MY NAME IS ASHER LEV EDUCATIONAL STUDY GUIDE For

By Aaron Posner Adapted from the novel by Chaim Potok Production Dramaturg: Anh-My Tran August 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS SYNOPSIS

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BIOGRAPHY

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CHAIM POTOK’S LIST OF WORKS

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PRODUCTION HISTORY FOR MY NAME IS ASHER LEV

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HISTORY OF LUBAVITCH HASIDISM IN RUSSIA

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HASIDISM IN AMERICA

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HISTORY OF ART IN JUDAISM

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THEMES

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EXPERPTS AN INTERVIEW WITH ADENA POTOK, THE AUTHOR’S WIFE

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS

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ARTISTS MENTIONED IN THE PLAY

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

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WORKS CITED AND FURTHER READING

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JUST FOR FUN: WASHINGTONPOST.COM ARTICLE ON MATISYAHU

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SYNOPSIS FIRST MOVEMENT—EARLY LEV My Name is Asher Lev opens with the main character and narrator Asher who tells us that he is an artist who has painted many controversial works. Throughout the play, he moves between the past and present as he reflects back on his memories of his childhood. Asher begins the story with a memory of being age 12 living in Brooklyn New York with his mother, Rivkeh Lev and his father, Aryeh Lev. His father works as an emissary for Hasidism and frequently travels throughout Europe leaving his family behind. In the meantime, Rivkeh takes Asher to art museums. Asher, fascinated by the paintings at the museums, decides to return on his own. When Aryeh finds out about the drawings, he lectures that a good Torah Jew would not draw such inappropriate images and tells Asher to resist drawing. The play shifts back to an earlier part of Asher’s childhood when he is around 6 years old. He begins drawing portraits of his parents, both of whom disapprove of how they are portrayed in the images and deem the drawings as inappropriate. As the story continues, Rivkeh receives a devastating phone call when she hears of the death of her brother who had died while travelling. Overcome by grief, she becomes haunted by his memory. She pushes Asher to draw pretty things for her to make the world pretty. He attempts to draw pretty images for his mother but finds that he cannot because the world is not pretty. Asher is now 10 years old. His mother and father are making plans to relocate the family to Europe so that Aryeh can provide more services to the international Jewish communities. However, Asher refuses to go with them. While at school the next day, Asher gets into trouble when he draws a portrait of the Rebbe in the Siddur (holy book). Aryeh scolds him for his actions at school. Eventually, Asher apologizes to his father. Aryeh is sent alone without his family overseas by the Rebbe leaving Rivkeh to stay with Asher in Brooklyn. SECOND MOVEMENT—…AS A YOUNG MAN The play moves forward to when Asher is age 13 and is going to discuss his Bar Mitzvah with the Rebbe. While waiting, he sits by a man who is drawing. While meeting with the Rebbe, he tells Asher that he should live his life for the sake of heaven and also emphasized the importance of honoring his father. As Asher leaves, he sees a drawing on the empty chair outside. The drawing is of him. We find out that the man, who was sitting next to Asher and then left a drawing of him, is Jacob Kahn, a well-known and MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Study Guide

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respected artist who is to mentor him as a student. The next scene is in Kahn’s art studio where Asher also meets Anna Schaeffer, a gallery owner. They both warn Asher about what he is getting into and that painting is a religion in itself and that there has never been a great painter who remained a religious Jew. He decides to commit to being Kahn’s student anyways and remains under his mentorship for the next 5 years. In the next scene, Asher disputes about his art work with his father who is confused about and cannot tolerate the subject matter that he has painted while under the mentorship of Kahn. Asher attributes his father’s lack of understanding and intolerance of his art to having an aesthetic blindness; while Aryeh likewise accuses Asher of having a moral blindness. THIRD MOVEMENT—THE ACT OF CREATION Asher describes his debut in the art galleries in New York as well as his travels to Europe. He begins to tell us how he began to paint his dreams and also his memories of his parents, which in turn inspired him to interpret these reflections into his paintings. He tells that these paintings became two masterpieces: the Brooklyn Crucifixion I and the Brooklyn Crucifixion II. FOURTH MOVEMENT—THE ARTIST Asher and Kahn reunite and discuss Asher’s upcoming art exhibition for his two masterpieces. His parents return home from Europe and now accept Asher’s talent and success as an artist and are proud to know that two of his paintings have been sold to a New York Museum but do not know what the paintings are of. He describes the opening night of the exhibition and how his parents saw the two masterpieces but became offended and walked out of the gallery. He also mentions that there were negative reviews and was also banned from the synagogue. The Rebbe advices him to leave Brooklyn. The story ends as Asher tells us of his decision to return to Europe.

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ADAPTER’S BIOGRAPHY AARON POSNER

He is the co-founder and former artistic director of the Arden Theatre Company (1988-2006) based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where “My Name is Asher Lev” was directed and adapted by Posner himself and received its world premiere in 2009. He is also a former artistic director of New Jersey’s Two River Theatre Company (2006-2010). Posner directed more than 40 productions at Arden and also worked as a director and playwright at major regional theatres including Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Arizona Theatre Company and Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. He also works to adapt literature for the stage. In 1999, he worked with Chaim Potok to adapt his novel “The Chosen” for the stage which won the 1999 Barrymore Award for Best New Play and also worked on adaptations of “Who am I This Time?” By Kurt Vonnegut Jr, “Echoes of the Jazz Age” by Authors of the 1920s, and “Third & Indiana” by Steve Lopez. He is originally from Eugene, Oregon, he graduated from Northwestern University and is an Eisenhower Fellow.

AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY CHAIM POTOK

(1929-2002) Chaim Potok was born in the New York to orthodox Polish Jewish Immigrants. From a young age he was interested in art and painting and was inspired to become a writer after reading Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” and James Joyce’s “A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” both of which stood in conflict with his conservative upbringing as he made efforts to pursue a literary career. In 1950, however he graduated from a Yeshiva University, a Jewish School, with a degree in English literature followed by becoming an ordained Conservative Rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and soon after began to teach at several Jewish Colleges. In 1956-1959, Potok earned a Ph.D as a scholar in residence at Har Zion Temple and pursued a doctorate on Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Study Guide

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Potok’s body of literary work includes articles and reviews, poems, children’s books, plays, non-fiction as well as fiction in which he explored themes of confrontation between individuality and culture or religion in “The Chosen,” “The Promise,” “Davita’s Harp,” “My Name Is Asher Lev” and “The Gift of Asher Lev.”

CHAIM POTOK’S LIST OF WORKS NOVELS  The Chosen, 1967  The Promise,1969  My Name is Asher Lev, 1972  In the Beginning, 1975  The Book of Lights, 1981  Davita's Harp, 1985  The Gift of Asher Lev, 1990  I Am the Clay, 1992  Old Men at Midnight, 2001 (3 novellas) NOVELLAS AND SHORT STORIES  The Trope Teacher 1998  1993: Het Kanaal (The Canal), Netherlands  1995: The Golem's Hand, Italy  Old Men at Midnight.  The seven of the address, 1993 CHILDREN’S BOOKS  The tree of here, 1993  The sky of now, 1995  Zebra and other stories, 1998 PLAYS  The Chosen -A musical adaptation of the book, opened off-Broadway in New York, January 6, 1988 and closed after four days. -Produced again in Philadelphia and Pittsburg, spring 1999  A review of the songs from The Chosen -A second staging of a play based on The Chosen was performed in Washington, D.C. and Florida in 2001.  Out of the Depths -A drama in two parts, premiered in Philadelphia, April 17-May 13, 1990.  Sins of the Father, The Carnival and The Gallery -Two one-act plays, premiered in Philadelphia, May 24, 1990. -The Carnival comes from the carnival story early in The Promise. MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Study Guide

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-The Gallery comes from the gallery scene in My Name is Asher Lev. The Play of Lights -A one-act play, premiered in Philadelphia, May 13-30 1992.

PRODUCTION HISTORY FOR MY NAME IS ASHER LEV

Arden Theater Company/Philadelphia, PA Playpenn (developmental workshop)/ Philadelphia, PA Marin Theater Company/Mill Valley, CA

2009 Jan-Mar, WORLD PREMIERE 2009 2009 Sept-Oct, WEST COAST PREMIERE

Delaware Theater Company/Wilmington, DE

2010 Feb

Roundhouse Theater Company/Bethesda, MD

2010 Mar-Apr

Milwaukee Repertory Theater/Milwaukee, WI

2010 Sept-Nov

Minnesota Jewish Company/Minneapolis, MN

2010 Oct-Nov

New Jewish Theater/St. Louis, MO

2010 Oct

Pacific Theater/Vancouver, BC, Canada

2011 Jan CANADIAN PREMIER

Lyric Stage Company/Boston, MS

2011 Feb

Lakewood Playhouse/Lakewood, WA

2011 Feb

Arizona Jewish Company/Phoenix, AZ

2011 Mar-Apr

Cleveland Playhouse/Cleveland, OH

2011 Apr

North Coast Repertory Theater/San Diego, CA

2011 Jun

Barrington Stage Company/Pittsfield, MA

2011 Aug-Sept

Long Wharf Theater/New Haven, CT

2012 May

Teatron Jewish Theater/ Toronto, Canada

2012 Nov

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HISTORY OF LUBAVITCH HASIDISM IN RUSSIA

The Hasidic movement, founded by Baal Shem Tov (16981760), spread throughout Poland around the mid-1700s. However, due to the partition of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795 caused by Russia, Prussia and Austria wanting to claim the territory, new borders of the country were eventually drawn. In 1791, Catherine the Great of Russia invaded Poland and two years, claimed half the territory. This left thousands of Jews newly incorporated into the Russian empire splitting the Hasidic community of Poland. As a result, it gave rise to the different formations of Hasidic courts or sects based on the different ideas and doctrines of Rebbes who spread Hasidism through emissaries throughout Eastern Europe with theoretical schools and institutions. As the communities became consolidated and more secluded within the new territory, the court became their unifying center for worship and community which is how the role of leadership of the Rebbe developed into such a dynastic style. The Lubavitch sect of Hasidism emerged in Russia around this time and was organized by Rebbe Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812) and was succeeded by his son Dovbar Schneur who became the second Lubavitch Rebbe in 1812-1827. The term “Lubavitch” is from the name of the town in southern Russia; it means “City of Brotherly Love.” Rebbe Schneur Zalman preached a new school of Hasidic thought called the Chabad movement which mirrored the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings of looking deep within one’s soul as a source of piety and remembering to have love and compassion for all Jews. Chabad and Lubavitch are now interchangeable terms referring to the same sect. The followers today are often called “Chabadniks.” In 1797, the Hasidic movement fell under an accusation of conspiring against political leaders which lead to Rebbe Schneur Zalman being imprisoned in St. Petersburg and left a following suspension of all other Hasidic Jews. However, due to the partition of Poland, a portion of Poland’s Jewish community found themselves under the Russian rule. Because they had an autonomous religion and culture they were pressured to assimilate into the greater society as they did not fit the conception of Slavic identity. Under the policy of Alexander I in 1804, the community was forced to either assimilate or renounce their religion; and so they were organized into a Pale of settlement, a boundary in which the Jews were to become a legal entity and subject to the Russian law. However, while all Jews were required to live in the Pale of Settlement, Rebbe Schneur Zalman was released by Alexander I and was given an exemption and permission to continue his religious teachings. Meanwhile, as Jews were becoming more assimilated into the Russian society, they ironically remained impoverished as better health care led to higher birth rates but at the same time there was an increase in competition for employment. Additionally, around 1827, the Jews were subject to continuous policies under Nicholas I who sought to alienate them from their religion by forcing them to enlist into the army MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Study Guide

