C’è una frase del Vangelo di Luca (Lc 9,25) che dice: “Che giova all’uomo guadagnare il mondo intero se poi perde se stesso?”. Ci sono sempre uomini dominanti, più luminosi, più ingombranti. E donne che vivono nell’ombra, nel margine. Ci sono sempre coppie giovanissime che si sposano: quando nasce Asher Lev sua madre ha diciannove anni e suo padre venticinque. Ci sono sempre figli rispettosi e ubbidienti sin da bambini.

As an author, Vasbo is known for her non-fiction writing as well as several prize-winning novels, a poetry collection, and short stories. In the 1980s, she spent four years living in Yorkshire during her marriage to Leo Thomsen, a Danish seamen’s chaplain. Hildas Sang (translated as The Song of Hild) was written shortly after her return to Denmark. My second frustration is probably apparent by now. I know very little about Judaism. There is a no apologizes approach to Potok's description of Jewish life. Obviously a Jew himself, he doesn't write for the goyim (are you frustrated? That's the Jewish term for the Gentile. Yeah...I know. I had to learn it all too). While Marc Chagall exists in this world, it is pretty clear he also served as a template for Asher Lev: they were both Jewish artists that were some what anomalous among within their community. If you are unfamiliar with Chagall I highly recommend a Google image search, he had some very excellent and thought provoking pieces such as The White Crucifixion: When Asher is young, many warn him that his art will conflict with his Ladover Jewish religious identity and community. After Asher sketches in a sacred book, his mashpia cautions him: “Many people feel they are in possession of a great gift when they are young. But […] [o]ne does with a life what is precious not only to one’s own self but to one’s own people. That is the way our people live, Asherel. Do you understand me?” In other words, even if there is not anything inherently bad about Asher’s artistic gift, that gift must be subordinate to the needs of the community. Asher’s mother, Rivkeh, tries to be supportive, but a museum visit persuades her that Asher’s passion will expose him to images that are inappropriate for a religious Jew: “[Your painting has] taken us to Jesus. And to the way they paint women. Painting is for goyim, Asher. [Observant] Jews don’t draw and paint […] What would the Rebbe say if he knew we were in the museum?” In Rivkeh’s view, Asher’s art inevitably places him on a collision course with the values of his community. Asher’s Rebbe (a religious leader of the Ladover Jews) places him under the tutelage of a Jewish artist, Jacob Kahn. Even the nonobservant Kahn asks Asher, “Do you begin to understand what you are going to be doing to yourself? […] You are entering a religion called painting. […] Its way of life is goyisch and pagan. In the entire history of European art, there has not been a single religious Jew who was a great painter.” It’s not that art is merely a distraction from Asher’s religious obligations and identity, argues Kahn; art will establish itself as a direct rival to his religion, with directly competing demands and values. Books like this are wasted on the young. I’m so glad I was a lazy middle school student and didn’t read it because I would have missed most of the meaning and then passed over it now.

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Poi, più avanti, per la prima volta Potok si concede di viaggiare e per la ventina di pagine di un capitolo trasporta Asher Lev a Firenze (“un dono”), a Roma, a Parigi. Asher's father. A well respected, highly intelligent man. He is incredibly driven to work hard for the cause in which he believes. He has a strong sense of morality and is deeply committed to his religion. His son's misbehavior deeply disturbs and hurts him. Though he works with high-ranking government officials, he has a hard time relating to those, like Asher, whose value systems are different from his own. Rivkeh Lev In Paris he has time to reflect on his past, on his upbringing, on his community, and on his family. He realizes the pain his mother went through during his upbringing. He wants to express this in art—the only symbol he has at his disposal is the crucifixion. He makes two paintings of his mother that employ the crucifix. In a time and place where it is typical that people text and use their cell phone to the point that it is easier to reach them from a phone than in person, this line was a breath of fresh air and a reason that this can be deemed a modern classic.

My Name is Asher Lev is placed in the 1950s in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York. Asher also studies art outside his community in New York, Massachusetts, and Europe. Yitzchok – Asher's wealthy uncle who supports Asher and his art skills. He is kind and generous, and gives Asher a place to stay while his parents are in Europe. Yitzchok is one of the first to recognize that Asher's ability can make a fortune, and he invests in his work. Asher lived with him for a while.Forse Chaim Potok non si può definire un grande scrittore, ma è certamente un ottimo narratore. Costruisce sempre le sue storie come se fossero un terreno di incontro/scontro, come se fossero una scacchiera: da una parte i chassidim, strenui difensori del loro mondo e del loro modo di vivere la religione ebraica. Dall'altra una cultura laica, non importa se anche questa rappresentata da ebrei. This book is populated by a wonderful variety of secondary characters that influence Asher: a Russian Jew who spent several years in Siberia before fleeing to the west, Asher's aged art mentor, Asher's Uncle who supports his art work while Asher lived with him, even the few times we see the Rebbe and his influence was interesting. So while the title of this book may be I am Asher Lev, it is also about all the other influences that made him the Asher Lev we see at the end of the book. But Asher is different, he is driven by a need to create art. He is very religiously observant: keeps kosher, prays three times a day, observes the Sabbath, etc. He wants to be a good Jew and honor his parents, make them proud of him, but he is driven to create art which his father thinks is foolish. It all builds up to this pinnacle of frustration, this burst of emotion that brings the most hurt to his parents although that is what his art is about...his hurt, his mother's hurt, his father's hurt. I actually cried through this part. I rarely cry. It's that good.