Customer Reviews

Uncle Eli's Passover Haggadah

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

About a week before our seder on the fourth night of Pesach, I already knew who our guests would be--family and friends with about 25 adults and 15 kids. Ages 2 yrs to 72! We spent a few nights with Uncle Eli: with some careful work we modified the story so that we turned it into a play with ourselves as the cast and the audience. We changed pronouns where necessary and assigned "roles," sometimes having people read alone or together or as an entire group. We added some amusing songs. Our guests are very secular, hardly observant Jewish people. During our half hour service, there was laughter, amusement, spontaneous glee, nonsense and general merriment. And yet we covered many of the main elements of the Passover story--without a single complaint or yawn! We began as a collection of invited guests, grew into a congregation of players in a musical-comedy and transformed ourselves into an intentional spiritual community celebrating Passover in a novel, fresh, totally enjoyable new way. Uncle Eli's special Haggadah with our modifications has done more than any other single experience in recent years to bring our entire little group of friends and family closer to feeling good about being observant Jews. What might have been just another obligatory yawner of a seder for a bunch of disaffected Jews was instead a remarkable evening of Judaism touching our hearts and minds through laughter and merriment. The kids got! The old folks got it! The Boomers got it! We all got it, Uncle Eli--and we love what you've contributed to Jewish life! B'shalom from Your friends in Irvine, CA

We have very young children (age 2 yrs and 4 yrs). This was too long for the 2 year old. The 4 year old liked it as a bedtime story, but it really didn't seem like something you could bring to the table and use as a guide for a Seder.

What a warm and wonderful book! The illustrations are pure magic. The verse has a springy cadence that's fun to read aloud. I was tempted to call the publisher to ask what a "Gloogasaurus Zax" is (it was not in "Uncle Eli's Glossary") but I assume that will be in the next edition. I've heard that Uncle Eli has a Web site where one can listen to music too and read verse, but I don't know the URL.

Just got my copy. I've got 7 kids, aged 3 to 18. They *all* love it. The Slave To Do List cracks me up. Can't wait to use it at this year's Seder!!!!

"Uncle Eli" presents the Haggadah as Dr. Seuss-like verse. As the range of opinions in the reviews indicates, some people love it, some don't. We tried using it as a supplement to our regular Haggadah when our kids were Dr. Seuss-loving preschoolers, but found that most of the verses were very long and not clever enough to be worth the extra time it took to read them. Very short excerpts would probably liven up a seder for kids who are already familiar with the traditional service. Many of the verses are available on the web (a search for "Uncle Eli's Haggadah" should take you there) - check it out for yourself before buying.

I wanted to get some good material from this to write a fun Haggadah. I could find nothing worth keeping. I gave the book away.

A story of Passover, young readers meet a cast of hilarious sages and unforgettable creatures as part of the events, personalities, and rituals of the Seder -- all told rhyming verse and whimsical color illustrations. Uncle Eli's Passover Haggadah is a unique, fun, beautifully presented, highly recommended transformation of the traditional Seder experience into an enchanting, memorable, heart inspiring, imagination stimulating format that is as lively as it is engaging.

This is a fun book, good for adult enjoyment and for sitting with the children with many smiles. It is an authentic view of Passover with a humorous twist, Dr. Seuss style.

great book - written dr seuss style with rhymes and a story etc... not a whole lot of "substance" for a serious passover dinner/service though. so the children will love it but the traditional old-school grandparents may not... We decided to use this for the "kid's service" on one night, and then used traditional haggaddahs for the other night. we have 4 children ages 3 - 9 and it was a hit!

This retelling of the Passover story uses fanciful child friendly rhymes to for each section of the Haggadah. A superb seder supplement that is equally well suited to being read to children or by adults who have an inner child.