How we cite our quotes: (Page.Paragraph)
Quote #1
'Any man who has caused a single Jewish soul to perish, the Torah considers it as if he has caused a whole world to perish; and any man who has saved a Jewish soul, it is as if he had saved a whole world.' (11.3)
After the Jewish population was devastated by the Holocaust, a lot of emphasis was placed on regeneration and repopulation. Therefore, every Jew was considered in terms of his or her ability to produce children, increase the Jewish population, and strengthen the Jewish community. As you can imagine, this leads to lots of pressure to pair up and get busy.
Quote #2
Yes, we were brothers, he and I, and I felt closer to him at that moment than to any other human being in all the world. (41.1)
Asher Lev is reflecting on Yudel Krinsky's time in Siberia and how much he suffered. Even though Asher himself didn't suffer, he feels a kinship with Yudel that can only be attributed to the deep and abiding sense of community among the Jewish people.
Quote #3
Did I know how much Jewish blood had been spilled because of that man? Did I know how many Jews had been killed in the name of that man during the Crusades? Did I know that the reason Hitler had been able to slaughter six million Jews without too much complaint from the world was that for two thousand years the world had been taught that Jews, not Romans, had killed that man? (173.1)
Aryeh's negative reaction to Asher's interest in paintings of Jesus is indicative of what Aryeh thinks is a betrayal of the Jewish community. To Hasidic Jews, Jesus is one motivating factor behind the destruction of the Jewish people, so enjoying any iconography involving him is tantamount to a betrayal of the close-knit Jewish community.