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.
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.
Quote #7
'The artists who will care about your payos are not worth caring about. You want to cut off your payos, go ahead. But do not do it because you think it will make you more acceptable as an artist.'(257.3)
Jacob Kahn is directly telling Asher that it's going to be difficult for him to find his place in the artistic community, a process that will involve reconciling his two very polarizing identities, and that he's got to stick to his guns if he wants it to work. Good, tough advice from a lapsed Jew and eccentric painter—everyone should have one in their lives.
Quote #8
'Asher Lev, you will take French. You will take four years of French. And you will earn for yourself excellent marks in French. The Rebbe specifically requested that we make certain you study French.' (267.9)
In the Ladover community, everyone takes orders from the Rabbi. Since Asher has always had problems with authority, he has a difficult time doing this. In this quote, the high school registrar informs him that he must take French in order to be a productive and compliant member of the community.
Quote #9
'If you have time, come and visit.' He gave me his name and phone number. 'I will show you the yeshiva your father built.'(314.14)
Asher is traveling on his own for the first time in Paris when he meets one of the yeshiva-building people his father worked with while he was living in Vienna. This serves to remind Asher of the importance of his father's work and the fact that all Jewish people are connected in a way that would be totally impossible without the framework of the Jewish community.
Quote #10
Sometimes, standing on that beach, I would remember the beach along the lake in the Berkshires where my mother and I had walked years ago. It seemed another world now, just as my street seemed another world, cold and distant from the warmth of dunes and the summer sun. (254.3)
As he's hanging out with Jacob Kahn at Jacob Kahn's fancy summer home, Asher recalls the locales of his childhood and feels distant from him. This quote shows us how Asher is growing out of his old community—his street, the insularity of his family and the Jewish religion—and into a new one: the art world.