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and also approving of an organized kidnapping of Jewish children in order to re-educate them within the Christian religion and serve as “Cantonists” or child soldiers under this system. Followed by the industrial revolution in the 1860s in which Jews started to participate in intellectual and cultural life with careers in law and entrepreneurship, the elevated position of Jews consequently, caused a negative reaction and sparked waves of Slavophile nationalism which only worsened after being blamed for the assassination of Alexander II in 1881 and then being attacked by anti-Semitic campaigns and pogroms until 1905. Despite all of this, the mission of Lubavitch emissaries however, were as strong as ever as they continued to spread their doctrine to Jewish communities across the Czarist Empire, sought to reeducate the unlearned descendants of the Canonists and to also increase Jewish education and standards of religious practice in all of the communities. The third Chabad leader Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneursohn (1880-1950), who took the name from his Rebbe descendants with the patronymic Schneursohn from Schneur, was the leader of the Lubavitch court around the time of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 as well as the Stalin Era beginning in 1928. As Joseph Stalin established the Soviet Union, his new policy of Socialism denied the existence of any national identity. Thus, the Jewish population was once again uprooted and disrupted, the practice of Judaism and religious education was banned, Synagogues were closed down, religious books and objects confiscated and the Hebrew language became outlawed. Additionally, around this time, all Jews, particularly Hasidic Jews were arrested, exiled or put to death and suffered through about 2,000 pogroms leaving 100,000 Jews dead and about 500,000 homeless. Nevertheless, Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneursohn vowed to preserve Judaism in the Soviet Union. In 1924, he organized ten branches of religious underground institutions, places of worship and education in hundreds of towns and cities across Russia. The Rebbe, who was under constant surveillance by the communists, was arrested in 1927 and then banished from Russia. He then spent some time in Palestine and Poland. In 1940 he was then granted diplomatic immunity to come to America and he settled in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York where he immediately started a campaign to establish Jewish schools for children and adults, printing presses and other institutions for other arriving Hasidic Jewish immigrants. However, Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok’s banishment did not halt the fight to preserve Judaism in the Soviet Union as his nephew Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn took his place around 1941 and continued to fight for the Jews of Russia. He sent couples posing as tourists, or emissaries to help strengthen the underground institutions. The emissaries would memorize hundreds of names and addresses across the many cities and towns carrying with them hidden kosher foods, Jewish books and other materials to remind the Jews of Russia that others outside of the country remembered and cared. The presence of Jewish religious life in Russia today owes its existence to the underground institutions and to the Jews that vowed to fight for and preserve their Judaism in the Soviet Union.

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HASIDIM IN AMERICA The Hasidic Jews from across Europe that were displaced by the Holocaust (1933-1945) and the Stalin regime (1922-1952) resettled across the globe in to Western Europe, Israel, Canada, Australia and the United States with the largest communities of Hasidism in Los Angeles and New York to join the waves of Rebbes who already began to establish Hasidic courts and smaller communities as early as 1912 in Boston, Baltimore, Ohio and Chicago. The New York Hasidic Jewish communities were established after World War II and, as recently as 1998, had approximately 165,000 Hasidic Jews who live in 3 neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The Satmars (of Hungary) and Klausenbergs (of Romania) reside in Williamsburg, the Bobover (of Poland) and Belz (of Ukraine) in Boro Park, and the Lubavitch (of Russia) in Crown Heights; each make up about 60 courts of a few small families and their Rebbes. In the mid-1960s, the number of Hasidic Jews in New York was about 40 to 50 thousand and in the next following twenty years the population doubled to about 100,000 in the 1980s.

