Page 17-THE NEWS-Aprii. 1987
D
Bl
New Books for Children
Yossel Zissel and the Wisdom of
Chelm. Written and illustrated
by Amy Schwartz. The Jewish
Publication Society, 1930
Chestnut Street, Philadelphia,
PA 19103.1986. $9.95. Ages 6
and up.
Poems for Jewish Holidays.
Selected by Myra Cohen Liv
ingston; illustrated by Lloyd
Bloom. Holiday House, 18
East 53rd Street, New York,
NY 10022. 1986. Ages 6 and
up.
A Torah is Written. By Paul
Cowan; photographs by
Rachel Cowan. The Jewish
Publication Society, 1930
Chestnut Street, Philadelphia,
PA 19103.1986. $12.95. Ages
8 and up.
Jewish Days and Holidays. By
Greer Fay Cashman; il
lustrated by Alona Frankel.
Adama Books, 306 West 38th
Street, New York, NY 10018.
1986. $9.95. Ages 6 and up.
Reviewed by Doris Orgel.
A Chelmite at heart—as who
isn’t?—I expected the most
fun and fulfillment from Amy
Schwartz’s Yossel Zissel and
the Wisdom of Chelm.
Well, visually, it’s a delight.
With her good drawing pen,
Ms. Schwartz vividly conveys
the down-to-earth details as
well as airy lyricism of life in
this shtetl. However, as the
story teller, her touch is less
assured.
Things start out lively and
promising, with Yossel going
to Warsaw to claim an in
heritance he hopes to use for
noble purposes such as to
“build a wall around Chelm to
keep out the cold.” How he
trades his bags of gold away
before he even gets back home
is within the tradition, and
POEMS FV>t
EWISH
OLIDAYS
Myra Oilm
IJcml Hljt>tn
amusing. But surely the end is
a mistake! No, I won’t, I can’t,
believe it. I say it can’t be true
that all the Chelmites "left
Chelm to seek their fortunes.”
For just as pure-hearted,
laughter-evoking foolishness
is an eternal human tr£ut, so
must its home, its center be
allowed to endure. To dissolve
the town, to disperse its peo
ple (even with the best inten
tions, as here) is to do the
genre harm.
My favorite of all these
books is Poems for Jewish
Holidays. Its fifteen contem
porary poems resonate with
tradition, but are also original,
personal, full of surprises,
and—most welcome—do not
preach. To add to the pleasure,
the sixteenth selection is “An
Only Kid” with the had gadya
refrain, rousingly affirmative,
and forever fresh. And if all
this is still not enough fulfill
ment, there are Lloyd Bloom’s
ten wonderful illustrations. In
their dancing and swirling
they’re reminiscent of Chagall,
but have an expressiveness all
their own. I only wish that
some of them could have been
in color. The jacket shows
what a brilliant colorist this
gifted artist is.
Rachel Cowan’s precise
We ^oin World ^ewry
On Sxpressing Our
Best Wisfies
Go
RjiSSi Memcdetn il/I. Scdneerson
^He Cuvavitcder ReSSe Sfi/ifa
On Occasion Of His
Sigdiy-fiftfi Birtdday
eleven Nissan 57^7
May ^de Almigdty Q-D Bless
^e ReSSe
lyitfi Mucd Healtd And Happiness
3ot Many IJears Do Come.
May He See Mucd Nacdas drom His Continuous Sfforts
Of Kindling dde Spards Of ^daism ^e World Oivr
lyiffi Gfif Coming Of Mosdiacd.
Nortd Carolina
3riends Of CuSavitcd
photographs work hand in
hand with Paul Cowan’s lucid
text to convey, step by
painstaking step, exactly how
A Torah is Written. It’s a
handsome book, with even a
linen binding, a rarity
nowadays. It’s readable and
informative. My only quarrel
is with its just-us-men tone.
The unstated but firmly held
assumption is that God
decreed that soferim, scribes,
always must be male. Never
for a second is the notion
entertained that women could
do this work with equed skill
and dedication. And at the end
of the book, when a new Sefer
Torah is dedicated, its says
that “Men and women follow,
dancing,” but in the final
photograph I could only find
three girls in great throngs of
boys and men—no fair!
