My Name Is Asher Lev (1972). Content and Description

Three years after the publication of The Promise, Potok published My Name Is Asher Lev. The novel garnered a better reception than his previous novel, and he was applauded for the different approach to the narration and subject. Potok creates a character who matures in writing—sentence structures and subject matter grow in complexity as Asher ages. However, critics still questioned Potok’s return to characters with an unwavering faith in Judaism. Asher may paint crucifixions, but he observes Shabbos, the Jewish holy day of rest, and the Commandments.

The novel begins as a memoir, spanning 1943 to 1970. Asher Lev writes directly to the reader, opening the first chapter with an acknowledgment of his latest paintings (Brooklyn Crucifixion I and Brooklyn Crucifixion II) and the controversy that they have generated. The opening sections read as if he is trying to explain why he has chosen to paint crucifixions. It is not a surprising way to begin the narrative because as the novel ends, Asher is unable to explain to his parents why he painted the images, something he feels he has to do in order to ease their pain.

The novel has been called a glimpse into the development of genius. In the course of the novel, Asher goes from being a young child using cigarette ashes to provide proper shading to a teenager studying under the fictional artist Jacob Kahn, capable of using any artistic medium he wants. Kahn instructs him that he has to become a great artist because “that will be the only justification for all of the pain [he] will cause.” While under the tutelage of Kahn, Asher eases himself into the inevitable confrontation between his life as an artist and his life as a religious Hasidic Jew.

The continual father-son conflict in the novel results from his father’s disapproval of art and the rebbe’s unexpected support for Asher. His mother, Rivkeh, supports Asher by purchasing art supplies without his father’s knowledge. However, the family relationships change when his parents attend the art show with the crucifixion pieces. Having begun to accept Asher’s art career, his parents feel betrayed at his use of an image that represents so much Jewish bloodshed. He damages relationships with his family and Hasidic community, so much that the rebbe asks him to leave.

Explaining his motivation, Asher remarks that “if you are driven to paint it, you have no other way.” In a section that reads as a plea, he entreats his audience: “I would not be a whore to my own existence. Can you understand that? I would not be a whore to my own existence” (chapter 13).

For Discussion or Writing:
1. Consider the passages that Asher Lev reads from The Art of Spirit (chapter 8). If “‘every great artist is a man who has freed himself from his family, his nation, his race,’” then how must Asher Lev free himself? From what ideas and traditions does he break away? Why might his “mythic ancestor” have such a heavy presence throughout the novel? Why might Asher continually feel the need to assert his identity apart from his faith and his father (think about how often he states, “My name is Asher Lev”)? Knowing that Potok revered James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, what connections do you see between Asher Lev and Stephen Dedalus? How do both characters free themselves of family, nation, and race? Do they free themselves in the same way?

2. The crucifixion is a strong image in Christendom, symbolizing Christ’s sacrifice for the salvation of Christians, which has dominated art history for hundreds of years. However, this same image has a different connotation in Judaism. For Jews, the crucifixion is a symbol of their repression and of anti-Semitism. Considering this, why might it be so controversial for Asher Lev to paint a crucifixion image, and why might he choose to paint it anyway? In fact, what is the twofold controversy surrounding Asher’s painting? Is painting the crucifixion the only problem, or is there something more?

Works Cited and Additional Resources:
Diner, Hasia R., Jeffrey Shandler, and Beth S. Wenger, eds. Remembering the Lower East Side: American Jewish Reflections. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000.

Goren, Arthur A. The Politics and Public Culture of American Jews. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.

Jochnowitz, George. “The Orthodoxies of Chaim Potok.” Editorial. Midstream 50, no. 6 (September-October 2004): 24-26.

Kremer, S. Lillian. “An Interview with Chaim Potok.” Studies in Jewish Literature 4 (1985): 84-99.
Potok, Chaim. The Book of Lights. New York: Knopf, 1981.