In “My Name is Asher Lev,” Chaim Potok depicts the conflict between religion and art, tradition and individuality, and family and personal integrity. It tells the story of a boy, Asher Lev, who becomes a man when he stands his ground and defies his religion, tradition and family all for the sake of his goyim, or non-Jewish, artwork. Taking place in an extremely rigid Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn during the 1950s and 60s, this book follows the life of Lev from youth to adulthood. Although he is born into the unyielding tradition of Judaism, Lev cannot suppress the call of his artistic abilities, and so he rebels against his culture. Potok portrays the life-changing depth of this decision Lev is forced to make, and the entire book hinges on the consequences of it. Written with personal insight of the value system of certain Orthodox sects of Judaism, Potok designs a landscape where those with “aesthetic blindness” and aesthetic appreciation are paired in a father, Aryeh Lev, and his son, respectively (282). Both try to love each other, but neither can comprehend the other. Only Lev’s mother can understand the pair. She spends her entire life mentally straddling both the world of her son and the world of her husband. It is his mother’s pain from their familial division that inspires Lev to paint her upon a crucifixion, torn between himself and his father. While museums fight over his painting, Lev strives to reconcile himself to his two worlds: the world of his tradition and the world of his goyim art. Potok does give Lev a warning, though: “Asher Lev, this world will destroy you. Art is not for people who want to make the world holy” (201). Throughout the book, Potok’s writing mirrors Lev’s age, increasing in complexity as the plot progresses. Each sentence is like a ripple in a river which, when joined with other ripples, propels the reader downstream until the first page is no longer in sight. The book is split into three parts and follows the simple chronological order of Lev’s life. However, Potok uses this seemingly mundane pattern to give his audience profound revelations. The simplicity of his writing is both refreshing and inspiring. The first conflict takes place when Lev is in his pre-teens and revolves around his strong attachment to his home street. Regardless of how many times Lev’s parents explain their need to move, Lev, sometimes even selfishly, refuses to leave his street. The second conflict occurs throughout Lev’s teenage years. His father cannot accept his devotion to art at the expense of his spiritual education. The last conflict is centered around the paintings of crucifixions that Lev creates when he visits Paris in his 20s. Lev exerts the same perseverance and effort in his art that his father exerts in his work to bring Jews away from the Iron Curtain to America. Both father and son are filled with an insatiable thirst to fulfill their two very different goals. Neither can back down, for to do so would be to sacrifice integrity. Yet, instead of rejecting religion after the unyielding stance taken by his father, Asher Lev remains an “observant Jew” (1). After shattering his two worlds into pieces, he collects the fragments and creates a new world where art is appreciated, and God is feared. Although it is certainly not the most action-packed book, “My Name is Asher Lev” is still a modern day classic. It raises awareness of the controversy that faces some artists and alerts the public of the battle for personal integrity that is present in every generation of every culture.
