The Family Haggadah

by Ellen Schecter

Book Overview

Provides suggestions for family participation in the passover celebration and offers advice on everything from ritual platters to recipes and discusses the deeper meanings and mysteries of the festival.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670883417
• ISBN13: 9780670883417
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Viking Children's Books
• Length: 66 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.0" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 5 years and up
• Grade Range: Preschool and higher

Customer Reviews

Draws kids in without gimmickry

I looked through a lot of child- and family-oriented haggadahs this year. Many focused on illustrations, making the haggadah look like a comic book or claymation movie. Other focused on fun activities seemingly designed to distract kids from the seder rather than engage them in it. The worst for me is the proliferation of cute plague toys. (Hello, they're not fun, they're PLAGUES!) Ellen Schecter's Family Haggadah is a wonderful exception. No color illustrations, nothing fancy, but boy does it work. The whole focus of the text is immediacy -- drawing the listeners in, inviting them to imagine what it was like to live in slavery and make a mad dash for freedom. The story unwinds as a gripping tale of good and evil, hope and suffering, and faith. My kids (ages 5 and 7) saw me looking over the Haggadah a week before Passover and asked me to read it to them. They were transfixed, and disappointed when I said I wouldn't read it again until the seder! To me, this truly honors the spirit of holiday...even while keeping the service relatively brief, accessible and mostly in English.

A Beautiful, Poetic Passover Companion

If you're looking to bring freshness as well as beauty to your seder, buy this book. Ellen Schecter's "Family Haggadah" doesn't replace the traditional Haggadah; it's a companion that helps you -- and your guests -- to see the seder with new eyes. Schecter's telling of the Passover story is so vivid that both children and adults will be caught up in its drama and imagery. Listen to some of her opening words for the seder:"The story we tell tonight isn't a fairy tale that happened 'once upon a time.' It's a true story. And as we create our Seder celebration together, we will help it happen tonight to each of us...Tonight, in our home and other homes, in this neighborhood and others, all across the country, in countries all over our planet, families of Jews and their friends are beginning their Seder and lighting their candles. Imagine them joining us at one huge table that stretches across the world; imagine the flames of all our candles, countless as the stars in the sky."Over the past five years, I've used these words at seders with many adults and children, and I've seen how powerful they are. Adults look up from their Maxwell House Deluxe editions with surprise. Children stop fidgeting. Suddenly, everyone is listening with full attention, then someone immediately asks, "What are you reading from? That's lovely...." My response always is, "Wait, there's more." Beyond its gorgeous language, this small Haggadah-companion includes thoughtful suggestions for how to prepare for the holiday, three pages of good ideas for encouraging children's participation, and many lovely (if black-and-white) illustrations by Neil Waldman. But it 's the marvellous words that make it essential. One more example: "Tonight, we tell the story of our Exodus from Egypt to you, our children; someday you will tell it to your children; and someday they will tell it again and again to their children and their children's children...That is our hope: That each of us will be a link in the chain that stretches from God to Moses, to Miriam, to me; that you will become strong links in the chain that stretches from generation to generation, like hands holding hands across the years."I suggest you buy multiple copies of this book, read it before the seder so you know what's in it, pick out your favorite parts, and then invite your guests to share in reading aloud from it. In doing so, you will enrich your seder many times over.

Immediacy

The first 15 pages of this Haggadah focus on preparations for the Seder, rather than the ceremonial meal itself. Anyone who has never before prepared a Seder will find this section extremely useful, for it offers many suggestions to involve the children even before the holiday begins. Children can help decide, for example, who should lead the meal, or themselves prepare to lead parts of the service. They can also help clean the home of Chametz (unleavened bread), make Charoset and prepare the Seder Plate. (The book even suggests substitutes for vegetarian families.) Only 36 pages are devoted to the Seder itself, but they are easy enough for families with little or no Hebrew, and for small children to understand. All blessings--Lighting the Candles, Shecheyanu (Thanking God for life, sustenance and reaching this season), the Kiddush (Blessing of Wine), Dipping of Greens, HaMotzie (Blessing the Matzah), and Blessings over the Bitter Herbs and Charoset--are included in Hebrew and English transliterations. So are the Four Questions. Unfortunately, the recitation of the Ten Plagues is in English, with no Hebrew, transliterated or otherwise. But the book includes Dayenu. In this song, the Jewish people thank God for the miracles that Pessach celebrates--granting our freedom, bringing us forth from Egypt, dividing the Red Sea, feeding us manna, leading us from the desert, giving us Shabbat, leading us to Mount Sinai, giving us Israel, building the Holy Temple. In addition to Elijah's Cup, this Haggadah also includes Miriam's Cup on the Seder table. This egalitarian addition celebrates the women of the Pessach story--Moses' mother Yocheved, the midwives Shifrah and Puah, Pharaoh's daughter Thermutis, and Miriam, who watched over Moses, put him in the basket and led our song when we emerged from the Sea of Reeds. Pessach has always been my favorite holiday. This book helps children understand that while Passover celebrates events that happened thousands of years ago, each person must remember them as if he or she was also redeemed from slavery, brought to Mount Sinai, and given the Torah. It infuses the holiday with the immediacy that makes it special. Alyssa A. Lappen

The focus is on kids, and it is successful

The authors created this Haggadah with children and teaching in mind. The colors and style draw you in. It reads from LEFT to RIGHT, not the hebrew right to left. With kids under age 12 in mind, it is filled with read-aloud sections. It opens with a search for the Hametz, and then follows the standard seder. The text is in ENGLISH and the main blessings are in Hebrew script, English translation, and transliterated Hebrew. For the Four questions, it includes a page of music, and for Dayenu, it also includes a page of music. The seder includes a paragraph for Miriam's Cup. It omits the standard Hallel and Grace after Meals. It explains "Next Year in Jerusalem" as a hope to either be in Jerusalem physically, or to be in a world of peace, freedom, and plenty. The book closes with Khad Gadya

Hurray! A Passover Story Children can understand!

When my son was two years old, I sat down to write my own haggadah so that the youngsters could really understand what the holiday is all about. Although I did an admirable job, this is the haggadah I wish I had written! This book is a must for anyone new to the seder experience, and anyone with young children at the seder table. The entire seder is written in easy-to-understand language. The references to God are non-sexist. The illustrations are simple, and beautiful. If you buy only one haggadah, please make it this one. No matter what the ages are of those at your seder table, this haggadah will guide you perfectly and your guests will love you for sharing it with them.