Animated (`CLaymation) Haggadah
($17); Illustrated Artscroll Children's
Haggadah ($17 hardcover, $7 paper-
back); and Artscroll Youth Haggadah
($12 hardcover, $7 paperback).
Many Haggadot are scholarly, filled
with commentary analyzing and
expounding on every turn of phrase.
Some good English commentary
Haggadot include: The Vintage
Haggadah
a translation of the classic
Yeinah Shel Torah ($12); Artscroll Passover
Haggadah ($23); The Heritage Haggadah
by R. Eliyahu Kitov ($26); and The
Roshei Yeshiva Haggadah,Vols. 1 and 2
($30 and $32).
A fascinating book for Jewish history
buffs is Haggadah and History ($75,
Spitzer's). It offers nearly 500 pages of
commentary on hundreds of photo
plates of Haggadot from around-the
world, from 1486 in Soncino, Italy, to
1972 in Tel Aviv. One example is a
1927 Moscow satire of the Haggada by
the Yevsektsia, who were anti-religious,
Communist Jews. For U'rchatz (washing
of the hands), the text reads: "Wash
away, workers and peasants, the entire
bourgeois filth..." But, of course, com-
munism has now crumbled, while the
traditional Passover seder continues. ❑

—

Nearly 71 percent of American
wS attend or host a Passover
seder.
. More than 40 percent of all
:usher food sales occur the week
or to Passover.
Passover food market is
tly growing to meet the
ailefor . demands of kosher-
s- consumers. There are
ed of "imitation" Passover
acts, such as "breaded" fish
()dies."
rthodox Union (OU) cer-
re than 80 percent of
e Passover products.
assover season, the OU
es the Passover Directory,
as a shopping bible for
r a luarter-million Jewish
'es, The directory helps
E0mOs navigate the Passover
i.0ket by listing thou-
'':. ..TOU--certified products
ting ing from baby food to cos-
metic.s. The directory is available
online at www.ou.org

-- Orthodox Union

ds,

4/14

2000

54

Looking Good
Brighten your seder experience with handiwork of all kinds.

SUSAN TAWIL

Special to the Jewish News

Ea

atza trays, the cup of
Elijah, even special
bowls for salt water
and horseradish, are
some of the accoutrements available
to enhance the family Passover table.
Since there is no source in Jewish law
for these ritual items, they have
evolved into a huge variety of styles,
shapes and materials.
Seder plates, for instance, were
created to conveniently group togeth-
er symbolic Passover foods discussed
in the Mishnah.
"We find the order (in which we
place the foods on the seder plate)
mentioned by AriZal [the famed kab-
balist, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria] in the
1500s," says Rav Shmuel Irons, head
of Oak Park's Kollel Institute of
Greater Detroit.
Matza covers, afikomen bags and
seder pillowcases are also available in
local stores, although many loCal
families own original handmade ver-
sions produced at home or by chil-
dren in yeshiva day schools.
A check through local Jewish book
and gift shops shows what's new and
exciting for this year. (Items may be
available in stores other than
those listed. Prices listed may
vary slightly from store to store.)
Seder plates come in a wide
variety of materials, in styles
from traditional to contempo-
rary. They include colorful,
inexpensive metal trays (surpris-
ingly, this one is also available at
Linens & More in West
Bloomfield); artistic glass (Anat
Brigg, Israel, $125 at Spitzer's,

Southfield); Irish lead crystal ($125,
Esther's Judaica, Bloomfield, West
Bloomfield); and pewter (Damion,
Israel, $100, Esther's). They range
from high-end Gary Rosenthal con-
temporary fused glass and copper
($140, Tradition! Tradition!,
Southfield) to disposable plastic ($3,
Esther's).
Of course, there are oodles of
ceramic and porcelain seder plates
with separate or depressed cups, in
all styles and colors.
Matza trays come square or round
(for machine or handmade matza,
respectively), and are available in the
same range of materials as the seder
plates, as well as the popular lucite.
There are also tiered affairs that corn-
bine the matza tray with the seder
plate, with a shelf for each of the
three ritual matzot, and topped by a
seder plate. These are available in
plastic ($70, Borenstein's, Oak Park),
metal and Lucite ($60, Esther's), sil-
verplate ($140, Spitzer's) and a stun-
ning hexagonal rosewood and ster-
ling silver number ($850, Spitzer's).
Matza covers come in white
embroidered polyester, velvet
and painted silk, and range in
price from $15 to $50.
Original handmade silk matza

Contemporary seder plate with blue fused glass center and copper
triangle 'cups," by Gary Rosenthal ($140, Tradition! Tradition!).

Hexagonal-shaped rosewood matza box with sterling-silver
seder plate top, by Haddad Bros., Israel ($850, Spitzer's).

Box of Plagues, by Congregation Tifires Yisroeh Baltimore, Md.
($25, Borenstein's).

covers are available by Yair Emanuel
and Galil Threadworks ($60-$100,
Tradition! Tradition!).
• Other items for Passover include
afikomen bags (from $7 up),
embroidered Passover tablecloths
($90, Tradition! Tradition!) and
embroidered U'rchatz washing tow-
els ($12, Spitzer's).
The latest thing this Passover is
the Bag of Plagues ($13) and Box of
Plagues ($25). The box has "deluxe"
plagues — more stuff than in the
"Bag" — and both are at Spitzer's
and Borenstein's. These ingenious
kits are filled with rubber frogs,
Styrofoam "hail" balls, animal masks,
blackout sunglasses, etc., to throw
around your table and liven up the
seder when the wine starts to hit.
If all these decisions on what to
buy, coming on top of your frenetic
preparations for Passover, get to be
too much, pick up the most useless,
but fun, tchotchke of all: the "Stress
Free Matzah Ball." It's a squeezy
thing covered in a matza-print fabri
($2).111