Exciting,passionate,creative,original,inspiring and informative. This was my quickie review for those who must buy the book immediately. But let us cast a look at a book written under the auspices of the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem which therefore guarantees its pluralistic,intelligent and intellectual approach.After the usual blessings,and traditional and modern Israeli songs,the meat of the book begins with the Maccabees' "Megillah" culled by the authors from the Books of the Maccabees and other historical and midrashic sources. Naturally divided into eight sections for nightly readings of the story of Hannukkah. The writing is alive and gripping as we learn of the turncoat High Priest Jason,King Antiochus,the royal maniac,Hannah and her seven sons,Judah the hammer,the woman warrior Judith and others.
We are then advised to read of the heroism of a diferent modern hero every night. Pride of place is given to Natan Sharansky's personal account of how he persuaded the camp commander to light a menorah. Other heroes include Rabbi Levi Yizchak of Berditchev,Golda Meir.Yitzchak Rabin,the father of Reform Rabbi Hugo Gryn who made a margarine menorah in a concentration camp,and the zedaka heroes of Danny Siegel
By the way,its almost worth buying this book to marvel at the graphic design,and the numerous photographs of which pride of place has to go to the nine different hand postures of Rabbi Lawrence Bush representing prayer,peace,menorah,keeping kosher etc.Striking photos include that of a menorah in an apartment building overlooking a town hall in Germany bedecked with the Nazi flag,and non Jewish citizens of Billings,Montana,holding menorot to protest the anti-semitic actions of the Klu Klux Klan
Obviously children and teenagers get pride of place with over 40 pages of great ideas for exciting their imagination with stories,games,songs and cartoons.
A description of the Laws and customs(and their historical origins),ethnic foods,Christmas/Hanukkah celebrations in America,and mystical meditations lead us to the final section of eight(what else!)contemporary jewish thinkers reflections on the relevance of this festival today. As well as David Hartman,Daniel Gordis,Harold Schulweis,Irving Greenberg,Judith Kates,Herman Wouk,Mordechai Kaplan and Theodore Herzl Gaster,I am delighted that the longest article is reserved for Mordecai Gafni.
He refers to Hanukkah in terms of his forthcoming book Soul Print-our personal essence,our hidden light which is the DNA of the soul. He poignantly explains loneliness through his failure to appreciate the importance of his eight years old son's box of treasures. "He looked at me,a tear rolling down his cheek,and said:Abba,I gave you my box. In it were all the things I love. These are my things and you didn't receive them." The whirl of the dreidel is described as a metaphor for our desire to live in dance. The art of living is to know how to transform the inevitable falls into the dance of life.
Let me conclude that,as I have reviwed well over 400 books for the Jerusalem Post,I have over the years developed some sense of which books stand out from the shelves as being original and highly reader-friendly. Having previously read and used at my seder The Family Participation Hagaddah co-authored by Noam Zion,I now know to buy automatically any book written by him.
