Review by New York Times Review
THE OLD TESTAMENT is not the cuddliest of books: it contains murder, rape, heresy and all other manner of sin and misbehavior - hardly what we want our children to learn first about their religion. And it's not the most accessible, either. It's crowded with genealogy and tangents, and written in a style that's hard to understand. Yet what can we do? We Jews have only this one set of Scriptures to go on. Two new books provide sometimes unconventional interpretations of the Torah and Jewish folklore, and with them, a view into what their authors find to be the most exciting and poignant parts of the traditional texts. "With a Mighty Hand: The Story in the Torah" is an adaptation in somewhat modernized English. The author, Amy Ehrlich, has kept the best-told tales - Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Joseph and his brothers, Moses and Pharaoh, for a start - and set aside the laws and lists that make Leviticus, for instance, a challenge to read. It's a beautiful book to look at; Daniel Nevins's paintings are lively and provocative. I've never seen a more arresting manifestation of Jacob's all-night wrestling match; I looked at the rainbow illustration of the burning bush for a full minute before turning the page. And I was interested to see that Nevins portrays the people of the Torah with dark skin and full lips, more likely to be historically accurate than the usual European renderings. The book is far easier to read and more direct than the actual Torah, but the language of Ehrlich's free verse is still not quite ordinary speech, which makes for a bit of work. And to me it felt a little audacious of Ehrlich to decide what exactly in the Torah is "worth" telling - though that could be my rigid Orthodox education at work. But it struck me that it would have been nice, growing up, to have a volume like "With a Mighty Hand" : visually pleasing and stripped of confusing matter that could threaten any child's understanding, attention span and ultimate captivation. "With a Mighty Hand" is a great transitional Torah - something between an illustrated book of Bible stories for children and the full heft of the actual Five Books of Moses, still told in its own words, on its own terms, making what was once intimidating palatable. "The Barefoot Book of Jewish Tales," by Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand, isn't a book of Bible stories but of time-honored Jewish folklore about prophets and kings and righteous people. In one tale, a boy who loves letters can't learn to read. One Yom Kippur, he sits in the back of the synagogue and cuts out Hebrew letters. When his father catches him, he screams at the boy for cutting letters instead of praying for forgiveness and announces how ashamed he is. Suddenly, the cut letters float up and turn into words, which yield the most inspiring prayers these Jews have ever seen. The boy is forgiven, for he has taught the congregation that everyone has a contribution to make, even if that contribution isn't obvious. In another story, a virtuous woman's reward for her good life is the ability to visit heaven and hell prematurely to see how all this ends up. She finds that denizens of both are saddled with splints that prevent them from bending their elbows. In heaven, they're still happy because they realize that if they feed one another, they can eat well In hell, however, they can't eat because they can't figure out how to work together. The woman discovers that "the same challenges and opportunities exist in heaven as in hell." If you are kind and generous, you will enjoy the afterlife. If you are greedy and unhelpful, you'll starve. Amanda Hall illustrates the book in great, boisterous color, though the doodles in the margins feel busy. Gelfand has written the stories in language far more contemporary than that of "With a Mighty Hand," but to my ear it still seems unnecessarily formal, with few contractions and pacing that gives it a cumbersome and uptight quality. (The book includes a CD recording of the actress Debra Messing reading the stories energetically. My two small children demanded to listen to it again and again.) Gelfand takes certain liberties with these tales, giving women more prominent roles than they conventionally have had, a choice some might consider brazen. But what struck me most about "Jewish Tales" were the ancillary messages. In the story about the boy who couldn't read, it's really nice that those atoning Jews learned to be inclusive, but did we have to watch a man publicly humiliate his young, intellectually challenged son to grasp that? It's better to be generous than selfish, but when I was a child, the vision of an afterlife spent in arm splints - whether in heaven or in hell - would have haunted my dreams. In fact, they still might. There have to be better ways to transmit these lessons. The Torah and the traditional Jewish stories are problematic texts. When we hand them down to our children, we hope they will extract what we ourselves value and set the rest aside until they're old enough to grapple with it. But how can we predict what they'll take away from these books? Even when we provide a condensed version of the Torah, we are taking a risk: "With a Mighty Hand" includes some of the books' ugliest stories, like Dinah's rape. But somehow it's easier to shrug and say, "Well, what are you going to do?" since we're taught that the Torah is the actual word of God. Perhaps, we think, it isn't appropriate for us to judge. With the moralistic parables of "The Barefoot Book of Jewish Tales," which do not originate in the Torah, it's harder to understand why we should be passing them along without questioning whether we really believe their content is suitable for children. "Because it's always been that way" isn't something we have to continue to settle for. TAFFY BRODESSER-AKNER, a frequent contributor to The Times, has also written for O, GQ, Fast Company and Salon.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 10, 2013]
Review by Booklist Review
These eight tales from the Jewish tradition offer simple yet compelling messages. The virtues of prayer are compared to stories; Elijah the prophet explains his wisdom to an ordinary mortal; an illiterate boy finds that his good intentions are sufficient for God; a king learns to listen and accept his unusual son; a young woman offers her bread-making skills to God; an elderly woman views the difference between heaven and hell; a wise wife helps her husband comprehend her loyalty; and a king realizes that flaws are a part of life. Gelfand's language is simple and direct, and she appends her tales with explanations of the Jewish signs and symbols cited and a list of story sources. Hall's elegant full-color art suggests an Eastern European setting, and each tale includes distinctive borders, spot art, and occasional full-page spreads. The package also includes a CD with Debra Messing reading the stories. A perfect choice for sharing with young families, this will also be welcomed by religious school libraries.--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Eight varied Jewish stories, mostly from Eastern Europe with some of Hasidic origins, are smoothly retold. Several are spiritual, while others, like "Clever Rachel," have more secular content. The handsome presentation mixes full-page and spot mixed-media illustrations on pages with lavish borders. Back matter includes a "Signs and Symbols" guide and story sources. A CD narrated by actress Debra Messing is included. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