Satmar Hasidic Jews in Williamsburg The Hasidic Jews formed a closed community in order to keep themselves spiritually clean by observing biblical values of purity and contamination. A separation from the greater American secular society is seen as a mode of self-protection that allows them to be united around religion to maintain its sacredness and also to provide a sense of identity and roots. Their observance of strict rules allows them to preserve their traditions and keep a close community. Children are educated in a separate school system or attend private schools known as Yeshivas in which religious studies and instruction in Yiddish and Hebrew is the main focus. However, Hasidic students are now required by law and by the U.S. constitution to learn additional secular curriculum such as math, science, art and English. College and graduate education is discouraged as it is a source of cultural contamination. As a result, many seek jobs that allow them to stay close to their community and instead favor secular education for employment that involves technical training, go into retail and manufacturing or are self-employed. MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Study Guide

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Women are usually employed by relatives, run small businesses or work as teachers or social workers in the community. Though Hasidic Jews seek to maintain a separate community, most sects do however use technology as a means to enhance and strengthen their culture and connections to other Hasidic Jews worldwide. Yet many of the Hasidic courts are divided on the limit of how open they should be to technology or to other secular customs. The Satmar court are one of the most closed and separatist community who actively resist all influences from the greater secular culture; whereas the Lubavitch court are one of the most visible and embrace technology, approve of some secular customs such as baseball, encourage religious and secular education for women and are active in community and global outreach. Lubavitch Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneursohn taught that modern technology does not contradict spirituality. He emphasized this idea in his teachings of unity of opposites; and so modern technology such as television, satellite feeds and the internet are encouraged to spread the religious message. In fact, the Lubavitch are so visible that it they maintain a worldwide organization in order to uphold the honor and traditions of Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneursohn and Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneursohn who fought to maintain Jewish religion and life in Russia during the Stalin and Holocaust era by establishing the underground religious institutions and schools. Also, many families act as shluchim (emissaries or representatives) of the Rebbe and Lubavitch Hasidim and promote outreach to all Jews outside of the Hasidic community with friendliness, compassion, tolerance and self-less dedication to strengthen religious education and spiritual life. The Lubavitch organization has over a thousand institutions around the world and has, for example, 300 institutions in Israel, 90 in Russia, 60 in Canada, 15 in South Africa, 10 in Italy, 3 in Spain as well as 600 establishments across the United States.

HISTORY OF ART IN JUDAISM The Jewish religious law of the Torah governing the rules of art is called Halakha. It guards against any practice of idol worship or creating any representations or depictions of God. The Torah explains, “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus, 20:4). The rules of Halakah are also used as a counter statement against paganism. Throughout the Middle Ages the Jewish law took note that Christianity practiced idolatry through the iconography of Jesus Christ. So for centuries, the Jewish culture did not make any significant contributes to art. But despite the rules of Halakha, Jewish art did existed in various practices from everything from architecture, to ceremonial and ritual art to religious iconography; and in the early 19th century to the present there was a surge of re-defining art in the Jewish culture.

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Torah crown. ca. 1886-1922. Yeshiva University Museum. Throughout antiquity, Jewish art made by Jews had always existed in some way or another. Initially art was used for ceremonial and ritual objects such as for Torah crowns, havdalah spice boxes and kiddush cups. Bezalel, the first known Jewish artist on record, was a sculptor, an architect and designer of holy garments as well as being well-known for building the now lost Ark of the Covenant which was a portable temple commanded to be built by God to Moses and was carried by the Israelites wandering the deserts of Egypt. Likewise, there were records of Jewish architecture that utilized religious iconography. For example, the first temple in Jerusalem built by King Solomon in 957 BC was said to be overlaid with gold and decorated with cherubim. A third century synagogue in Syria contained frescoes that portrayed human figures in biblical scenes. Also, Israel’s sixth century Beit Aleph synagogue depicted human figures in scenes from the binding of Isaac. Other Jewish art included images of community life such as birth, bar mitzvahs, marriage and rabbis. However, there was a great loss of early Jewish art prior to the 16th century as a result of many exiles and pogroms. Jews found ways around the rules of Halakha though the interpretation of verses about types of graven images and applied it to Orthodox Judaism. Through textual analysis of the Halakha with statements such as, “It is forbidden to make complete solid or raised images of people or angels, or heavenly bodies except for the purposes of study” (Exodus, 141:4-7), Jews were able to justify the incorporation of angels, astronomical bodies and other mythological figures with the clear intent to not use them as idols or for worship; so as to differentiate themselves from pagans who did worship heavenly bodies.

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Thus, many artistic depictions in the Middle Ages were of mythical creatures such as the most well-known illustrated manuscript the “Bird’s Head Haggadah” made in Germany around 1300 and was used for Passover rituals. In this manuscript, the humans were depicted has having bird heads which were thought to represent griffins who wore conical hats and clothing that Jews were required to wear in Germany in the Middle Ages. Since humans with bird heads do not exist, it was therefore reasoned that these images would not violate the rule of depicting “anything in the heaven above, on the earth below, or in the water below the land” (Exodus, 20:3-6). Bird’s Head Haggadah. More recently in history, the 18th century European enlightenment began a period of cultural emancipation with new ideas and social change emphasizing education and the encouragement to establish art academies. Jewish art also peaked at this time and also coincided with the beginnings of the nationalist Zionist movement in 1880 in Palestine. In 1906, the first Jewish art academy, the Bezalel School of Arts, was founded in with the mission to develop original Jewish art, to support Jewish artists and to promote the newfound spiritual and national culture and identity of the land of Israel. Today there is a new art Gallery called Betzalel in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York that opened in May of 2012 under ownership of two Hasidic men, Shmuel Pultman, an art dealer from Boro Park and Dovy Andrusier, a Businessman from Crown Heights. The art gallery focuses on themes of rabbis, Talmudic scholars and Israel that make up the collection of Jewish art. The content is not necessarily made solely by Jewish artists, but should reflect Jewish themes. The Betzalel Art Gallery also joins the Hassidic Art Institute of Crown Heights owned by Zev Markowitz since 1977 as an emerging appreciation of art in the conservative Hasidic community.

