Asher Lev

I had not heard of the book My Name is Asher Lev. At first I had a little trouble understanding some of the wordage used but it wasn't too difficult to figure out as I kept reading.


Asher did not have an easy childhood, with the steady absence of his father and the loss of his uncle that lead to his mother's breakdown.


I think Asher represents many children that were raised in a family that based their life style on those of their ancestors. Of course that is not always a bad thing unless you have someone like Asher who needs to be able to break away from the "norm"... go outside of the box to achieve his dreams.


Although Asher was able to overlook much of his parental negativity regarding his art work, he still needed as any child would to feel love and support from his parents. Through out his early years in life Asher did not get this support. It had to be very difficult for a young boy to hear that he "shamed" his father and his father's good name. Asher may not have had the support or encouragement he needed for his art but he did have parents who loved him and did what they thought was best for him, even though, ultimately it was not in Asher's best interest.



There are so many "Asher" children in today's world that lack parental support for many different reasons. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I don't think religious beliefs is the primary reason for stunting children's growth in achieving their highest potential.


Many of the children that I work with at the children's psych hospital fall into the "Asher" category. These children come from parents who just don't care. Maybe because they were raised or not raised by absent parents or parents who just don't care...I don't know.... It seems to be a vicious cycle. But I do feel that selfishness if one of the key factors. Selfishness on the side of the parent/guardian. I just finished with a class on the American dream and how it has changed through the years. I think that some Americans are so caught up in materialistic success that they forget to appreciate the things God them for free...family, children, friends and health (hopefully). Parents need to give more of their time and spend it with their children and enjoy what the bring to life. I know that much of my time is spent, whether I want to or not, watching endless, not so exciting little league games and MANY endless high school games.


Okay..I'm getting off my soap box now :)