ous artist, does. Rivkeh and Asher's trip to the Parkway Museum during one of Aryeh's many absences, is intended as a visit to some rare Jewish manuscripts and, presumably, part of normal and natural aesthetic education. But even as a small boy Asher has been making imaginative drawings as well as drawings from life, and he has gotten into trouble for drawing in a sacred book. Thus Asher is absorbed by other art also on display at the Parkway, from Christian paintings to abstract Picasso oils to various nudes. Rivkeh, who suspects (rightly) that Aryeh would not approve of Asher's engagement with secular and/or non-Jewish art, is torn between forbidding him further visits to the museum and providing him with paints and pencils.
Aryeh, indeed, considers art evil, something that "comes from the Other Side" (MN 176), especially since Asher persists in drawing pictures of nudes and of Jesus. Over the course of the two novels, Aryeh never quite understands his son's passion for art over his duty and heritage as a Hasid. As a growing boy, Asher is also troubled by his choice of artistic subject matter, though his artistic self overtakes his uncertainty: "It is the Other Side. But I can't help it. I . . . listened to the strange new pounding of my heart" (MN 179). In the earliest stage of his deliberate study of art, Asher more or less teaches himself rudiments of technique, learning the forms of art by copying paintings at the museum.
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