THEMES FAMILY AND LOYALTY Asher’s role as a son is to bring honor to his parents and to the Rebbe in religion. This is reinforced by his father Aryeh who even places himself in a role as a son to the Rebbe through loyalty, respect and duty. As he as an emissary for the Rebbe, Aryeh tries to relocate his family to Europe; especially in the post-Stalin era where there are new opportunities to spread Hasidism and open up religious centers.

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Aryeh emphasizes that the Jewish people collectively make up one body and one soul and that a single Jew is responsible for all Jews. So the loyalty to the Jewish community; and even more so to one’s father, is more of a valid reason and therefore should override Asher’s artistic needs. When Asher refuses to go to Europe, Rivkeh must stay behind in Brooklyn with him as Aryeh continues his work overseas. At a Passover Seder reading before leaving to travel for Europe, Aryeh glances at Asher when the story of the four sons were read as if to imply that Asher was one of those sons and that he was disloyal. Furthermore, a history of traveling as an emissary is an important detail in the Lev ancestry as Aryeh can trace his family-line back to Europe to the time of the black plague. His ancestral line is full of scholars and travelers. Asher’s great grandfather, known as the Genius of Mozyr, traveled the world helping spread Hasidim. Asher recalls that the stories of ancestors were so prevalent in the household that he would dream of a mythic ancestor, a man who was talk and dark and traveled and wandered roads, forests and villages. SUFFERING AND ALIENATION The Brooklyn Crucifixion, Chaim Potok Upon the death of her brother Yaakov, it marks the point in the play when Rivkeh begins to feel alienated. Her brother was handpicked by the Rebbe as an advisor on Russian affairs. She and her brother were very close and so his death devastated her. As a result, she falls into a depression and becomes reclusive. Asher describes that as she was so overcome with grief that she seemed to haunt the home rather than live in it.

Nevertheless, she decides to take on the responsibility to complete her brother’s work and enrolls in a Brooklyn college for Russian studies in order to be a dutiful sister. But the role of being a dutiful sister, along with being dutiful mother and a wife takes a toll on her and it causes her to feel conflicted. Feeling helpless, she questions if carrying out her brother’s work is the right thing to do and pleads to the world and asks it what it wants from her. In her anxiousness, she becomes overprotective of Asher and looks out of the living room window all day waiting for him to return. If he comes home late, she would reprimand him and tell him that when he fails to come home on time she worries that he is dead. Additionally, she is caught in between her duty as a parent and wife in order to do what is best for Asher in his religious upbringing and being dutiful and respectful toward his parents; but at the same time feels that she is negligent about being responsive to how Asher feels and not supporting the need of his MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Study Guide

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artistic gift in his life. TRUTH AND IDENTITY From an early age, Asher’s art had always reflected elements of truth and a representation of his world. As a young boy, he showed a picture to his mother that he drew. The drawing detailed the sweat on her face on a hot day. But his mother deemed the drawing to be disrespectful and told him he should not draw that way and suggested that he instead draw pretty birds and flowers and continued to do so even more so in the period of her depression following her brother’s death. However Asher felt that drawing pretty birds and flowers were as if he were lying because these figures did not reflect his feelings nor did it reflect what was happening in reality. So he drew the birds and flowers as if they were dying with swirls of grey, crimson and black. Once Asher becomes mentored by Jacob Kahn, Kahn reinforces the importance of truth in art and Asher receives a vital lesson that points out some of his cowardice, timidity and falsity as he was painting a boy in his class who bullied him. He is advised by Kahn to not lie in his painting and that as an artist, he bears the responsibility of telling the truth. Another important lesson that Asher learns from his mentor is that one does not have to give up his background to become an artist. When Asher started to wear his payos tucked behind his ears, Kahn incites and warns him against being fraudulent and deceiving himself; for an artist is a person first and without the person, there is no artist.

RELIGION TRADITION AND ARTISTIC TRADITION The Rebbe tells Asher that one person would not better than another because he is a doctor whereas the other is a shoemaker. Likewise, in the relationship between Asher and his father, an artist would not make him any less significant than his father who is an emissary. Yet Asher faces a predicament and he must balance both the tradition of his religious upbringing and at the same time nurture his artistic gift, for both are two halves of his selfidentify. As he begins to redefine himself, he struggles to make the people in his life understand it too. When meeting with Kahn, Asher draws concern from a visiting art gallery owner, Anna Schaeffer that, as Asher is a young Hasidic youth, he is entering the wrong world. She exclaims that art and holiness are an antithesis. Kahn further enlightens him that painting is a religion in itself and tests his abilities, commitment and his will to be able to mediate his identity as a Hasidic Jew and as an artist. Kahn even goes so far as to disobey the Rebbe who forbade Kahn to allow Asher to draw a nude. But Kahn gives Asher permission to draw a nude woman as he

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believes it is an essential part of learning the foundations of art. As Asher tries to make sense of integrating both traditions, he struggles to make his father understand and accept his artistic gifts and why it is important to draw a nude. His father believes that his son’s artistic talent comes from the Sitra Achra, the unholy other side in which evil deeds emerge. Nevertheless, Asher justifies his artistic choices as an aesthetic importance to him, whereas his father emphasizes that above all, there must be a moral importance.

EXPERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH ADENA POTOK, THE AUTHOR’S WIFE: “Potok, Potok, and Posner: Asher Lev’s Journey from the Novel to the Play” with Chaim Potok’s wife, Adena, by Henrik Eger All about Jewish theatre/Jewish-theatre.com Could you tell us about Chaim Potok’s evolution as an artist and a writer? “Novels, certainly those written by Chaim, gestated for a while before the first word met its page. Asher Lev was the culmination of decades of dormant activity as an artist. As a young person Chaim drew and sketched and even created a comic strip for his high school newspaper, but his activity in water colors and oils did not last into his teens. Though he enjoyed that endeavor, he acquiesced to his father's expectation that he leave it and move on to preparing for his Bar-Mitzvah. In his world, that was serious and extensive preparation. He was expected to learn not only the tropes for cantillating the Torah portion of several chapters as well as a Prophetic chapter, but also the grammar inherent in those sections. And, of course, he was expected to prepare a discourse on those Biblical portions. So, drawing was considered a frivolity. Also, his younger brother, with whom he shared a room, did not appreciate the aromas of oil paints and turpentine. During his college and seminary days he painted off and on. Years later, after he had already decided on writing as his area of creative work, he picked up some oils and a canvas board and painted again.” How in particular did the character of Asher Lev develop?

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“Our three-year old daughter and I bought him an easel for his birthday that year. He reclaimed his art interest. Two years later The Chosen was published, and two years after that The Promise. During those years he painted when he was between books—a custom he continued during the years. About then he began to feel the stirrings of ‘what if?’ he had not abandoned art and had gone on to pursue that creative avenue rather than writing. So, Asher Lev was born.”

Wonderful, and what was it like working with Chaim Potok on Asher Lev? “My work with Chaim on My Name Is Asher Lev, as with all his fiction, was as his first reader and editor. That means that when he was ready to show a draft of some pages, he asked me to read them. He respected and relied on my literary eye, my sense of personal dynamics, and of course my unreserved honesty. At times he asked that I read material he was researching; perhaps another set of eyes-andmind might mine a new nugget.” Once My Name is Asher Lev, the novel, was finished, how did he perceive it as part of his overall work as a writer, as an artist, and as a wanderer between different cultural and religious worlds? And how do you see it? “Chaim's works of fiction all dealt with individuals in culture confrontations. They learned and knew well the cultures of their particular civilizations and learned and knew well the culture of the general civilization. And they were loyal sons and daughters of both. The conflicts he explored were from the heart of the Jewish world engaging with core aspects of Western civilization. Asher Lev is a young boy living in a devoutly religious and socially committed family and community who holds within himself a gift as an artist—a gift that comes into conflict with his family and community on a variety of planes. In advance, Chaim knew that Asher's gift would drive him to make an ultimate choice for his art that would alienate him from his family and community, a choice that as a writer he never had to make. As an artist and writer he painted the first of the two paintings that would form the denouement of the novel, to see if it would stand the test of a work of art. The second painting he left to the imagination— his as well as the reader's.” You and Aaron Posner took your husband’s work and transformed the novel into the play. What was it like working with Aaron Posner, the playwright? “Aaron and I discussed the project a number of years ago and tossed it back and forth. A work cannot be discussed until it has some form. Naturally, we committed to the integrity of the book and, just as MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Study Guide

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naturally, we committed to the creation of a play from the book. The fundamental commitments were: loyalty to the book that existed and the dramatic integrity of the play, to be fashioned. The creative ploughers were: playwright, Aaron Posner; dramaturg, Michele Volansky; and artistic consultant, Adena Potok [for the debut production at the Arden Theatre company].” Did Posner present you with a completed script, and, if so, what kind of feedback did you give him? “It was a process of mutual respect based on no-holds-barred honesty. After some preliminary conversations several years ago, Aaron prepared an initial draft of a script which was workshopped in a read-through here in Philadelphia at PlayPenn. I participated in that process with Aaron and the cast. Some months later he presented another read through, this time at the Arden, again with an invitation for my feedback, which I gladly gave. When we got to the actual work of the play we read, Aaron, Michele Volonsky (the dramaturg), and I gave each other feedback. He rewrote, we gave each other more feedback . . . It was expected that I would bring in material on the world of the book and of Chaim's outlook. It was acknowledged, at all times, that the ultimate arbiter was the playwright.”

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND CONCEPTS KABBALAH The ancient Jewish tradition of the first orally transmitted mystical interpretation of the Bible. It reached the height of its influence in the later Middle Ages and remains significant in Hasidism. SITRA ACHRA The ‘other side” signifying the forces of evil that underlies all of reality; as in “the side opposite of the holy one” in the Kabbalist tradition. SHABBOS (Often the Sabbath) A day of religious observance and abstinence from work kept by Jews from Friday evening to Saturday evening and by most Christians on Sunday.

ZEMIROS A 2,000 year old custom of singing table songs of holy joyousness within the Jewish soul in honor of the Sabbath and other Jewish holidays.

