Customer Reviews

Milk and honey: a year of jewish holidays

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My favorite artist is Louise August as when I was a poor rabbinical student my Mom died. All I could afford to memorialize her passing was a numbered signed lithograph of a lady lighting Shabbat candles. It was by Louise August. I thought that the lady depicted was the essential spirit of my Mom. It is now over 40 years later, and I still take pleasure in looking at pictures which capture Judaism in a positive, colorful and nostalgic way. The words, stories, poems and comments compiled in this short explanation of the Jewish holidays come from a variety of sources. Even after 34 years of being a rabbi, there were new insights, tastes of the past, and visions of the future which add to my spirituality. It is not a perfect score for the stories might be too rich for some, and honey of the pictures is way too sweet. Israel Independence Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day and minor holidays are not mentioned or depicted. For a quiok short snack, especially at the holiday time, this "nosh" of knowledge is quite acceptable.

I am not Jewish, so I apologize in advance if any of my comments seem ignorant. I am only just getting into Jewish customs and religion.

I love Jane Yolen's stories, so I picked up this book for a Christian homeschooling unit on Jewish holidays. I appreciated the easy narration style and illustrations of this book. But I was a little surprised when I read the Pesach chapter (the only holiday I have read a lot of kids' books on). She said that the children were supposed to steal the afikomen and hide it from the adults, who would hunt for it? And that that represented the little bit of child within all of us? I had never heard that before, so I wasn't sure about that (although the idea that some families would practice the holiday differently makes sense).

I was also surprised to see her illustration of the seder table with turkey/chicken, pastries, and other things on it alongside the seder plate. Is that correct? It's a big feast?

I think the only thing that bothered me though, as a Christian, was the story in her Yom Kippur section where the moral is that only adults need to weep and repent of their sins. The story she includes says "But children, who have not sinned at all, should not be left to cry." I am not sure whether this represents true Jewish theology, but that is definitely not a message appropriate for Christians. While I certainly believe that children should be dealt with gently and carefully in the area of sin and conviction (or any other adult topic), they should not be taught that they are above sin and accountability. Or that they are better than adults in this way.