I understand how Asher must have felt reading from the bible. It is like me reading from a book of witch craft since that is something I don’t believe in and something that strikes me as evil. I too would feel unclean reading that. It would also be emotionally depressing to me. At this point Asher begins to question if working with Jacob Kahn is really going to be good for him. I think that he has his doubts about whether working with Jacob Kahn is going to help him or hinder him. Asher is also wondering what his father would think if he knew that Asher was reading the New Testement and reading about Jesus.

When Asher first meets Anna Schaeffer I wonder why she says that Jacob Kahn tricked her. Is it that she doesn’t feel that a Hasidic Jew can’t become an artist, or is she just joking around? Anyway, I wonder if Asher feels uncomfortable talking to Anne about what makes an observant Jew different from a secular one. She also asked him about some touchy subjects like about why he isn’t in Europe with his father, and what his parents thought about his art. I guess that Asher has to become used to being humiliated if he wants to become an artist. Maybe that is what Anne is trying to do, condition Asher with humiliation.

I wonder if Jacob Kahn and Asher are going to hit it off together and if Asher will follow through with his art? Jacob Kahn said that he liked to be blunt, and he seems to act like he says. Jacob Kahn also seems kind of unpredictable. One second you think that he is really sincere, then the next he is explaining to Asher how he is doing everyting the wrong way.