Previous
The pimply-faced boy
Uncle Yitzchok is Aryeh’s brother, a jovial, down-to-earth, successful businessman who runs a jewelry and watch-repair shop. He teases young Asher about his future fame and later supports his art by setting up an attic studio for him. He even lets Asher live with him, his wife, and their several children when Asher refuses to move to Europe with his parents.
Uncle Yitzchok Quotes in My Name is Asher Lev
The My Name is Asher Lev quotes below are all either spoken by Uncle Yitzchok or refer to Uncle Yitzchok. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 11
Quotes
On Yom Kippur, I wept when I remembered my father’s weeping over the martyrdom of the ten sages. On Succos, I marched in the synagogue procession with the lulov and esrog my uncle had purchased for me. On Simchas Torah, I danced with a Torah scroll—and there on the edge of the crowd of thousands that always came to watch our joy on that day was Jacob Kahn. I pulled him into the line and we held the Torah together and danced. His small dark skullcap was as awkward on his head as was the grasp of his fingers upon the Torah. But we held it together and we danced.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire My Name is Asher Lev LitChart as a printable PDF.
Uncle Yitzchok Character Timeline in My Name is Asher Lev
The timeline below shows where the character Uncle Yitzchok appears in My Name is Asher Lev. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Aryeh’s brother, Asher’s Uncle Yitzchok , comes to visit. He owns a successful jewelry and watch-repair store in Brooklyn and...
(full context)
Chapter 3
After synagogue that week, Uncle Yitzchok tells Asher it’s an honor for his father to go to Vienna and travel for...
(full context)
Chapter 4
...Asher continues to insist that he won’t be going to Vienna. He’ll be staying with Uncle Yitzchok . Rivkeh asks him not to be a child.
(full context)
Later, Asher goes into Uncle Yitzchok ’s nearby jewelry and watch-repair shop. Asher normally avoids the store because he doesn’t like...
(full context)
During the Passover Seder, Uncle Yitzchok looks at Asher’s drawings. He tells Asher, “Millions of people can draw.” Asher needs to...
(full context)
Chapter 5
...his tallis. After the service, Aryeh is silent. That night, while his parents are at Uncle Yitzchok ’s, Asher takes out the oil paints he’d stolen, but he is filled with horror:...
(full context)
...can stay in America, he can go to Europe with Rivkeh and leave Asher in Uncle Yitzchok ’s care, or he can leave Rivkeh and Asher in America and go to Europe...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...He explains that Asher does no honor to Aryeh with this behavior. The mashpia and Uncle Yitzchok also speak to Asher. Asher asks his mother, “What do they all want from me?”...
(full context)
...She is working on her doctorate, and she misses Aryeh. That summer Asher lives with Uncle Yitzchok and spends a lot of time at Yudel Krinsky’s store. Yudel is now remarried and...
(full context)
That summer, three new Russian Ladover families move to Uncle Yitzchok ’s street. They look bewildered and fearful. Asher approaches one of the boys his age...
(full context)
Chapter 9
...that summer, Rivkeh travels to Europe to be with her husband, and Asher moves into Uncle Yitzchok ’s house. Asher spends the summer traveling to Jacob Kahn’s studio two or three times...
(full context)
...Rivkeh tells Asher that Aryeh needs her. She asks if Asher could move in with Uncle Yitzchok next year so that she could accompany and support her husband full time. Asher doesn’t...
(full context)
...and spends awhile looking up at the living room window. Finally he walks to his Uncle Yitzchok ’s house.
(full context)
Chapter 11
Uncle Yitzchok fixes up his attic so that Asher will have more space to paint, and Asher...
(full context)
...says little to Asher; there is “a permanent high wall of uncertainty and hostility.” When Uncle Yitzchok shows him the attic filled with paintings, Aryeh looks angry. Yitzchok begs Aryeh to be...
(full context)
...space in his bedroom for him to paint. His father suggests that he paint at Uncle Yitzchok ’s house.
(full context)
Chapter 14
...old and tired to Asher. Then Asher stops by his uncle’s store and greets him. Uncle Yitzchok asks if he should come to the exhibition. Asher assures him there are no naked...
(full context)
...telling him, “The apprentice has become a master.” The next day, his parents go to Uncle Yitzchok ’s house and do not eat with him. Asher reads a friendly review of his...
(full context)
