My Name Is Asher Lev

Asher Lev is a Ladover Hasid who keeps kosher, prays three times a day, and believes in the Ribbono Shel Olom, the Master of the Universe. Asher Lev is also an artist who compulsively renders the world he sees and feels, despite the fact that his artwork is often blasphemous by religious standards. This novel by Chaim Potok follows Asher's passage between these two identities--the one consecrated to God, the other subject only to his imagination--and ultimately becomes a portrait of the artist by turns heartbreaking and exultant.