The Jewish Holidays: A Guide and Commentary

by Michael Strassfeld

Book Overview

The coeditor of the enormously popular Jewish Catalog "help[s] readers understand more fully the meaning of our holidays and thereby to observe these festivals . . . with a greater devotion and joy."--Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060912251
• ISBN13: 9780060912253
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.47 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Resource for Non-Jews Too

As a non-Jew, I found this book very informative, not only about Jewish holidays per se, but also aspects of Jewish history and trends in Jewish thinking. What's more, this book has helpful appendices, including a glossary of Hebrew terms. Interestingly, the author of this book does not feel the need to dispense with BC and AD in favor of BCE and CE. This book provides information on such things as the Passover Seder meal. We learn that celebration of the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) had a late start owing to the onetime association of New Year celebrations with pagan festivities. The book raises the question of the origins of Hanukah (to what extent a successful military revolt and to what extent a rejection of Hellenizing tendencies), and whether or not this relatively minor holiday has assumed the status of a Jewish answer to Christmas. History is seen as cyclic and linear, in effect combined into a spiral. Thus, each year's observance should see a person on a higher plane of spirituality than the last such observance. Theological questions are raised in this book. For instance, at Rosh Hashanah, there is the custom of throwing bread crumbs into a body of water to symbolize the fact that God drowns our sins in the deepest sea. Some rabbis raised concern that people may misuse this ritual as an actual removal of sin in place of genuine repentance (p. 102). (This recounts the fear among Christians of "easy believism".) New Jewish observances are also discussed, including Yom Ha-Shoah. Some traditional rabbis oppose this holiday. Various Jews believe that the Holocaust represents a defining moment in Jewish history; others feel that it really isn't that different from past persecutions of Jews, or of common inexplicable tragedies such as the death of one's child. Some Jews even feel that the glorification of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is a tacit acknowledgement of the need to answer the accusations of "Jewish passivity". Yom Ha-Shoah may include silence (a fasting from words rather than fasting from eating), to symbolize the silence of man and the silence of God during the Holocaust.

wonderful beautiful

this is a wonderful book. I cannot reccoment it enough to add to your collections of books. A must purchase to review the Jewish holidays. With lovable excerts on how to build a Sukkah and other important observations can be found in the text. Historical importance is detailed in each chapter for each holiday. Also present are wonderfulo pieces of artwork and commentaries.

Our standard Bar/Bat Mitzvah Gift

This is our standard Bar and Bat Mitzvah gift, which has come in handy this year since one of our children is at the age where there is a simcha every weekend. It is accessible for the kids at this age, and will offer more as they keep it on the bookshelf for adulthood. The production values are nice, and the whole thing neither looks nor sounds (in tone) "too heavy," though in fact the book is thorough and serious. It also works for recipients of all points along the continuum of observance.

Excellent explanations of whats and whys

I am a Protestant pastor who also teaches a course on the world's religions. This book is written so that someone outside the Jewish faith can readily understand what happens in each Jewish holiday and why. I recommend it highly to anyone who wants to develop a better understanding of Rabbinic Judaism.

An invaluable guide to Jewish Holiday traditions & practices

I encountered this book as a text for a course on Jewish practices at Spertus Institute of Jewish studies in Chicago. At first glance the simple illustrations and outline seemed too basic to be useful for a serious student. However the discussion of each holiday, both major and minor, provide an extensive explanation of the practices involved in observance of that holiday and the religious principles and philosophy behind each tradition. Also of great help is the margin commentary provided on the text by five different scholars, increasing the breadth and balance of opinion necessary to such a subject. I have found this book of great help in attempting to learn about and return to the faith of my ancestors. I have given my previous copy to a new member of my synagogue who wishes to convert to Judaism and am buying another one for myself.