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HASID (Often Chasid, Chassid, or Hassid) A member of a highly religious and strictly orthodox Jewish sect that originated in Eastern Europe during the 17th &18th centuries. There are many Hasidic groups, e.g. Lubavitchers, Belzers, Satmerers, etc. The names often come from the city or town where the sect originated. "KIBBUD OV" Honor of or respect for one's father. RIBBONO SHEL OYLAM Master of the Universe. A name for the Almighty. JUDAH MACABEE Leader of the fight against the Hellenist conquerors of ancient Israel. Their victory is celebrated with the candle-lighting Festival of Lights, Hanukkah. "NARISHKEIT" It means foolishness, silliness, or nonsense. "OLAV HASHOLOM" “May peace be upon him.” A term applied with respect to people who are no longer living. PAYOS Earlocks or sidecurls worn by many Hasidic or Orthodox Jewish men. They are worn as a reminder of the Covenant between God and the Jewish people. "OY, VAY IS MIR" Literally, “Oh, it hurts me!” More colloquially it means, “Woe is me.” LADOVER HASIDISM Ladov is a fictional town in Russia, invented by Chaim Potok for this story. This particular sect bears the most resemblance to the Lubavitch Hasiddim, based in Brooklyn, New York, one of the most open and worldly of the Hasidic groups. YESHIVA An Orthodox Jewish college or seminary usually applied to orthodox schools. PESACH Jewish term for the Passover festival.

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SIDDUR A Jewish prayer book containing prayers and other information relevant to the daily liturgy. TORAH The law of God as revealed to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. TALMUD A many volume exposition of the Torah concerning the body of Jewish Law and legend dealing with every aspect of human conduct. MATZO A crisp biscuit of unleavened bread, traditionally eaten by Jews during Passover. GOY/GOYIM/GOISCHE An informal, derogatory term for a non-Jew. SHUL A Yiddish term for a synagogue. TCHOTCHKE A small object that is decorative rather than strictly functional; a trinket. ROSH HASHANAH The name means “Head of the Year” and is observed for two days and begins the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind’s role in God’s world. REBBE A Yiddish term for rabbi, especially a religious leader of the Hasidic sect who is the absolute leader and held as the wise arbiter of all things. The use of the term Rebbe is unique to Hasidic Jews.

ARTISTS MENTIONED IN THE PLAY TITIAN (Italian High Renaissance Painter, ca.1485-1576) Titian also known as Tiziano Vecelli or TizianVecellio, was an Italian painter and one of the most influential artist of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno in the Republic of Venice. Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters. He was an expert in MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Study Guide

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portraiture, painting landscape backgrounds and frequently used mythological and religious subjects. His use of color as a method in his painting had a great influence on other painters of the Italian Renaissance and on latter periods of well. REMBRANDT VAN RIJN (Dutch Baroque Era Painter and Engraver, 1606-1669) Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijnwas was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the most important painters in Dutch history as he contributed much to art and influence in the Dutch Golden Age when he painted portraits, selfportraits as well as illustrations of biblical themes. Rembrandt possessed great knowledge of classical iconography. His knowledge of specific texts and his observation of the Dutch Jewish population formed many of his biblically themed paintings. MARC CHAGALL

The Praying Jew (1914)

White Crucifixion, (c. 1938)

(Russian Jewish painter, 7 July 1887 – 28 March 1985) Marc Chagall was a Russian-French artist born in Vitebsk, Byelorussia to a poor Hassidic family. He was one of the most successful artists of the 20th century and was an early modernist. He was an artist in many mediums with works that included paintings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic, tapestries and fine art prints. His paintings were inspired by the Hassidic world and themes from the Bible. He completed over 100 etchings illustrating the Bible; many of which contained elements from Jewish folklore and from religious life in Vitebsk.

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MICHALANGELOS’ “DAVID”

MICHAELANGELO’S “PIETA”

David, 1505

Pieta, 1499

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Why is Asher Lev so drawn to the figure of Jesus Christ and the symbolism of Crucifixion? 2. Considering the various roles of the Man and Women in the play, compare and contrast each role and their significance; i.e. Rivkeh Lev versus Anna Schaeffer or Aryeh Lev versus Jacob Kahn. 3. Why do you think Chaim Potok chose to set My Name is Asher Lev in a Hasidic community? 4. By looking at the biographical details in the interview with the author’s wife, Adena Potok, in what ways is the character of Asher Lev similar to the Chaim Potok’s own life? 5. Why do you think the Rebbe allowed Asher Lev to pursue his artistic gift under the mentorship of Jacob Kahn instead of forbidding him under the guise of religious orthodoxy? 6. Compare and contrast how Asher Lev and his father contribute to and give meaning and balance to the world. 7. Do you think does Asher Lev remain an Observant Jew at the end of the play? How does he find this balance?

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8. What character plays the largest role in Asher's life and development

WORKS CITED AND FURTHER READING A Life Apart: Hasidism in America. PBS.org.1998. http://www.pbs.org/alifeapart/ Beyond The Pale: The History of Jews in Russia. Friends-partners.org. 1995. http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/ Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters. Lubavitch.com. 2009. http://lubavitch.com/ Chabad.org. Chabad.org. 2001-2012. http://www.chabad.org/ Chaim Potok: Novelist, Philosopher, Historian, Theologian, Playwright, Artist, Editor. Potok.lasierra.edu, 1997-2005. http://potok.lasierra.edu/ Jewish Art. Jewish-art.org. 2006-2010. http://jewish-art.org/ Jewish Virtual Library. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. 2012. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/indexold.html The Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Yivoencyclopedia.org. 2010. http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/

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REAL LIFE FAMOUS HASIDIC JEW WASHINGTONPOST.COM Hasidic reggae-rapper Matisyahu shaves beard

