Days of Awe: Stories for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur [Paperback]

Eric A. Kimmel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1993

Three tales present the ideals of repentance, prayer, and charity that are the basis of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-- Kimmel gracefully explains the holidays for general readers, and then offers three tales charmingly adapted from traditional sources. Accompanied by Weihs's luminous paintings, each selection is preceded by a brief paragraph that provides some background and insight. In "The Samovar," the wife of a poor glovemaker is visited by the prophet Elijah, who asks that she care for his samovar until his return. The samovar's tarnish, which had not yielded to energetic polishing, brightens after each of her acts of charity. "The Shepherd: A Story about Prayer," which appears in Barbara Cohen's Yussel's Prayer (Lothrop, 1981), illustrates how God values prayers that come from the heart more than those of learned, but less pious, men. "Rabbi Eleazar and the Beggar" demonstrates that "to err is human; to forgive, divine." --Marcia Posner, Federation of New York and the Jewish Book Council, New York City
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Three well-crafted retellings focus on the pillars of the Jewish High Holidays: charity, prayer, and repentance. A samovar left with Rivka by the prophet Elijah begins to shine as she performs her ordinary acts of charity; she and her husband realize that their good fortune is a blessing that allows them to help others. A shepherd's simple but heartfelt prayers are silenced by a scholar who deplores their informality, but God sends an angel to show the shepherd that his prayers resound in Heaven. A famed rabbi unthinkingly offends a beggar who then refuses to forgive him; the rabbi's gentle daughter convinces the beggar that forgiveness will lift his burden of bitterness. Weaving these universal tales about approaches to God with just a few, well-chosen words, Kimmel deftly uses wise but humble characters to convey his message and sets them in various locales: a shtetl, C¢rdoba in Moorish Spain, the Holy Land. The characters' simple lives are effectively depicted in Weihs's folk-inspired art, though there are some discrepancies between the details and text. A fine addition to the body of Jewish folklore. Introduction on the significance of the High Holidays; notes to the stories. (Folklore. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140502718
• ISBN-13: 978-0140502718
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #541,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Repentance, prayer and charity, September 6, 2001

By 

Alyssa A. Lappen (Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Days of Awe: Stories for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Paperback)

Kimmel provides three winning tales for the most solemn days of the Jewish calendar, one for each mitzvah, or good deed, a Jew must perform to obtain forgiveness for wrongs done during the previous year. He opens with the longest, on charity, or Tzedakah--the requirement for which Jewish tradition is most uncompromising.

The glove maker's wife Rivka prepared for Rosh Hashonah, placing two loaves of round challah into her oven next to a pot of scraps of meat and some potato--hardly enough to be called stew. But she was grateful, as times were hard and others had even less.

After a knock at the door, she expected a beggar, to whom she was embarrassed to have little to give. Instead, an elegant officer appeared. He asked her to care for his samovar--a family heirloom--during his seven-year posting to a distant land. She unwrapped the samovar to find it black with tarnish and covered in cobwebs, and polished it, with no effect.

Another beggar knocked and she gave him a coin. The samovar brightened. She puzzled and polished it again. A poor old woman, barely able to pay her rent, passed in the street. Rivka ran to give her the larger of her two challahs.

She returned to find the samovar again strangely brighter still.

Rivka's husband then then rushed in, excited that a nobleman had bought a pair of leather gloves for which a widow had refused to pay. When Haskel asked for five crowns, the nobleman offered 100 and gave the glove maker 900 crowns more to make nine more pairs.

The couple, confused, turned to their rabbi, who advised them that they had been visited by the Prophet Elijah himself. At the end of seven years, they would have to give the samovar back, and everything would be as it was before. "You have been given seven years of good luck. Use them well."

Rivka rushed back to the market, buying a fish for the widow, and bread, meat and vegetables for the other poor people. The samovar was now nearly clean. After the holidays, all the money was gone but Haskel sold gloves as fast as he could make them. Of this wealth, they used only what they needed and gave the rest to others. After seven years, the officer returned to find the samovar shining perfectly.

"This samovar is older than the world," he explained, his eyes beaming with kindness and wisdom. "In all the years of its existence, no one has taken better care of it than you. I believe you have earned the right to keep it."

Rivka and Haskel refused, but as they turned to take the samovar down for the officer, he disappeared. They lived for many years, and the samovar remained on their shelf, gleaming brighter than 1,000 suns.

Kimmel's stories of prayer and repentance gleam as well.

---Alyssa A. Lappen