Keeping Passover: Everything You Need to Know to Bring the Ancient Tradition to Life and Create Yo

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 352 pages
• Published by: HarperOne
• Edition: 1st Edition February 18, 1995
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0060675535
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0060675530
• Book Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 12.3 ounces

From Booklist
Three cheers for Steingroot. For all those Jews who have foregone Passover celebrations because they think them too complicated or too arcane, here's a book that makes the holiday understandable, and more importantly, doable. Oh yes, and guilt-free. Steingroot, a bookseller who presides over one of the world's largest collections of Passover merchandise, wants readers to know that Passover is for them, whether they choose to celebrate with just a few friends and a bare-bones holiday table or whether they want to make Passover a Kosher (pun intended) affair. Among the many topics covered are the Passover food, table settings, Haggadahs, music, and ways to involve children in the festivities. More esoteric topics are also addressed, including women and Passover, holiday traditions in other countries, and creating your own Haggadah. An extensive bibliography and glossary are included. Ilene Cooper

Product Description

"Although the idea of 'keeping Passover' has too often come to mean the strict observance of an unending string of ordinances, decrees, rules, regulations, testimonies, precepts, laws, and statutes, it can as well mean the safekeeping of something precious and worth preserving. Tradition should be like the ballast that keeps a ship steady in an ocean of constant stormy change."

From one of the nation's leading Haggadah experts comes the ultimate guide to creating a faithful and personal seder celebration. Emphasizing "thou may" instead of "thou shalt," Steingroot presents all the traditional and alternative options. Keeping Passover explores:

• the meaning of the Passover symbols
• how to choose the right Haggadah
• food, cookbooks, and table arrangements
• music, recordings, and learning to sing the songs
• ways to involve children
• the art of keeping Passover fresh every year

Keeping Passover is a much needed and highly accessible resource offering a rich assortment of methods -- from simple to elaborate, traditional to innovative -- to enhance, preserve, and celebrate the seder.

Reader Reviews
Steingroot approaches Passover customs with the attitude of "you may" replacing "you must." Further, his research into the history of Passover traditions is extensive, which provided me (one of the Goyim) with the ability to amaze my Jewish friends. Even my partner wasn't sure why his family ate potatoes as a "green vegetable." Steingroot knew why. I adopted Steingroot's attitude of "you may," and as a result, our first seder as hosts was a great success.