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Crucifixion represents the tension between religion and art for the novel’s characters, as it takes on two levels of meaning. On a religious and historical level, the crucifixion has offensive connotations of the historical persecution of Jews by Christians; it’s also inherently blasphemous from a Jewish perspective. On an artistic level, however, Asher uses the crucifixion to symbolize maternal anguish, drawing on elements of Renaissance art and picturing his mother, Rivkeh, on a cruciform shape in his Brooklyn Crucifixion paintings. Though Asher does not intend a primarily religious meaning, the adoption of the religious form is an obstacle to his family and community’s ability to accept his artistic meaning. The collision of these two sets of meanings in Asher’s paintings symbolizes the ongoing conflict he feels between his Jewish roots and his artistic pursuits, and comes to represent his inability to integrate the two, as the offensive nature of Brooklyn Crucifixion results in Asher’s exile from his Ladover community.
Crucifixion Quotes in My Name is Asher Lev
The My Name is Asher Lev quotes below all refer to the symbol of Crucifixion. 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:
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Chapter 1
Quotes
I am an observant Jew. Yes, of course, observant Jews do not paint crucifixions. As a matter of fact, observant Jews do not paint at all—in the way that I am painting. So strong words are being written and spoken about me, myths are being generated: I am a traitor, an apostate, a self-hater, an inflicter of shame upon my family, my friends, my people; also, I am a mocker of ideas sacred to Christians, a blasphemous manipulator of modes and forms revered by Gentiles for two thousand years.
Well, I am none of those things. And yet, in all honesty, I confess that my accusers are not altogether wrong: I am indeed, in some way, all of those things.
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Chapter 14
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“I understand,” he kept saying. “Jacob Kahn once explained it to me in connection with sculpture. I understand.” Then he said, “I do not hold with those who believe that all painting and sculpture is from the sitra achra. I believe such gifts are from the Master of the Universe. But they have to be used wisely, Asher. What you have done has caused harm. People are angry. They ask questions, and I have no answer to give them that they will understand. Your naked women were a great difficulty for me, Asher. But this is an impossibility.” He was silent for a long moment. I could see his dark eyes in the shadow cast by the brim of his hat. Then he said, “I will ask you not to continue living here, Asher Lev. I will ask you to go away.”
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Crucifixion Symbol Timeline in My Name is Asher Lev
The timeline below shows where the symbol Crucifixion appears in My Name is Asher Lev. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...Brooklyn Crucifixion.” He is also “an observant Jew.” And observant Jews, he says, don’t paint crucifixions—or paint at all, for that matter.
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Chapter 9
...to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and they spend the day looking at paintings of crucifixions. The next day, Asher tells Jacob that he doesn’t want to see any more crucifixions....
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Chapter 13
That fall, Anna Schaeffer comes to Paris and marvels at Asher’s crucifixion paintings. She sends Asher on a long walk, and when he returns, the paintings are...
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Chapter 14
...women in the paintings, but doesn’t know how to tell him that he will see crucifixions.
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At home, Asher calls Anna Schaeffer and learns that most of his paintings, including the crucifixions, have already been sold. She also tells him that Jacob Kahn is recovering from major...
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...approach him. Jacob thinks at first that Asher’s visit is a dream. He compliments Asher’s crucifixion paintings. He says they are great works and “culminations”; after this, Asher will have to...
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...synagogue service, he prays for a miracle. He wonders how he could possibly explain the crucifixion paintings to his father. He knows his father will not understand the problem of needing...
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Eventually, they come to the crucifixion paintings. Asher sees his father staring in puzzlement at the part he can see over...
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...There are comments, some of them harsh, from Catholic leaders about Asher’s use of the crucifix. At Shabbos the following week, people turn their backs on Asher in the synagogue. Friends...
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...words, but she can never understand them or explain them to Aryeh, she tells him—the crucifixion, after all, was in a way responsible for Aryeh’s father’s murder.
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