MY NAME IS ASHER LEV-9th Journal

This journal for My Name is Asher Lev covers 9-10-11-and 12. Obviously much happens in this time, and I have likely forgotten much of it. However, I do remember the general points and will try here to cover them sequentially to the best of my ability.

The first thing that shall be discussed is Jacob Kahn’s view of Art as "a religion." At the time that I read this I thought it was quite interesting for several reasons. Firstly, it was almost like any other religion, in that one has to stop being one religion to be "observant" to the other. Similarly, Jacob Kahn, and thus Asher, in a way, have to stop being Jewish when they paint. If they are religious while they paint then they are not being true, their work is biased, or as Kahn puts it "a whore." Evidence of this is how Asher draws nudes etc. which should not be done under their religion.

Also interesting is Jacob Kahn’s view of art compared to Anna Schaffer’s. It seems that they can both see "good art," and to a certain extent have the same views on what makes bad art. In short, they are both rather acute in such things. They also seem to understand each other. However, Kahn wants to express his feelings on canvas, but not necessarily to the world. Anna on the other hand doesn’t really care what the feelings are, or what is shown as long as it gets good reviews and makes lots of money. This is rather "on the surface" I realize, but I am sure Mr. Potok put in the two contrasting characters on purpose, and for a more important reason than Kahn needs a agent.

One thing which I also found interesting is the affect that Kahn and Asher have on each other as their relationship goes on. In ways they have the opposite affect on one another, but in other ways it is very much the same. For example, as time goes on Kahn allows (or in some cases forces) Asher to draw nudes etc. and other things, thus making him different from the rest of the Hasidic community. Kahn is letting Asher get away from that world, only temporarily, but Asher does not want to leave it completely anyway. At the same time, the opposite happens in Kahn. Because he sees so much of himself in Asher he seems to be drawn to Asher’s innocence, and the way that he still is in the end, an observant Jew. Kahn seems to slowly come out of his rejecting of his faith, realizes that it is still indeed part of himself, and actually to a certain extent begins to enjoy and accept it, even if he doesn’t follow it to the letter. It reminds me a bit of Steven Spielberg. (He is Jewish and grew up similar to the way Kahn ended up accepting his culture.)Examples of this are when he goes with Asher to the Jewish parades, and how he starts wearing his skullcaps more often. But really, they have the same affect on one another as they both helped each other get where they both wanted to go, but couldn’t really alone.

The next thing which is obviously important/interesting is Asher’s first Art shows. I found the part about how "My (Asher’s) world was selling faster than I could paint it." I thought about this, and it became apparent to me how true this is of any media of art, not just painting and sculpting. It must be rather distressing to work a long time on something, put everything into that you can think of into it/them, and then it is sold, gone, instantly. What next? I guess to be a great artist of any medium you have to have more than one "world" as Asher puts it, because certain worlds are going to run out.

Asher’s dad also comes back in these chapters. I found it interesting how for the first time he was trying to understand Asher’s art. It is as if now that he (the father) has finished his great work he perhaps sees that to Asher, what he is doing is also a great work, and thus his father wants to try to understand it. He is perhaps relieved he has accomplished his duty, and wants to finish things by making a resolution with Asher. And they come close a few times it seems. Like when they talk of how both art, and politics (what the father majored in) both are sciences, and they both have technical languages. I was under the impression they were going to understand each other. But as it stands, they don’t.

However, Asher’s father seems rather elated when Asher announces he is going to Europe. Perhaps it is because Asher’s father really, truly does want to understand Asher, and now that he sees they have something in common, anything in common, he is grasping onto it, in hopes it shall bring them together. I guess I’ll get back to reading now to find out if that is true.