My Name Is Asher Lev | Characters & Character Analysis

My Name Is Asher Lev Characters

Aryeh Lev

Aryeh Lev is descended from several generations of Ladover Hasids. He is a pious Jew who dedicates himself to serving the Rebbe. Aryeh holds a master's degree in political science from New York University, and he speaks English, Yiddish, French, and Russian. His family was brought to Brooklyn from the Ukraine by the Rebbe's father when Aryeh was a boy. He walks with a limp from an injury sustained during childhood. His father, a scholarly Jew, was ax-murdered on the night before Easter by a drunken Christian, who blamed Jews for Jesus's death. The death of Aryeh's father leaves him with a high level of distrust toward gentiles. This distrust has been magnified by the Holocaust and Stalin's reign of terror.

Aryeh shares a loving relationship with his wife, Rivkeh. They married when Aryeh was in his early twenties and Rivkeh was still a teenager. In spite of Aryeh and...
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