel than The Chosen and should be read by all fans of The Chosen.

It is surprising what treasures can still be found at a community book fair for the price of only one thin dime. Such was my good fortune and happy surprise when I discovered a brand new copy of MY NAME IS ASHER LEV (hereafter, MNAL) by Chaim Potok (New York: Ballantine Books; reissue edition, 1996) hiding amidst the tabletop piles of used books. It is also rare to find an extraordinarily beautiful story--woven from the threads of one's own heart and life--in the same bargain.

Potok (himself a Jewish rabbi and novelist extraordinaire) takes us deep with a brilliant flashback into the rich and intimate world of Hasidic life in Brooklyn, New York, during the mid-twentieth century depicting the forces of art and Jewish orthodoxy as they vie for the affection of a Jewish boy, named, Asher Lev. Asher, Aryeh and Rivkeh (his parents), and his friends and relatives all struggle to synthesize the meaning of his artistic 'gift.' Is it from the 'Ribbono Shel Olom' ('Master of the Universe') or from the 'sitra achra' ('other [dark/evil] side')? The dawning realization that Asher's gift for drawing and painting is not going away sets the stage for conflict in the face of his ancestoral and parental theological heritage. The simmering strain remains for the next twenty years as Asher grows up.

We follow Asher's thoughts as a four-year-old drawing pictures for his 'mama' with Crayolas into his mid-twenties when he celebrates (?) his second one-man-show of critically acclaimed painted canvases. We also learn a great deal about the Ladover, Hasidic Jews of the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn during the 1940s, 50s, and early sixties along the way. The difficult tension between the family's deeply held religious convictions, and a not so easily adapted gift for visual artistry in their growing son, carries us from the beginning of the book to its final page. The heart-rending decision whether to please parents and community at the expense of one's talent, or to give expression to one's art and in the exchange risk heritage and family, is the question with which Asher must wrestle.

As a Christian minister; fine artist; son; and dad with theological and artistic issues currently coloring my own relationships with dad and sons, I don't think I could have found a more incisively relevant novel for this time in my life than MNAL. Those interested in the lifestyle and the challenges faced by the Hasidim of New York City during the mid-twentieth century receive an arresting and memorable exposure in MNAL. Those possessing religious or spiritual scruples, and yet wondering about the appropriate exercise of their artistic abilities, or the possibility of pursuing art as a carreer, will discover in Asher Lev an empathetic companion with whom to share their mutual concerns. Conscientious; God-fearing; sensitive; and torn; Asher graciously offers us his struggle and his decision.

I love this book for all of its stunning and warm humanity. But I love it especially for introducing me to an 'observant Jew,' a fellow-journeyman on the road of life. I shall not soon forget Asher Lev's spiritual/artistic struggle--the struggle to understand the forces that compel a human soul to move forward while balancing truth and faith and self--because it is my own story as well.

Favorite repeated quotation: On the Need to Drink Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice Promptly: 'The vitamins will go away if you let it stand too long.'

Highly recommended to a general audience, but especially to those with a conjoint spiritual and artistic interest.

I first read this book 30 years ago, when I was in my early twenties, and have always counted it as one of my all-time favorties. I've read and re-read it countless times, and learn something knew about human nature every time I pick it up. I highly recommend it, along with The Chosen, and any other Chaim Potok literature you can get your hands on.

I had never read anything by Chaim Potok when a friend recommended this novel to me a couple weeks ago. I have a feeling that I will soon be getting to know his literature very well. There are so many wonderful things to say about this novel. The reading of My Name is Asher Lev is almost a physical experience. I found it impossible to set the book aside, and upon reading the last page, I was totally exhausted.

My Name is Asher Lev is the fictional memoir of Asher Lev. Asher traces his life from the time he was a toddler being raised in a Chasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. From the beginning, Asher has powerful artistic impulses which Asher's father looks upon as foolishness. As he grows, Ashers artistic impulses and talents thrive throwing him into deep conflict with his family and with his faith.

The novel is so powerful and well-written. I am a nineteen-year-old for years has for years felt the urge to become a writer. I have never read anything where the demands and nature of art were better captured. Also, the characterizations of Asher and his family and all of the "small" supporting characters are so apt and powerful. The evocation of the religious community that Asher lives in is compelling. There is really nothing less than perfect about this novel. My Name is Asher Lev should certainly go down as a classic.

I am neither jewish nor an artist, but this book stands out in my mind as one of the best I've ever read. Chaim Potok artfully captures the internal struggle and pain involved in growing up in a world that cannot accept you for who you are. Asher Lev is torn between the only world he knows and loves (the orthodox Jewish community in New York) and a world of art that he finds his uncontrollable inner passion pulling him toward. This book is about growing up and realizing our own potential without losing the part of ourselves that remembers where we came from. This is not an easy struggle, but it's amazing to read Potok's commentary on these conflicts. He is a great storyteller, which is evident from any of his other novels, but here he seems to have gone far beyond the role of a narrator to reach his readers on a whole different level.