Keeping Passover: Everything You Need to Know to Bring the Ancient Tradition to Life and Create Yo [Paperback]

Ira Steingroot (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 1995

"Although the idea of 'keeping Passover' has too often come to mean the strict observance of an unending string of ordinances, decrees, rules, regulations, testimonies, precepts, laws, and statutes, it can as well mean the safekeeping of something precious and worth preserving. Tradition should be like the ballast that keeps a ship steady in an ocean of constant stormy change."

From one of the nation's leading Haggadah experts comes the ultimate guide to creating a faithful and personal seder celebration. Emphasizing "thou may" instead of "thou shalt," Steingroot presents all the traditional and alternative options. Keeping Passover explores:

• the meaning of the Passover symbols
• how to choose the right Haggadah
• food, cookbooks, and table arrangements
• music, recordings, and learning to sing the songs
• ways to involve children
• the art of keeping Passover fresh every year

Keeping Passover is a much needed and highly accessible resource offering a rich assortment of methods -- from simple to elaborate, traditional to innovative -- to enhance, preserve, and celebrate the seder.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Three cheers for Steingroot. For all those Jews who have foregone Passover celebrations because they think them too complicated or too arcane, here's a book that makes the holiday understandable, and more importantly, doable. Oh yes, and guilt-free. Steingroot, a bookseller who presides over one of the world's largest collections of Passover merchandise, wants readers to know that Passover is for them, whether they choose to celebrate with just a few friends and a bare-bones holiday table or whether they want to make Passover a Kosher (pun intended) affair. Among the many topics covered are the Passover food, table settings, Haggadahs, music, and ways to involve children in the festivities. More esoteric topics are also addressed, including women and Passover, holiday traditions in other countries, and creating your own Haggadah. An extensive bibliography and glossary are included. Ilene Cooper

From the Publisher

An all-in-one guide to creating a faithful and personal seder celebration, from the nation's leading Haggadah expert.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (February 18, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060675535
• ISBN-13: 978-0060675530
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,285,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Haggadah

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for the month between Purim and Passover., February 9, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Keeping Passover: Everything You Need to Know to Bring the Ancient Tradition to Life and Create Yo (Paperback)

The purpose of this book is to provide information to empower each of us to create a meaningful Passover, no matter what our level of observance or learning. Provides wonderful insights on the meaning of ritual, text, history and communal experience. Also an exhaustive source of further information. Highly recommend as a basic resource in any home Jewish library.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must For Passover, May 27, 2000

By 

J. Dumas (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keeping Passover: Everything You Need to Know to Bring the Ancient Tradition to Life and Create Yo (Paperback)

Steingroot approaches Passover customs with the attitude of "you may" replacing "you must." Further, his research into the history of Passover traditions is extensive, which provided me (one of the Goyim) with the ability to amaze my Jewish friends. Even my partner wasn't sure why his family ate potatoes as a "green vegetable." Steingroot knew why. I adopted Steingroot's attitude of "you may," and as a result, our first seder as hosts was a great success.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Meditation and Explication of Passover, March 13, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keeping Passover: Everything You Need to Know to Bring the Ancient Tradition to Life and Create Yo (Paperback)

Steingroot has written a beautiful, thoughtful, and highly erudite book on Passover, one that enables the reader to delve deeply into its mysteries, and to love its idiosyncrasies. I reccomend this book to anyone interested in writing their own Haggadah, or tweaking the one they already use. The section titled "The Mute Book", where Steingroot explores the esoteric symbolism underlying the structure and ritual of the seder, is especially gripping (strange word to use of such a topic, but true).