Wikipedia's first sentence called it “asher lev”. Today it says “asher lev is a novel by chaim potok”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
My Name Is Asher Lev ( 1972 ) is a book written by Chaim Potok . The book is about a Jewish boy, Asher; who is an artist growing up in Brooklyn . v t e1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17390829.
The opening as it stood in 2010 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
My Name Is Asher Lev is a novel by Chaim Potok , an American author and Rabbi.The book's protagonist is Asher Lev, a Hasidic Jewish boy in New York City .Asher is a loner with artistic inclinations.His art, however, causes conflicts with his family and other members of his community.The book follows Asher's maturity as both an artist and a Jew.His personal struggle seems apparent in "Brooklyn Crucifixion." And yet despite this seemingly agonizing struggle, Potok remained active as an artist/writer and engaged in the religion of his upbringing until his death in 2002." .Potok continued Asher Lev's story in the book The Gift of Asher Lev .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 371080397.
The opening as it stood in 2015
My Name Is Asher Lev is a novel by Chaim Potok , an American author and rabbi. The book's protagonist is Asher Lev, a Hasidic Jewish boy in New York City. Asher is a loner with artistic inclinations. His art, however, causes conflicts with his family and other members of his community. The book follows Asher's maturity as both an artist and a Jew. Potok asserted that the conflict between tradition and individualism is constant and that the tension between religion and art is lifelong. His personal struggle seems apparent in "Brooklyn Crucifixion." And yet despite this seemingly agonizing struggle, Potok remained active as an artist/writer and engaged in the religion of his upbringing until his death in 2002.". Potok continued Asher Lev's story in the book The Gift of Asher Lev .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668344408.
The opening as it stood in 2020
My Name Is Asher Lev is a novel by Chaim Potok , an American author and rabbi. The book's protagonist is Asher Lev, a Hasidic Jewish boy in New York City. Asher is a loner with artistic inclinations. His art, however, causes conflicts with his family and other members of his community. The book follows Asher's maturity as both an artist and a Jew. Potok asserted that the conflict between tradition and individualism is constant and that the tension between religion and art is lifelong. His personal struggle seems apparent in "Brooklyn Crucifixion." And yet despite this seemingly agonizing struggle, Potok remained active as an artist/writer and engaged in the religion of his upbringing until his death in 2002. Potok continued Asher Lev's story in the book The Gift of Asher Lev .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 952538446.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Novel by Chaim Potok My Name Is Asher Lev is a novel by Chaim Potok , an American author and rabbi. The book's protagonist is Asher Lev, a Hasidic Jewish boy in New York City. Asher is a loner with artistic inclinations. His art, however, causes conflicts with his family and other members of his community. The book follows Asher's maturity as both an artist and a Jew. Potok asserted that the conflict between tradition and individualism is constant and that the tension between religion and art is lifelong. Potok was, as well as an author, a painter, and his personal struggle is apparent in his painting titled "Brooklyn Crucifixion." And yet despite this seemingly agonizing struggle, Potok remained active as an artist/writer and engaged in the religion of his upbringing until his death in 2002. Potok continued Asher Lev's story in the book The Gift of Asher Lev .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1153021293.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Novel by Chaim Potok My Name Is Asher Lev is a novel by Chaim Potok , an American author and rabbi. The book's protagonist is Asher Lev, a Hasidic Jewish boy in New York City. Asher is a loner with artistic inclinations. His art, however, causes conflicts with his family and other members of his community. The book follows Asher's maturity as both an artist and a Jew. Potok asserted that the conflict between tradition and individualism is constant and that the tension between religious orthopraxy and art is lifelong. Potok was, as well as an author, a painter, and his personal struggle is apparent in his painting titled "Brooklyn Crucifixion." And yet despite this seemingly agonizing struggle, Potok remained active as an artist/writer and engaged in the religion of his upbringing until his death in 2002. Potok continued Asher Lev's story in the book The Gift of Asher Lev .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1295273065. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “asher lev”. Today it says “asher lev is a novel by chaim potok”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
asher lev
Now
asher lev is a novel by chaim potok
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.