Be careful what you wish for

Isaac Bashevis Singer’s A Tale of Three Wishes is a charming story about three children who think they have squandered their wishes made when the Heavens open at night on Hoshanah Rabbah, only to learn that they must work for what they want. Shtetl life, folk religion, Jewish customs and values are in this apparently simple story. Although the mysterious watchman they meet is not named, I am convinced that he is the Prophet Elijah, who appears in many Jewish folktales as the stranger who sets things right and then disappears. (More on him in future blogs.) The story starts by noting what a Jewish town needs. Which leads to the question, what do we need in a modern Jewish community? School? Synagogue? JCC? Mikveh? Kosher Butcher? Library? Cemetery? Sunsets? Chocolate?

Terrible Things

This week we observe Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Commemoration Day. We have a very impressive collection of books on the Holocaust in the Temple Israel Library. One of the first books I noticed when I fell in love the place was The Black Book of Polish Jewry: An Account of the Martyrdom of Polish Jewry under the Nazi Occupation by Jacob Apenszlak (New York: The American Federation for Polish Jews in Cooperation with the Association of Jewish Refugees and Immigrants from Poland; 1943). Notice the date!

In addition there are histories, biographies, novels, memoirs, analyses, studies, and more about life, politics, and more before, during and after the Holocaust for adults and for children. (To get some idea of what is available here, “search” the shelves by going to the library’s catalog, entering “Holocaust” as a Search term, scrolling down to a book that says “Hol” to the left of the title, and, after clicking on the title, click on the “browse shelf >>” shown in red. Clicking on the arrows in circles at the far right and left of the window that appears is almost like browsing the shelves, without having to read sideways. Popup windows even provide brief descriptions of the books.)

Being me, however, I want to mention a picture book called Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Eve Bunting (JPS, 1989) about rabbits; although the book doesn’t mention it, the story is really a retelling of the quote

First They came… – Pastor Martin Niemoller

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Several websites talks about the quotation, one of them is http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/niem.htm. Since this book is about animals and not people, it can not only be read to young(ish) children, but also used as a basis for discussion with adults. And since it is not about a particular time or place, it can be used to think not only about the past but also how to prevent the past from repeating itself. Terrible Things is mentioned in a School Library Journal article, “Bearing Witness Through Picture Books“; it is an interesting choice since, at first blush, it is a completely unrealistic fantasy about bunnies. For more examples of books that create a safe distance through the use of fantasy and objects, see an annotated bibliography I wrote. 

I also recommend Rose Blanche, with illustrations by Roberto Innocenti (1985), a story about a German girl who notices what is going on around her. One picture that especially impressed me was of her walking over a bridge; reflected in the water you can barbed wire not visible otherwise.

There are many, many other books to read. I recommend Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust by Yaffa Eliach (Oxford University Press, 1982).

Obviously, my interests tend towards stories that try to comprehend the incomprehensible. For those of you who want more information and historical analysis, we have that too.

What books do you suggest?

The Secret Seder

The Secret Seder by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner, Emily Arnold McCully, tells the story of a Jewish boy who attends a Seder with his father while his family pretend to be Catholic during World War II. This picture book is meant for children; although neighbors are taken away by the Nazis and the boy’s grandparents have disappeared, no character dies. But it is clear that the family’s lives are in danger and that Jews throughout Europe are being murdered. This night if different from all other nights; in other times, Jews were oppressed, but now we are being destroyed. Gathering for a Jewish ceremony is an act of defiance and, hence, of freedom; but this is not an upbeat, optimistic story. Difficult questions are asked and, as in the Haggadah, they are not answered. (Which is fine—asking is more important than answering.) This book is not a “God is good and how can we be good in this good world” Jewish children’s book. It is about how to maintain your integrity in dire straits. (The Hebrew word, Mitzrayim, usually translated as Egypt, also means straits.)

