Customer Reviews

Sabbath Lion: A Jewish Folktale from Algeria

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My kids love this book, and want to hear it over and over again!

And I love it because it teaches the importance of maintaining one's convictions.

I recommend it very highly!!!

This book is a fun way for children to learn about standing up for what they believe. Would be good for children of all faiths to read.

This Algerian Jewish folktale stresses the importance of keeping the Sabbath. A young impoverished widow lives with her five children, struggling all week to make a nice Shabbat each Friday night. News comes that her late husband's uncle has died and left the family a fortune. But someone will have to cross the desert to get it. A Bedouin chief agrees to take her eldest son, and to stop for Shabbat on the way.

When the chieftain reneges on his promise to stop for Shabbat, the boy refuses to break the Sabbath and stays alone in the desert, to light his candles and bless his meager wine and bread. As the sun sets, a lion appears to protect him.

...This book brings the mystery and joy of Shabbat home to children, who delight in hearing the tale repeatedly.

--- Alyssa A. Lappen

He finds fugitive stories, revives them and they live on. This story The Sabbath Lion is beautifully illustrated and makes an exciting read aloud in a classroom or for the family. It offers a lesson on following through and responsibility. The Sabbath Lion was chosen to be included in the Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles public radio production "One People Many Stories: Jewish Stories from Around the World." Comedian, Howie Mandel reads this story on the Library's CD, "One People Many Stories."

Yosef, the eldest of a widow's six children, bravely ventures in a caravan through the desert from Algiers to Cairo to receive the fortune that will make the difference between constant struggle and relative comfort for his family. Pious Yosef and his equally devout mother make expensive arrangements to secure a rest on the sabbath, but Yosef is betrayed when Friday afternoon rolls around. Despite the danger to himself- and the certain delay- Yosef stays in the desert to observe the sabbath- and is then joined by the mysterious lion.

As the mother of Jewish children, I appreciated this story because it highlights the importance of the simple but vital rituals of the sabbath. Yosef and his family are very poor, but also very hardworking. Throughout, the story reinforces that Yosef and his family can persevere despite their trials because of the restoration and sense of family that taking this rest brings. Obviously, I would hope my children and others would not have to risk their lives to observe the sabbath, but I think it's important to have stories with child-heroes who are rewarded for their faith. I recommend this story for parents and children curious about the sabbath and why it is observed.