By Emily Wax, Published: December 27, 2011

When Matisyahu’s signature dreidel-shaped disco ball is lowered and the devoutly religious reggaerapper takes the mike at the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, it probably won’t be his music that fans are talking about. The 32-year-old Hasidic performer first made headlines the week before -Hanukkah when he shaved off his iconic beard and tweeted: “No more Chassidic reggae superstar.” The artist’s untrimmed beard was central to both his musical persona and his piety, since many Hasidic Jews believe that male facial hair is sacred. It’s also an outward symbol of their religious fervor. Since Matisyahu burst onto the scene in 2005 with the Top 40 hit “King Without a Crown,” his lyrics have been filled with his love of Torah and devotion to God, albeit with a Caribbean patois. He’s known to sing the key Jewish prayer, the Shema, at his concerts, and his fans are largely Jewish, though he does draw some rastas. For Matisyahu, shaving his beard is akin to Tim McGraw taking off his cowboy hat. In a stark photograph that shows him cleanshaven and without his Hasidic black garb, he goes on to tweet: “Sorry folks all you MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Study Guide

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get is me . . . no alias. When I started becoming religious ten years ago it was a very natural and organic process. It was my choice. My journey to discover my roots and explore Jewish spirituality — not through books but through real life. I felt that in order to become a good person I needed rules — lots of them — or else I would somehow fall apart. I am reclaiming myself. Get ready for an amazing year filled with music of rebirth.” Then last week he kicked a female photographer who was taking pictures at his Hanukkah show in Brooklyn. He tweeted that he “snapped” because of the flash in his face. He later issued an apology, saying he “reacted impulsively.” Befuddled fans have flooded Facebook with questions about the Grammy-nominated singer, who is a hero to some in the Jewish world. He was the most visible example of the blending of an ultraOrthodox religious lifestyle with the creative counterculture of reggae and hip-hop. Hasidic Jews separate the -sexes, for instance, and married men are forbidden to touch women who are not their wives or blood relatives. (Matisyahu reportedly once had to turn down an invitation by Madonna to hang out at a Passover Seder.) Matisyahu declined to be interviewed for this article. But California-based Rabbi Eliyahu Fink, who writes the blog Fink or Swim, called the tweet “The Shave Heard Around the World.” “Is his music truly good enough that he will continue to be successful when he is no longer a poster boy for anything other than himself?” asked the irreverent online magazine Heeb, which also joked that the tweet by the “artist formerly known as Matisyahu” was so shocking “it even triggered a JTA [the global Jewish information service] news alert which is normally reserved for terrorist attacks.” Was the Hasid in the hoodie — who is known to fuse beatboxing with orthodox Judaism’s style of songful prayer — forgoing his faith? Or was he simply dialing back his belief? Would his highly religious lyrics — like those to “One Day,” which was played as background music in some television coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and asks God for a day without violence — vastly change? So far the answer appears to be no. Matisyahu has been photographed wearing a yarmulke and tweeted that he would pray just as always. On his Twitter account, he also thanked fans who made him kosher food while on tour. But the events have stirred a passionate debate about just how and if the two worlds can blend. A Chabad-Lubavitcher rabbi who knows Matisyahu well, but who asked not to be named, said he felt the pressure was just too much. “While Reggae mirrors some of the warmth in Hasidic life, it has nevertheless a looseness and freedom that just doesn’t jibe with Jewish structural life,” he said. “I pray he finds his way back.” The rabbi’s words speak to a long-running debate in the Hasidic Jewish

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community: What is the relationship between creative expression and devout religiosity? It’s a struggle chronicled in the Chaim Potok novel “My Name Is Asher Lev,” in which a Hasidic painter struggles to balance his art and his faith. Lani Santo is executive director of Footsteps, a secular organization that provides support to those who leave Judaism's ultra-religious communities. The organization’s Internet mailing list was flooded after Matisyahu’s shaving tweet. “Across the board it’s very challenging for our participants to balance the pursuit of individual creative expression with an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle. There’s not a lot of gray areas,” she said. “What Matisyahu worked to do was really an anomaly in that community.” Matisyahu is known as a Ba’al T’shuva, which means he was born a secular Jew, but decided to take on a religious lifestyle. He was born Matthew Miller and was a musician who, by his own account, started taking hallucinogens and following the rock band Phish on tour. But he changed his name after becoming a follower of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a branch of Hasidic Judaism that is seen as more open than others because it reaches out to unaffiliated Jews, often on college campuses, and to Jews living abroad. In many ways, Matisyahu was their most famous member, becoming Billboard magazine’s reggae artist of the year in 2006. (He left Chabad to explore other branches of Hasidism in 2007, saying, “I felt boxed in.” But he continued, for a while, to live with his wife and children in their official headquarters of Crown Heights, Brooklyn.) “It’s a really fascinating moment. But for young Chabadniks who were excited by Matisyahu’s success as a validation of their entree into the mainstream, I’m sure it’s disappointing,” said Sue Fishkoff, author of the book “The Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch.” “He’s a young man searching for his spiritual path,” she said. “He may go through other iterations, like many of us do.” While some of his fans wonder if he shaved to bolster ticket sales, his friends say they respect what they see as his honesty about his spiritual journey. “It will be interesting to see how things will play out — if he keeps the signature beard and payos [sidelocks] off,” said Erez Safer, chief executive of Shempseed, a recording label that has worked with Matisyahu and other religious musicians. “It had become his brand.”

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