Sophia N. Cedarbaum

Debbie and Danny celebrate Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) together in this charming vintage picture-book. After making honey cakes as a present for their grandparents, the siblings head to their temple's Rosh Hashanah service for children, where they thank God for the blessings of the previous year, and pray for a sweet year to come. After the service, they have honey and apples, to symbolize the sweetness that is (hopefully) to come. Nine days later, on the eve of Yom Kippur, they argue and make up, perfectly fulfilling the requirements of this day, on which one is to atone for one's wrongdoing...

One of around eight picture-books that author Sophia N. Cedarbaum and illustrators Clare and John Ross created to explain and celebrate various Jewish holidays - other titles include Passover: The Festival of Freedom and Purim: A Joyous Holiday - Rosh Ha-Shono / Yom Kippur: The High Holy Days was published by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1961. The UAHC was renamed the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) in 2003, and represents (at least nominally) approximately a third of the Jews in the United States. I assume that the practices seen in Cedarbaum's story - the fact that girls open the Ark in the children's service, and that none of the men and boys depicted are wearing yarmulkes - are more consistent with Reform Judaism, than they would be with Conservative or Orthodox Judaism. The narrative itself is engaging, although it sometimes felt a little bit more like a vehicle to explore Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, than a true story. My favorite parts were the reproductions of some actual prayers (in English), and the accompanying artwork from the Rosses, which had vintage charm. This seems to be long out-of-print, and I don't know that it is so extraordinary that I'd recommend expending much effort to track it down. If it's to hand however, it makes a serviceable, if somewhat old-fashioned introduction to the eponymous holidays.… (más)