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?

“The Magician” by I.L. Peretz – An Elijah story

I am drawn to Elijah stories. These are essentially stories in which a stranger comes to town and fixes things. Passover, when we hope that Elijah will come to our Seder and tell us that the Messiah is on his way, seems an ideal time to (begin to) talk about these stories.

“The Magician” by I.L. Peretz is a typical Elijah folktale. A poor magician arrives at a small town and causes all the fixings of a seder to appear out of nowhere for a poor couple. Before they eat anything though, they check with their rabbi to make sure it is OK. He explains how they can tell if it is, but by the time they return, the magician, who, they now realize, is Elijah, has gone.

My question: If they had not doubted and checked with their local source of Jewish law, would they have broken bread (well, matzah) with Eliyahu HaNavi? Did they miss a chance to bring the Messiah? And why did they refuse to go to a neighbor’s house and allow the neighbor the opportunity to perform the mitzvah of welcoming guests? Why insist on God providing? There is a joke about a man stranded by a flood who refuses three offers of help as the waters rise, each time saying that God will save him; he drowns. When he gets Heaven and and starts to complain about not being rescued, the response is that he had three chances to live. Or, there is the Midrash about Nachshon and how the waters of the Red Sea did not part until he stepped into them. In other words, it is not enough to rely on God to do everything for us; we must act.

The story can be found in The Seven Good Years and Other Stories of I.L. Peretz translated and adapted by Esther Hautzig and illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray (Philadelphia, 1984). I talked to Ms. Hautzig at an Association of Jewish Libraries convention and asked if she had abridged the original Yiddish story to make it more suitable for young adults. She said that quite the contrary, she made the stories longer to explain the terms and way of life that most people no longer know. I.L. Peretz was one of the Jewish writers of the 19th century who created Yiddish literature. Another highly recommended story in this book is “Bontche Shweig” (Bontche, the Silent). There is also “The Treasure,” which is reminiscent of The Treasure, which I reviewed in an earlier post.

Of course, it is also traditional to read Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs aka the Song of Solomon. (Or for incredibly light reading about a world where everything works out for the best, there’s also P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and the Song of Songs,” with no obvious Jewish content whatsoever.)

Passover Prep: Wonders and Miracles

Now that we’ve gotten in the mood for Passover via two Seder books [1, 2] and some of us have started to go insane cleaning things we never knew were dirty, it’s wise to occasionally take a break to get inspired and remember that the holiday is about more than cleaning and preparing. The library has some great books to inspire us and offer some fresh ways to see Passover and the world.

I’ve chosen Eric A. Kimmel’s Wonders and Miracles: A Passover Companion (New York: Scholastic Press, 2004) as the Book of the Week, but there are plenty of other good books. This book has pictures from several illustrated Haggadot, stories, explanations, recipes, prayers with translations and transliterations, Debbie Friedman lyrics and more! Not surprisingly for a book published by Scholastic, this book is appropriate for, but not limited to, middle schoolers; I learned things. While Dr. Kimmel assumes his primary audience is Jewish, some of his comments will be of interest to Christians. Eric Kimmel has written many children’s picture books—which makes him a great author in my estimation. We  corresponded via email after I saw him speak in New York to promote this book—which makes him a mensch.

Some of the other books that look inviting in our library include:

• Creating Lively Passover Seders: A Sourcebook of Engaging Tales, Texts & Activities by David Arnow (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004).
• The Women’s Passover Companion: Women’s Reflections on the Festival of Freedom edited by R. Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, Tara Mohr, and Catherine Spector (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2003). The editors have a Yale connection, as does Paula Hyman, who wrote the foreword. Lots of contributions from prominent Jewish women.
• Leading the Passover journey: The Seder’s Meaning Revealed, the Haggadah’s Story Retold by Nathan Laufer (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2005).
• Uncle Eli’s Special for Kids Most Fun Ever Under the Table Passover Haggadah by Eliezer Segal (San Francisco, CA: No Starch Press, 1999). Recommended by R. Dana Bogatz.

You might notice that most of these books are published by Jewish Lights. What makes you trust a book enough to pick it up and look at it? The author? Because you’ve read her before? Because you’ve heard of him? The  cover? The quality of the paper? The fonts? The publishing house? Because you’ve liked other books printed by it? Because a favorite author is published by it? The blurbs on the back cover? The topic? The pictures?

I like Jewish Lights because I like Lawrence Kushner. I like Rabbi Kushner because I attended a program he did in Plainfield, NJ, many years ago. He picked some audience members to be the various characters in the Adam and Eve story and he was thoughtful enough to ask the apple what she thought about what was going on in the story. In addition to books about spirituality, he wrote an alphabet book (note my love of children’s picture books), The Book of Letters, and a nicely self-deprecating explanation of how he came to do so.

One last comment before I get back to cleaning: What you bring to a book and what you want to get from it are (nearly?) as important as the contents of the book. Each time you read it, you will be different.

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.

Eat, drink, and be merry—The Mystery Bear: A Purim Story

The Mystery Bear: A Purim Story, written by Leone Adelson and illustrated by Naomi Howland (2004), is a sweet story about a baby bear who wakes up hungry, follows yummy  smells to a Purim party near the edge of the woods, and finds delicious food as well as people in costumes. The adults are very impressed by his authentic-looking disguise and try to guess who he really is. When it is time for the Purim play, they poke and ——e bear and all the revelers run out of the house. The bear returns to his cave to finish his winter hibernation. The book ends with an explanation of the holiday.

