Blessings: Our Jewish Ceremonies [Hardcover]

Melanie Hope Greenberg (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995 | Age Level: 3 and up

For a Jewish child, life is filled with blessing after blessing, many of them recited during special ceremonies that link one generation to the text. From brit milah to shivah--and all that comes in between--Blessings is a young child's first guide to the richness and beauty of Judaism's rituals.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ages 4^-8. Some less familiar information about Judaism is introduced in this nicely illustrated book, but there are some problems. The main title is deceptive (this isn't actually a collection of blessings, but a look at special ceremonies celebrated in the Jewish faith), and Greenberg doesn't acknowledge fairly common variations in practice, which may confuse children. For example, a girl's Bat Mitzvah, which Greenberg sets at age 12, also commonly occurs at age 13. Other things need clarification as well: the description of a Brit Milah, a circumcision, notes only that "the mohel removes a tiny piece of skin." The omission may seem age appropriate, but it is also somewhat misleading--skin from a finger, from a cheek, from a toe? Still, the selection of "blessings" is nicely varied, with both sad and joyous ones, and the miniature paintings, which strike just the right balance between plain blocks of color and crisp ink-line details, have great child appeal. A glossary is appended. Stephanie Zvirin

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Publication Society of America; 1st edition (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0827605404
• ISBN-13: 978-0827605404
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,347,060 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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