Shmuel Goldin

I am a Jewish educator by trade and a haggadah aficionado by interest. As such, I was excited to receive this book for review. As others have mentioned, it is not designed to be used directly at the table, except as a reference. This is a resource to study from - and there is a lot to work with! It is beautifully laid out and has friendly little colored-pencil style drawings scattered throughout. There are text references and connections as well as modern prompts. I look forward to spending some time later this spring reviewing it in preparation for the holiday!… (mehr)

I am a Jewish educator by trade and a haggadah aficionado by interest. As such, I was excited to receive this book for review. As others have mentioned, it is not designed to be used directly at the table, except as a reference. This is a resource to study from - and there is a lot to work with! It is beautifully laid out and has friendly little colored-pencil style drawings scattered throughout. There are text references and connections as well as modern prompts. I look forward to spending some time later this spring reviewing it in preparation for the holiday!… (mehr)

Lucid and insightful, like the author's previous volume on Vayikra. The book manages both to present an overarching view of the seder as it progresses from memory to present experience to future hopes, and a detailed breakdown of the haggadah's structure, with Rabbi Goldin accompanying each section with questions, interpretations by previous authorities, and his own thoughts. Even when the discussion is about the placement of a prayer at *this* point in the seder rather than at *this* point, I found it interesting and connected to the larger themes, not just splitting hairs for the sake of splitting hairs.

A couple of caveats:
-- For anyone looking to actually use this at the seder, the haggadah has Hebrew and English, but no transliteration. Also, be prepared to skip pages of explanations (though if your family's hagaddah, like mine, has "Omit" written next to several paragraphs, this may not be an issue!).

-- Rabbi Goldin is an Orthodox Jew; I am a Conservative Jew and politically liberal. There were times when his personal opinions made me sigh (look, women lay tefillin too!) or wince outright (his comments on radical Islam in particular I found offensive). Fortunately most of what he says is devoted to the text itself, so these bits don't outweigh the rest. And folks who don't share my views may not be bothered by them at all.… (mehr)

That this is a special book is immediately obvious: it opens from left to right, giving the impression that one must read the book backwards. But then comes the realization that Hebrew is read from right to left. Since all of the passages of scripture and poetry included in the book, and there are many, are rendered in both Hebrew and English, the layout is designed to enhance the appreciation for the Hebrew. I have had the opportunity to review other books published by Gefen. I find their product to be of high quality, well edited, with a pleasing presentation overall. This book, "Unlocking the Hagada" by Rabbi Shmuel Goldin is of equally fine quality and is very attractive in its use of color and design. It will be a welcome addition to the dozen or so books I already have relating to Jewish history and practices.
The Seder service at the time of Passover has always been of interest, but it took this manual, or road map, if you will, on how to present the Seder meal and celebration to fully appreciate the ageless tradition and history that has gone into developing this very complicated family gathering. Rabbi Goldin does a first class job in trying to make it all hold together and fulfill its purpose: allowing the depth and meaning of Passover and the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt to be the prime focus. His organization of the various stages of the celebration are carefully set out. Each stage has copius explanations on the origin, history and variatons of the various aspects of the Seder meal and what is to be observed according to law and tradition. The book is well written, which makes the celebration more accessible to those of us who are not of the Jewish faith or nation. But the Rabbi was writing for an audience that he had every reason to believe would understand the many speciality terms and Hebrew based vocablary that occur throiughout the book. A glossary for the benefit of the gentile populaton interested in Jewish history and practice would be helpful.… (mehr)