The inclusion of Purim traditions like the seudah, dressing in costumes, danger averted, and a Purim Shpiel (funny play) makes the book a useful teaching tool. (The Purim seudah is a party held after the daytime reading of the Megillah during which one is obligated to drink so much that he or she doesn’t know the difference between “Cursed be Haman” and “Blessed be Mordecai.” (Speaking of he or she, cross-dressing (whatever that means) is fine on this holiday.) And I have learned that you don’t need to drink anything to see that Haman and Mordecai are surprising similar; but more on that another time.)

The Association of Jewish Libraries’ New Jewish Valuesfinder website finds the values of Hiddur Mitzvah (beautifying a mitzvah) and Erech Apayim (being slow to anger) in the story: The elaborate costumes, fancy food, and careful preparation shown in the illustrations make the holiday as joyful and beautiful as possible. The bear’s patience, given that he knows nothing of human behavior and Purim customs, is extraordinary. Verily, unbelievable. But, hey, this is a children’s picture book and we’ve suspended our disbelief as soon as we turn to the title page.

The bear is actually dangerous. Perhaps, not believing he is a bear is what saves the partygoers—they don’t show fear or attack him to protect themselves. Fortunately, this bear has no interest in hurting anyone; he just wants to eat and sleep. He is an adversary who can be reasoned with. Well, not “reasoned” with, but safely handled to the mutual satisfaction of all involved. Not all enemies are so simple.

Why a bear? Why were dancing bears popular? Why are there so many stories about them? (See Eric Kimmel’s The Chanukah Guest (1990), in which a bear is mistaken for the rabbi and Patrick O’Brian’s Post Captain (1972), in which Captain Aubrey disguises himself as a bear to escape from Napoleonic France.) Because they look like clumsy people? Because they look cuddly? Because they represent controlled danger? Am I overthinking this?

Another popular theme in stories for children is that the child sees things that adults do not. (See “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”) While the grownups try to guess who the bear really is under his clever disguise, the boy sees that what is on the surface is all that is really there. Sometimes, grownups spend so much time looking for hidden agenda that we don’t see what is right in front of us. Or we go so far as to deny what is in front of us while we search for the answer we want to hear. Or we don’t want to be the first to disagree with conventional wisdom or separate ourselves from the community. Or we look for deep meaning in stories written to entertain 4-year olds when we should just laugh.

Best wishes for a happy Purim.

Topsy Turvy—From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books

In honor of the coming holiday of Purim, which deals in part with reversals and hiddenness, I thought I’d talk about comic books.

About the book: Many early comic books consisted of the comic strips in the “funny pages” of newspapers. While some of these were humorous, others dealt with adventures of heroic characters. Arie Kaplan’s From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books (2008) explores the artistic and financial sides of the comic book industry as it slowly matures from its infancy before Superman to graphic novels with adult themes and into this century. There are a timeline, a bibliography, and an index, along with lots of illustrations and source material and side comments. I have not finished reading the book, but I like what I’ve read so far. It helps that I grew up reading comic books and recognize many names. I like all the details about the creators of the superheroes whose exploits I followed; I can see, however, that a non-fan may find more facts and less analysis than she would want.

Hiddenness: Yes, there is a Jewish connection to comic books. Many of the publishers, writers, and artists were Jewish, even though most of them did not think their characters were. Many changed their names in order to hide their background. And many superheroes hide their real identities. In hindsight, it is easy to see the Jewish characteristics of Superman and the Jewish interest in pursuing justice.

Reversals: The typical comic book superhero story comes full circle; nothing really changes. The hero fights the villain, does badly, but then comes back and triumphs. Of course, eventually all the really popular villains manage to escape their inescapable prisons and once again try to conquer the world. (Although why they want to is beyond me. However, in an Isaac Asimov book I just discovered, the villain thinks he can do a tidier job of running everything. In fact, the baddie sees himself as a misunderstood good guy in a mask.) It’s rather like one cycle of a sine wave starting and ending at the high point for the hero.

But what if we consider a cycle starting and ending at the low points? Then the baddie always comes back to win. The only(?) time the bad guy dies is when he repents his dastardly deeds and dies nobly saving the good and innocent. (I’ve assumed that the main characters are men, because most comic book characters are.)

There is so much more to say about comic books:

• How some superheroes are born with powers, others accidentally get them, and some work hard to acquire them. My favorites were Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts; Green Lantern; Flash; and Adam Strange. No doubt this says something about me.
• The mixing of written text with pictures that are an integral part of the story, even more so than with children’s picture books. This combination of media must affect the brain differently than just drawings or words alone. Similarly, ballet with its visual and auditory components (OK, any kind of dancing with music).
• Even when the stories are simplistic, they are more likely to deal with Important Ideas—Truth, Justice, and the American Way; Good vs. Evil; making choices—than most fiction.
• There are rules for how to format comic books that I never even thought about until I heard a lecturer explain them: different kinds of bubbles for speaking and thinking, reading the frames from left to right and top down—except when the artist gets clever and I have no idea how to follow the story.
• …