***
Jewish Days and Holidays
has a blazing red and yellow
cover. It’s expensively but
somewhat garishly pro
duced—eleven holidays on dif
ferent colored paper with big
splashy modernistic illustra
tions. Frankly, I only liked
three: a prayerful Jonah con
tained in a circle inside a com
placent, half-smiling, dusky
rose whale on a deep lilac page;
a mother, father and the child
together in their sukkah under
a bright green sky; and the
Romans storming Jerusalem,
in stark black, shades of green
and scarlet. All the other il
lustrations left me cold,
because the people in them are
cartoony. The text is clear but
undistinguished. The only
charm I could find in this book
were the un-bombastic inserts
on symbols, foods and
customs associated with the
various festivals. There’s a
quiz at the end which talks
down to the reader. (Now you
will discover how clever you
are!)
•
Doris Orgel is the author of Risk
ing Love, The Devil in Vienna, and
many other books for younger
readers.
Jewish Books
j uu B in Review
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Passover
Recipes
CHAROSET
Charoset is a savory treat for most people. Children eagerly
await that moment in the Seder ritual when they are allowed
to taste this symbolic reminder of mortar.
Traditional charoset is a combination of chopped apples, nuts,
sweet Passover wine and cinnamon. Young children enjoy the
task of chopping and blending the ingredients before the iMer.
But other countries use different combinations of fruit to
prepare this integral symbol of remembrance of when we were
slaves in Egypt. Perhaps this year it would be interesting to
sample some of these.
ISRAELI CHAROSET
1 cup almonds
1 tsp. cinnamon
1^2 cup Passover wine
honey to taste
matzo meal (optional}
Peel and chop apple. Mash bananas. Chop dates and almonds.
Combine all ingredients, adding matzo meal, if necessary, until
charoset is of desired consistency.
J apple
3 bananas
juice and grated rind of
1 orange
15 dates
3 apples, peeled
6 bananas
juice and rind of one lemon
juice and rind of 1 orange
2 tsps. cinnamon
ISRAELI CHAROSET II
30 dates
8 ozs. ground pecans
1 cup dry red wine
candied peel, if desired
sugar to taste
Fruits should be grated or mashed or ground, and mixed with
seasonings and wine. Serve at room temperature. Serves 20.
Leftovers can be spread on matzo for breakfast.
1 unpeeled apple
1 unpeeled pear
1 cup walnuts
1 cup hazel nuts
1 cup pistachio nuts
1 cup almonds
PERSIAN CHAROSET
1 cup raisins
1 cup dates
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
sweet Passover wine
Core and finely chop apple and pear. Finely chop nuts. Chop
dates and raisins. Combine all ingredients and blend well,
adding enough wine to hold mixture together. Cover and
refrigerate.
GREEK CHAROSET
20-25 large dates, chopped
1 cup walnuts, ground
1 cup raisins, chopped
y2 cup almonds, chopped
pinch of grated lemon peel
sweet Passover wine
Combine £dl ingredients, adding enough wine until charoset
is of desired consistency.
TURKISH CHAROSET
i orange
1 pound pitted dates
^4 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. sweet Passover wine
Grind whole orange with dates. Add sugar. Cook 20 minutes
over medium heat. Stir in cinnamon and wine. Refrigerate 4
hours or overnight. Serve at room temperature.
EGGPLANT
Passover is always a chedlenge, with variety sometimes being
a problem. For something different. I’d suggest this eggplant
dish as being perfect for a dairy lunch. Serve V2 grapefruit as
an appetizer and baked potato and a vegetable salad for a com
plete meal.
1 tsp. water
oil
oregano 8 oz. shredded muenster cheese
1 large beaten egg 4 oz. shredded American cheese
1 can tomato mushroom sauce
1 large eggplant
matzo meal
Slice eggplant. Mix matzo meal with oregano. Beat egg with
water. Dip eggplant slices in egg, then into matzo meal on both
sides. Fry in hot oil on both sides until cooked. In a greased
pan, place eggplant slices, muenster and American cheese, and
tomato mushroom sauce. (Repeat if using a square pan.) Best
if done in two complete layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 30
minutes.
GRANOLA
4 cups matzo farfel
1 cup coarsely chopped
nuts
cup peanut oil
cup honey
cup raisins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine everything except
raisins and spread out on a cookie sheet or pizza plate with a
rim. Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring from time to time.
When cool, add raisins and store in an airtight container.
(This is a good snack or a cereal, with milk.)