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Passover More haggadot than ever before!
BY: Lila Hanft =
Staff=20
Writer
A Mystical Haggadah: =
Passover=20
Meditations, Teachings and Tales. By Rabbi Eliahu =
Klein. North=20
Atlantic Books. Berkley, Calif. 2008. 189 pp.=20
$16.95.
The Student=92s Pesach Haggadah. By =
Rabbi Shmuel=20
Jablon. Mazo Publishers. Jerusalem, Israel. 2008. 55 =
pp.=20
$9.95.=20
Richard =
Codor=92s Joyous=20
Haggadah: The Illustrated Story of Passover. By =
Richard and=20
Liora Codor. Loose Line Productions Inc. Brooklyn, =
N.Y. 48 pp.=20
$11.95
The Haggadah Shel Pesach has always been =
a fluid=20
text. It took about 1,000 years for the haggadah to =
evolve=20
from 435 words of Mishnah to its current size =
(approximately=20
5,500 Hebrew words). And the haggadah continues to =
grow and=20
change: At least 4,000 printed editions of the =
haggadah have=20
appeared in the 550 years since Gutenberg debuted his =
printing=20
press.
The fluidity of the haggadot over time =
and place=20
is often intentional; it=92s based on the injunction =
to retell=20
the story of Exodus to every generation n and to make =
the=20
telling so vivid that your children feel as if they =
were=20
there.=20
Some people =
think the=20
haggadah has changed too much and for no good reason. =
Last=20
Passover, Slate.com =
published=20
an essay by Mark Oppenheimer, a book critic at the =
Forward,=20
entitled =93Haggadah better idea: Let=92s stop =
improving=20
Passover.=94 Oppenheimer sees the plethora of special =
haggadot=20
as divisive and urges Jews to go back to sharing =
common,=20
traditional seders. (He=92d prefer we all use the =
classic=20
Maxwell House haggadah.)
Three new haggadot n A =
Mystical Haggadah, The Student=92s Pesach Haggadah and =
Joyous=20
Haggadah: The Illustrated Story of Passover n suggest =
that=20
there=92s no end to the kosher ways we can approach =
Passover=20
innovatively, even if we don=92t want to wander into =
the flakier=20
realms of Jewish Buddhism, Pig Latin haggadot, and =
vegan=20
seders.
The Student=92s Pesach Haggadah is the =
innovation=20
of Rabbi Shmuel Jablon, head of the Lower School at =
Fuchs=20
Mizrachi School in Cleveland. =93This is the published =
version=20
of a haggadah I=92ve been using for a few years at =
Fuchs=20
Mizrachi,=94 he explains.
The Student=92s =
Pesach Haggadah=20
contains the Hebrew text of the haggadah and =
commentaries=20
drawn from both the Talmud and Jablon=92s own =
obviously revered=20
teachers. The commentary is followed by blank lines, =
which=20
students can use to take notes on their teacher=92s =
commentary=20
or to jot down their own ideas and own explanations of =
the=20
text.
The haggadah is intended for students in =
third=20
grade and up. =93I stress =91and up=92 because I =
really believe the=20
book will be valuable to adult learners,=94 Jablon =
says.=20
For that reason, =
Jablon=20
believes the book can also enrich family seders. The =
blank=20
lines invite the reader to make the haggadah his own, =
whether=20
he uses the space to take notes on the Hebrew text, =
record a=20
teacher=92s commentary, jot down his own questions and =
thoughts,=20
or make notes in preparation for his own family=20
seders.
The goal, Jablon says, is =93to make =
the seder=20
more meaningful.=94
Local book distributor Joe =
Gelles=20
owns Haggadahs-R-Us, an online store with a real-life =
office=20
in Beth El-The Heights Synagogue in Cleveland=20
Heights.
Gelles says the new Passover books =
garnering=20
the most interest this year are Rabbi Eliahu Klein=92s =
A=20
Mystical Haggadah: Passover Meditations, Teachings and =
Tales=20
and Richard Codor=92s Joyous Haggadah: The Illustrated =
Story of=20
Passover. (A third, 300 Hundred Ways to Ask the Four=20
Questions, was reviewed in the spring 2008 =
jstyle).=20
In A Mystical =
Haggadah, the=20
author combines his lifelong interest in Jewish =
mysticism n=20
Chasidic traditions and kabbalah n with the rituals of =
the=20
Passover seder, in search of the underlying spiritual=20
structure of the familiar rituals and =
blessings.
A=20
Mystical Haggadah is for =93Jewish seekers of all =
denominations=20
who wish to explore the mystical meditative and =
empowering=20
aspects of Jewish traditions,=94 according to its =
press=20
release.
For me, the book is more of a seder =
companion=20
than haggadah, although it does offer a step-by-step =
guide to=20
the fifteen parts of the seder. But Klein=92s insights =
sometimes=20
need time to sink in, and I would use them sparingly =
in any=20
seder with children. His ideas are like a rich =
dessert: easier=20
to digest in small portions.
Klein includes =
some=20
Chasidic stories and teachings that have never been =
broadly=20
available to English readers, and there=92s a helpful =
glossary=20
that includes transliterated Hebrew terms.=20
Richard =
Codor=92s Joyous=20
Haggadah: The Illustrated Story of Passover is almost =
the=20
perfect haggadah for kids of early-reading age and =
older.=20
Codor, a cartoonist and illustrator, tells the story =
of=20
Passover with amazing economy in a comic =
strip.
Codor=20
often finds a way to translate spoken sections of the =
haggadah=20
into visual formats, which gives him the opportunity =
to employ=20
visual jokes and to create tension between what=92s =
being said=20
aloud and what=92s being depicted.
The word =
=93joyous=94 in=20
the title is well deserved. Codor=92s illustrations =
are too=20
cartoony to be beautiful, but they are joyous, =
colorful and=20
sometimes quite dramatic. The haggadah seems =
high-energy,=20
active, and fun. In nearly every drawing, there is =
movement=20
(if not people, then animals; if not the drawing=92s =
focal=20
point, then half-hidden in the background or=20
borders).
Shaped by the cartoonist=92s habitual =
economy=20
of language, the text is crisp and accurate, and =
thankfully,=20
without a trace of the rhymes, puns, or verbal =
cuteness often=20
found in children=92s haggadot.
Of course the =
test of any=20
good haggadah is whether it=92ll play at the seder=20
table.
lhanft@cjn.org
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story=20
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