Ashur Lev
As I approached the end of the novel, My Name is Asher Lev, I began to think about the relevance of the story which I had just read. I felt very connected to the book and could not discern why it was affecting me in such an intense fashion. Initially I believed this feeling to be a connection to my experiences growing up within Judaism, but that explanation did not satisfy my curiosity. I turned the lights off to go to sleep. As I lay in bed and stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars on my wall, I had a revelation. I remembered reading Lois Lowry's The Giver back in eighth grade. I saw a correlation between the two novels. I decided that the Hasidic community which Asher Lev lives in is truly a utopian society.I researched Hasidism a bit and discovered that it is a branch of Judaism that believes that God is everywhere. Because God is everywhere, Hasidic Jews feel no need for despair or unhappiness. They strongly embrace joyous dancing and prayer because they feel they can best serve God by being full of joy. They are a tight knit society which supports each other and makes sure none of their societal members are starving. The perfection which Hasidic Jews strive for is slightly different than other forms of utopia; Complete
------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Asher truly started to create art with his raw emotions, he could no longer function within the Hasidic community. He still kept his faith in Judaism, but opened his eyes beyond the world of Hasidism. In Hasidism, the complete faith in God is only possible when the outer world ceases to exist (or never exists in the first place). Complete faith and knowledge do not mix together well. Even the Rebbe knew this. The people of the Hasidic community were not ready to understand and see the world as Asher did. "You are entering the world of the other side"(233). Asher had to learn to function in the outside world. He did this by getting a better understanding of God. As opposed to having faith and communicating to God through prayer, Asher learnt to communicate through his artwork. Asher fully understood the world which surrounded him, and through studying art, became wiser than any other man from his home society. Asher was forced to leave the group with which he was born and! faith and wholly serving God is the ultimate goal. In the novel, The Giver, Lowry describes a society in which there is complete harmony with nature and the surroundings as well as in government, social interaction, an
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Approximate Word count = 862
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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