My Name is Asher Lev

“A powerful struggle of family, faith and art.”
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“Three fiercely engaged performances illuminate a young painter's struggle to claim his artistic integrity . . . The late novelist Chaim Potok's searing visions of people, things and even moods, as seen through the focused gaze of the artist, elevate this coming-of-age tale above the cliches of the genre.”
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“The cast of three features an extraordinary performance by Peter Stadlen as Asher Lev . . . Danielle Levin and Patrick McNulty give outstanding performances in multiple roles . . . perfectly directed and cleverly staged. This is a wonderful, intriguing story dramatically unfolded.”

“You will be engrossed for all 82 minutes, encouraging you to take part in the standing ovation.”

“A play that is as dramatic, intense and entertaining as it is philosophically rich . . . Gorgeously written and strongly acted, My Name Is Asher Lev is a tight, wonderfully complex knot of contradictions, clashes and hard-won compromises--right up to the last line.”
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“My Name is Ashler Lev takes on a serious examination of life, art and religion, laces it with gentle humor and gives audiences a superlative gift from the gods of theater.”
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“A production as intimate as a family dinner and as vast as a young man's dreams.”

“A fascinating coming-of-age story seamlessly blended with a debate about the nature of art... This is a marvelous evening of theater: intimate, sincere, magical.”

Chaim Potok

By Margot Melcon

Herman Harold Potok was born in the Bronx on Feb. 17, 1929. His parents were traditional Hasidic Jews, immigrants from Eastern Europe. As a boy, his daily life centered on the local yeshiva where in addition to secular subjects, the focus was on studying sacred Jewish texts.

As a boy, Potok showed proclivity for drawing and painting, and dreamed of becoming an artist. This was not popular at home. In the Orthodox tradition, the arts were dismissed as narishkeit (Yiddish for foolishness), any occupation that distracted from the study of Torah and Talmud. Visual art was also a violation of the second commandment, the taboo against the making of graven images.

He turned instead to literature devouring secular books at the local library. While his parents tolerated his interest in literature - the written word, after all, was the foundation of Judaism - it was, they made clear, no fit occupation.

By the time he was an undergraduate at Yeshiva University, an Orthodox Jewish school in Upper Manhattan, Potok had begun to write short stories. He continued on to the Jewish Theological Seminary, a Conservative Jewish institution near Columbia University. To his family and friends, his choice to pursue a non-fundamentalist education was a betrayal.

Potok received his master's degree in Hebrew literature from the seminary in 1954. With it came ordination as a Conservative rabbi. After serving as a chaplain in the Army, Potok went on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania and continued to write as well as teach. As his literary reputation grew, Potok was able to devote himself to writing full-time.

Potok came to international prominence in 1967 with his debut novel, The Chosen, the first American novel to make the hidden Hasidic world visible to a wide audience. In his books, he drew readers - Jews and non-Jews alike - into a world that few had encountered.

Potok's heroes, mostly adolescents on the brink of manhood, feel both sustained and suffocated by their traditional communities. Though they never consider abandoning Judaism, they agonize over whether they dare seek lives in the larger world, knowing full well that if they do, they will be branded apostates. My Name is Asher Lev, written in 1972, explores the struggle of self-discovery while remaining faithful to tradition.

With his writing Potok tapped into something universal. Although some critics would fault him for revisiting again and again the struggle between faith and secularity, it was his repeated exploration of this tension, he would say, that allowed him to explore a range of additional questions: familial obligation, the role of religion in contemporary society, the meaning of human suffering.

Excerpted and adapted from Margalit Fox. "Chaim Potok, 73, Dies; Novelist Illumined the World of Hasidic Judaism." New York Times, July 24, 2002.

Chabad-Lubavitch

The fictitious sect to which Asher and his family belong (Ladover) is based on a Hasidic movement called Chabad-Lubavitch. One of the world's largest Hasidic movements in Orthodox Judaism, Chabad-Lubavitch is based in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The name Chabad is an acronym for the Hebrew words Chochmah, Binah, Da'at: Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge. Lubavitch, a town in Belarus, was an early center of the Chabad movement before World War II.

As Hasidim (the plural of Hasid), Lubavitchers follow the teachings of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, called the Ba'al Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name) or Besht, a scholar and teacher who lived in the 18th century in what is now Ukraine. The teachings were based on the concepts of the presence of God in all creatures, things, and aspects of everyday life. Previous to the advent of Hasidus, study of the Talmud and closeness to God were reserved for the select few in academic Rabbinical study. The teachings of the Besht, with their focus on the presence of God in everything, including the common man, opened up the doors for more intimate worship and joyous expression of faith for all Jews.

With its emphasis on "wisdom, understanding, and knowledge," Chabad is unique among Hasidic sects. Rather than simply accept tradition and dogma, followers are encouraged to study and critically examine the Torah and Talmud and find the logic and wisdom within them, incorporating these studies into their daily lives as they seek to make the world holy.

Each Hasidic sect is led by a rebbe. In Hasidus, the rebbe is regarded as a spiritual master, teacher, and advisor. The most recent Chabad rebbe was Menachem Mendel Schneerson who led Chabad-Lubavitch from 1950 until his death in 1994. He was likely the basis for the rebbe in My Name is Asher Lev.

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement has over 200,000 adherents. Chabad shluchim (emissaries) have been established all over the world with the mission of persuading non-observant Jews to adopt Orthodox Jewish observance. Today, there are more than 3,300 Chabad institutions in 75 countries around the world.

A Glossary of Yiddish Terms

Hasid: a member of a highly religious Jewish sect that originated in Eastern Europe during the 18th century. There are many different Hasidic groups, each the follower of a different rebbe or charismatic leader, e.g. Lubavitchers, Belsers, Satmerers, etc. The names often come from the city where the sect originated.

Ladover Hasidism: followers of the Rebbe of Ladov. Ladov is a fictional town in Russia, invented for this story. This particular sect bears the most resemblance to the Lubavitch Hasidim, one of the most open and worldly of the Hasidic groups.

Rebbe: The absolute leader of any given Hasidic sect. Charismatic, held as the wise arbiter of all matters. Not usually ordained as a rabbi, though very knowledgeable in Jewish law and Hasidic thought.

Torah: the five books of Moses that holds the stories of early Jewish history as well as the formation body of Jewish Law.

Talmud: A many-volumed exposition on the Torah dealing with every aspect of human conduct. It is composed of legal discussions and anecdotes to illustrate the law and its ramifications.

Ribbono shel Oylom: Master of the Universe. A name used for the Almighty.

Goyim/Goy/Goische: applied to any people who are not Hebrew or Jewish.

"Gay gezunt un cum gezunt": a Yiddish farewell greeting: Go in health and return (or arrive) in health.

Sitra Achra: Aramaic for the side opposite to the Holy One. Anything that takes one away from the path of righteousness or good behavior may be seen to be from the Sitra Achra.

Kibud Ov: Honor or respect for one's father.

Guttenu: Yiddish term of endearment for God. Used often as an expletive.

Yeshivas: Houses of learning, usually applied to orthodox schools.

Story of the four sons: A parable is told of four different kinds of sons and their respective attitudes to the Seder. One is called Wise, one Wicked, one Simple, one Who Does Not Know How to Ask. The Wicked is described as one who withdraws himself from the community.

Bris: Ritual circumcision (of 8-day-old boys).

Payos: the sidelocks or sideburns on a male. They are worn as a reminder of the Covenant between God and the Jewish people. Many Hasidic and other orthodox men let them grow on the sides of their face.

Asher Lev Trailer | 1:07

Interview with Aaron Posner and Hal Brooks | 4:30