When I picked up The Secret Seder and read it, I thought about how my husband’s brother’s wife’s father, like the father in this book, hid in the mountains during World War II. He even wrote a book about it. When I finished the story and read the afterword (I also read forewords and even title page versos) I saw the name, Mednicki. I remembered that my sister-in-law’s father, Bernard Mednick, used that name. And I thought, “ooh, ooh! I know the father in this story!”

I gave the book to my sister-in-law, even though I assumed she was already familiar with the book. But, no! Even her brother, the boy in the story, had never heard of The Secret Seder. Through a colleague, he contacted the author, Doreen Rappaport, who was delighted to find him. She had long since given up hope of making contact.[1] While the boy in the story and my relative by marriage both attended Seders, the details in The Secret Seder were invented by Ms. Rappaport, who was compelled to tell this story but had no access to any actual participants.

The meeting of the author and her main character was written about in the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. [2] No mention of me was made. Without me they probably would not have met. Clearly I am the most important part of this story. This has made me think about how history is recorded. Not everything is included. When it is included, it is not always accurate. In the Exponent article, my sister-in-law read The Secret Seder and saw mention of her father’s book; her brother then emailed the author. Deleting me and a music teacher with email makes the article shorter without loss of relevant details for the points made. But a different story could be written based on a fuller accounting.

Every Picture Tells a Story: The Sarajevo Haggadah

People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks (2008) is a popular book of Jewish historical fiction. It explores various times and places of Jewish history by tracing the journey of The Sarajevo Haggadah, originally created in the fourteenth century.

Kiddush, etc.

The author portrays what life was like via imaginary characters. Muslims are shown in a most sympathetic light (except for one story). I found the Inquisition story very disturbing; torture is graphically described. The stain in the Haggadah, that I always assumed was wine, is said to be blood. The book is reminiscent of James Michener’s The Source (1965), except that the stories are in reverse chronological order in People of the Book. I know many people love this book and that it is a popular Book Group selection. I found the writing not as polished as I would have liked. I was especially disappointed by the absence of any pictures since the plot refers to the Haggadah’s illustrations so often.

spills on "Ha Lachma Anya ..."

One important plot point has to do with the fact that a reproduction is never entirely the same as the original. Digital copies of a picture, no matter how small the pixel size is, will never be quite like a painting done by hand. And certainly copies of the things that get spilled or dropped on a book  as it is used will not be the same as the actual spillage. I think this relates to the interest in the analog qualities of music records as opposed to the digital audio files that have mostly replaced them. Anyway, ….

The book I really want to recommend this week is the library’s facsimile edition of The Sarajevo Haggadah. Half the book is English commentary and history by Cecil Roth; the other half is a reproduction of the original on shiny paper. The more recent, unfortunately exciting, history of the Haggadah happened after this version was published. It is mentioned in Geraldine Brooks’ novel.

 

Reed Sea; Miriam

Creation

The Haggadah starts with pictures of Creation and the origins of the Jewish people.

Wise and wicked sons

The illustrations are brilliant and the Hebrew is surprisingly readable. It was exciting to see two of the four sons, Hacham (wise) and Rasha (wicked),  highlighted in decorative borders on facing pages.

Every page is beautiful. It reminded me how important the visual appearance of books is. I’m toying with the idea that one problem with too many Jewish ritual books is that there are no pictures. Why can’t we have a siddur with cartoons?

Two illustrated 20th-century Haggadot in our library are by Arthur Syzk and Ben Shahn; Cecil Roth is connected to these books as well. And there are others on display on top of the bookcases in the children’s  section of the library.

Next week I’ll talk about some books that you can use to get ready for and celebrate Passover.

Meanwhile, if you would like to comment with recommendations about Haggadot (and foods and activities) for the Seder, I would be most appreciative: After about a quarter of a century (wow!), I think I’ve done all I can with the Conservative movement’s Feast of Freedom and my husband is eager for a book that has page numbers.