How we cite our quotes: (Page.Paragraph)
Quote #4
How did my father get you out? (185.18)
Asher asks this of a young Ladover boy whose family is moving into an apartment building near his own—he knows the family has fled from Stalin's from Russia, and it isn't difficult for him to deduce that his father is the superhero who pretty much airlifted them out of there. This quote underscored community because it involves the rescue of a Ladover family from Stalin's regime, demonstrating that Hasidic Judaism is strong the world over.
Quote #5
Asher Lev, this world will destroy you. Art is not for people who want to make the world holy. (209.22-210.1)
Anna Schaeffer says this to Asher as he is about to enter the art world. Her prediction is essentially fulfilled by the end of the book: Asher is cast out of his old, religious community and set to join a new, secular, and unfamiliar one.
Quote #6
'You are too religious to be an Abstract Expressionist,' he said to me one morning. 'We are ill at ease in the universe. We are rebellious and individualistic. We welcome accidents in painting. You are emotional and sensual but you are also rational. That is your Ladover background.' (253.4)
This quote is interesting because it positions Asher between the two very different worlds (i.e. communities) he's always straddling: the art world and the world of ultra-religious conservative Judaism. Jacob Kahn knows that Asher is a talented artist, but he'll never be an Abstract Expressionist because he is a Hasid. At the same time, Asher can never fully be a Hasid because he paints. So basically he can't be a part of any community that would have him as a member. Oy vey—talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.