It kind of seems that Asher is changing his traditions as he watches Jacob Kahn. An example of this is the way he starts to paint stripped to the waste. This definitely isn’t a normal way to wear clothes for an observant Jew. Even his uncle tells him that he found it appalling to have Asher painting stripped to the waist. I wonder if Asher is going to change his ways because of Jacob Kahn. It seems to me, however, that an artist should have their own style, and that Kahn would not want Asher to imitate him.

Jacob Kahn really knows how to teach someone. He seems to have good techniques in teaching Asher like when he tells him to paint his feelings about the classmate that he hates. He probably learned these techniques while working with the great Picasso.

I can tell that Jacob Kahn has both a positive and negative impact on Asher. Kahn is truly teaching Asher the tricks of art, but he is also harming his religious beliefs. The Rebbe told Kahn never to permit Asher to paint the nude, but Kahn insisted he did anyway because it was so important to his art. It may have been important to his art but it was taking him away from his Hasidic faith. Asher’s father would especially not like to know that he was painting women in the nude.

When Asher’s father gets mad at him for painting in the nude, I can tell that if Asher continues to paint, then he will fall farther and farther away from his Hasidic traditions and his father’s love.