My Name is Asher Lev

Judy Kirby looks at this 1972 story of a Jewish artist in New York

by Judy Kirby 26th November 2009

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. Penguin. ISBN 978 014119 056 3. £9.99. Asher Lev is a young man who makes waves in his community. It is a strict orthodox one in 1950s New York, burdened with the rescue of Jews in hostile lands. Asher’s father works for the Ladover community Rebbe, often away from home in mysterious circumstances, possibly in Russia where religious persecution of Ladover diaspora Jews is fierce.