2 reviews
Hadassah Magazine (April, 1995)
Although this book would steal the thunder on any coffee table, The Art of Passover is not merely a coffee-table book. Full of ritual riches, it is an exquisite compilation of a cherished celebration passed down from generation to generation.
Certainly an important Jewish holiday requires the best. Gathered from across the centuries and around the world, the works in The Art of Passover "were selected for their beauty," writes Rabbi Stephan O. Parnes.
That beauty takes many forms. Among the Haggadas is a fifteenth-century Italian manuscript of 64 round parchment leaves joines together so they can be folded into a single circle, the unusual shape evoking the form of the matza. There are illustrations by contemporary artists like Ben Shahn. Seder plates range from a fifteenth-century majolica piece to a starkly beautiful Bauhaus in copper. There are Kiddush cups of silver, pewter, brass, gilt, porcelain and one of elaborately carved ivory. A blue and tawny satin afikoman pouch from China is embroidered with silk and metallic thread.
Amid this collection, two stand out. A midnineteenth-century Omer calendar by Maurice Mayer, goldsmith to Emperor Napoleon III of France. The case is silver, partly gilt, adorned with coral pendants and semiprecious stones. The adjustable scroll is painted parchment. Windows on the right-hand side contain the blessing recited before the count and the order of the ritual. The center window contains the actual count, four weeks and fiive days of the Omer, which begins the second night of Passover and culminates in Shavuot. The case is therefore crowned with the tablets containing the Ten Commandments.
A three-tiered wooden Seder plate from Terezin, the so-called model camp, is inscribed in ink and stained, skirted in cotton, reinforced with copper wire. April 3, 1944--a powerful symbol of hope for the ill-fated Jewish community.
The Art of Passover--a feast for the eye, a feast for the heart.
"The Art of Passover," compiled and edited by Rabbi Stephan O. Parnes with essays by Bonni-Dara Michaels and Gabriel M. Goldstein.
In their introduction, Michaels and Goldstein explain that "the creation of objects to beautify the celebration of Jewish ritual is known as hiddur mitzvah (the beautification of the commandment)." They continue with a history of haggadot and other ritual objects used for this holiday.
With each of the art or objects chosen there is an important explanation. More than 50 color illustrations are used to present haggadot and artifacts. Among the works included are: The 1300 southern Germany Birds' Head Haggadah, so called because human figures have the heads of birds and it is the earliest surviving Ashkenazic illuminated hagaddah; a page from Ben Shahn's Haggadah shows elements of his style and combines a Jewish theme with calligraphy.
A World War II seder plate used in the Terezin ghetto is a manifestation of the cultural achievements allowed to prosper there. A 1950 oil by Israeli artist Reuven Rubin of First Seder in Jerusalem depicts various ethnic communities.
This would make an exceptional gift book for any family and a fine addition to one's Jewish library.