Seasons for Celebration
A Contemporary Guide to the Joys, Practices, and Traditions of the Jewish Holidays
by Rabbi Karen L. Fox and Phyllis Zimbler Miller
I am absolutely the best person to review this little guide to Jewish holidays. Not because I know much about
Judaism or its celebrations. I'm not even Jewish. That's what makes me perfect for the job. It's because I know
so very little.
I can see this little volume clearly, as an outsider looking for guidance or understanding. When my children
were young we traipsed down the street a few blocks to visit a Jewish family who invited us for one of their
Chanukah evenings; I was determined that my children would grow up not only tolerant but familiar with other
religions and cultures. I felt fortunate to have friends who would include us. Then our friends moved and for
several years my children had to make do with what I could tell them—and the memories of a house decorated
in blue and silver and smelling like applesauce, sour cream and hot oil.
If I had Seasons for Celebration by Rabbi Karen L. Fox and Phyllis Zimbler Miller, I could have created
an evening of our own, right down to letting the kids help me make the latkes and, as they got older, more and
more of the meanings behind the rituals.
For this book includes a little of everything: Activities, recipes, traditions for the home and
synagogue—even an extensive index so that specific words and occasions can be found easily.
This, then, is a lovely book that could be given at any season. For it is about more than Chanukah. All the
holidays are included from Shabbat to Shavuot. In fact, there are some occasions that my Jewish friends have not
told me about. This book made learning about Pesach easy, even for a gentile like me. |
The Book |
Book Surge Publishing |
2008 (Originally published in 1992 by Perigee Books) |
Paperback |
1419690035 / 978-1419690037 |
Nonfiction / Judaism / Holidays |
More at Amazon.com |
Excerpt |
NOTE: |
The Reviewer |
Carolyn Howard-Johnson |
Reviewed 2009 |
NOTE: Reviewer Carolyn
Howard-Johnson is the award-winning author of This is the Place, Harkening: A
Collection of Stories Remembered, and a chapbook of poetry titled Tracings, winner
of the Military Writers Society of America's Award of Excellence and named Top Ten Best Reads
by the Compulsive Reader. She is also the author of the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books
including The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure
Success, a USA Book News and Reader Views Literary Award winner and The Frugal Book
Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, the 2004 winner of USA Book News' Best
Professional Book of the Year and Irwin awards. Her most recent chapbook of poetry with
Magdalena Ball, She Wore Emerald Then, is now available on Amazon. |
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