My Name Is Asher Lev: Part 1

"A life should be lived for the sake of heaven. One man is not better than another because he is a doctor while the other is a shoemaker. One man is not better than another because he is a lawyer while the other is a painter. A life is measured by how it is lived for the sake of heaven” (192). These words are the Rebbe’s gift to Asher. The Rebbe, a wise and moral man, can see that Asher has a gift that should not be discounted or discarded. His father, on the other hand, needs Asher’s life to reflect his own to the extent that his fatherly instincts are warped. Aryeh Lev’s harsh judgment of his son is a far greater obstacle on the path to heaven than Asher’s artwork is.

Aryeh Lev regards Asher’s drawings as “foolishness,” but Aryeh is pushed further by Asher’s paintings and particularly his drawings of Jesus and the nudes, which enrage Aryeh. He rages and shouts until Asher is afraid of him. At the Seder supper, as they are “reading the section about the four sons,” Asher notices, “my father looked up at the mention of the evil son and glanced at me. It was an involuntary gesture; I saw he regretted it immediately and looked away” (178). Aryeh’s glance sends a “shiver of dread” through Asher and cannot be considered a righteous act. Areyah is more concerned with tradition than he is with the loving principles behind the traditions. Admittedly, I may not fully understand the Jewish way of thinking, but I simply cannot imagine being so unhappy with my own son. The worst thing Asher has done is steal the oil paints, but in returning them he shows morality and a good heart. I cannot fathom Aryeh’s anguish over having an artist for a son. His distress causes him to tell Asher: “No, it isn’t foolishness any more. It’s worse than foolishness. You bring drawings of that man into the house. You bring drawings of girls without clothes into the house. What next? Next you will become a goy. Better you should not have been born” (176). Rivkeh Lev gasps at her husband’s harsh words.

Rivkeh Lev would never wish that her son were not born. She loves him and supports him to the extent that she is able to do so. She buys him the oil paints so that he will not steal them, but also because she knows how deeply he feels the need to express himself through art. Her support obviously goes beyond trying to stop him from doing wrong because she allows him to go to the museum and even goes with him. Ironically, their first trip to the museum leads Rivkeh to say, “I don’t begin to understand it…Where your painting has brought me, Asher. To Jesus” (170). Obviously, the Levs do not want to be brought to Jesus, to “that man.” She tries to explain to Asher: “Do you know how much Jewish blood has been spilled because of him, Asher? (172). There is further irony in the fact that Asher’s greatest interest in the paintings of Jesus is in the wounds that appear so real.

Asher’s wounds are real, but they are impossible to paint or draw. He wants to learn to draw his own “feelings of ice and darkness” (49) after learning about Yudel Krinsky’s years in Siberia. Even before Reb Krinsky runs the art store, Asher feels a kinship with him, saying, “I could feel our darkness. It seemed to me then that we were brothers, he and I, that we both knew lands of ice and darkness. His had been in the past; mine was in the present. His had been outside himself; mine was within me” (41). Asher’s loneliness and confusion cannot be expressed because he is uncertain of the colors of ice and darkness just as he is unsure what it is exactly that causes his mother’s depression and his father’s absence. By the time Asher is old enough to grasp the meaning of the noble work of saving Jews that his parents have undertaken, he is suffering from being different and from feeling alone. Although he matures and begins to understand the reasons for his mother’s studying and his father’s traveling, Asher continues to feel lonely. He expresses his need for attention to his mother, “I’m also a Jewish life, Mama. I’m also precious in the eyes of the Ribbono Shel Olom…Does someone have a responsibility to me?” (111). The parental responsibility falls to Rivkeh when Aryeh goes to Europe, but she is preoccupied with her studies. She worries when Asher is late from school, but she spends little time with him. Asher wishes to be saved from an ailment he does not understand. He wonders whether his gift is from the Other Side because the drawing has always bothered his father. Nonetheless, Asher defends himself to Aryeh: “Please don’t call it foolishness any more, Papa…Foolishness is something that’s stupid…Foolishness is something a person shouldn’t do. Foolishness is something that brings harm to the world. Foolishness is a waste of time. Please don’t ever call it foolishness any more, Papa” (129). His words do not reach Aryeh as anything other than disrespect. Aryeh expects his son to obey him without question just as he obeys the Rebbe.

Aryeh’s doubts the Rebbe for the first time when the Rebbe gives Asher his blessing for bar mitzvah and also gives his blessing to Asher’s art. The Rebbe reminds Asher to honor his father, but also offers Jacob Kahn as a mentor for Asher’s artwork. The Rebbe understands that one man is not better than another man because of his work. Like the mashpia, the Rebbe treats Asher in a loving way. When Asher’s classmates were taunting Asher, the mashpia taught the verse, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (143). This verse or the principle behind it is more difficult than it might seem. It’s easy to sit and read this book and think that Aryeh should be more loving and accepting to his son because I don’t travel, and my son does not do anything that goes completely against who I am. I would like to think that I would love my son just as he is no matter what. I can relate to Rivkeh as a mother. I do my best to understand my son and support his interests. Unfortunately, he does not want to go to the museum; he wants to talk about sports until I listen so long that I think my ears will bleed. Like Rivkeh, I have books to read since I am both teacher and student. I hope that I find a healthy balance of working and spending time with my son. I would welcome an expressive art that would let me know where his heart and mind are. I have no one like the Rebbe to take the responsibility of decision making off my shoulders. I just have to hope that I get it right on my own.