the (Passover sponge) cake ($9 a set
at Spitzer's).
Adornments for the holiday table
include seder plates to hold the rit-
ual foods. Plates are available in
many different styles and materials.
The shivat haminim (seven spccies
of fruit from Israel) are depict ed on
a colorful ceramic seder plate by
Israeli artist Yair Emanuel ($75 on
Jewish.com ). Go beyond traditional
ceramic styles with a fused glass
rectangular plate with whimsical,
abstract-glass seder foods cast into
depressions by artist Marta ($125 at
Tradition! Tradition! in Southfield)
or a sleek, heavy, brushed stainless-
steel plate with copper embossing
by Gadi Amaliah ($175 at
Tradition! Tradition!). Synagogue
gift shops carry more variations.

Matzah And Wine

Matzah plates to hold the unleav-
ened bread — square for machine-
made matzah, round for handmade
matzah — are available in numer-
ous artistic renditions.
Matzah covers and afikomen

bags come in vibrant, hand-painted
silk versions by Yael and Emanuel
($25-30, all stores), and traditional
gold and silver embroidered styles
from Israel ($15-30, all stores).
Velvet covers with appliqued
designs are $50 at Spitzer's and
Esther's.
A hand-embroidered matzah
cover by artist Sherri Roberts
includes the names of the 12 tribes
of Israel bordering a padded center
($160 at Tradition! Tradition!). "It's
so big, you could use it as a pillow
case," says owner Alicia Nelson.
Another cover depicts the walls
of Jerusalem (including Montifiore's
windmill) in chain-stitch embroi-
dery surrounding the Hebrew word
Pesach ($56 at Esther's).
A gleaming, 9-inch silver cup of
Elijah and plate embossed with
grape clusters is $52 at Esther's. A
10-inch art-glass Elijah's cup by
Israeli artist Uda features a blue and
purple cup with the Hebrew word
Eliyahu, a green stem decoration
and white glass stem and base ($75
at Tradition! Tradition!).
To fill the cups, and your own

• Borenstein's Book & Music
Store, 25242 Greenfield Road, Oak
Park, (248) 967-3920
• Spitzer's Hebrew Book & Gift
Center, 21790 W. 11 Mile,
Southfield, (248) 356-6080
• Esther's Judaica & Gift World,

624

• Temple Israel, 5725 Walnut
Lake Road, West Bloomfield,
(248) 661-5700
• Temple Beth El, 7400
Telegraph Road, Bloomfield
Township, (248) 851-1100
• Ad.at Shalom Synagogue,
29901 Middlebelt, Farmington
Hills, (248) 851-5100
These synagogues have show-
cases:
• Congregation Shin Tikvah,
3900 Northfield Parkway, Troy,
649-4418
• Temple Kol Ami, 5085

Walnut Lake, West Bloomfield,
661-0040
• Temple Ernanu-El, 14450 W
10 Mile, Oak Park, 967-4020
• Congregation Beth Shalom,
14601 W. Lincoln, Oak Park,
547-7970
• Congregation B'nai. Moshe,
6800 Drake Road, West
Bloomfield, 788-0600
• West Bloomfield Jewish
Community Center, 6600 W.
Maple, 661-6005
• Oak Park JCC, 15110 W. 10
Mile, 967-4030

four cups at the seder, a huge vari-
ety of Passovers wines are available
to suit every palate. Bartenura
Nebbiolo is an organically grown
red Italian wine by Bianchi ($16 at
Spitzer's). Bartenura Moscato
D'Asti, "in the blue bottle," is a hot
choice this year ($11 at Esther's,
Spitzer's and Borenstein's). Teal
Lake, kosher wine all the way from
Australia, comes in Chardonnay,
Shiraz and Pinot Noir ($12-15, at
Borenstein's). Alfasi Chardonnay,
Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are
wines from Chile ($8 at
Borenstein's).
Responding to popular demand,
Kedem introduces Concord Kal
(Hebrew for "light"), a red wine
with only 3.5 percent alcohol, a
perfect choice for those who have
trouble downing the mandated four
cups ($5 at Spitzer's). Likewise,
Rashi Light wines are 6 percent
alcohol ($4.50, Esther's).
Just for fun, top off the bottles
with a wild beaded wine stopper by
local artist Riki Wexler ($10 at
Tradition! Tradition!).
For a real showstopper, fill up the
wine cups via this year's coolest con-
traption, a silver Kiddush fountain.
After making Kiddush, the host pours
the wine from his cup into the foun-
tain base, from where it flows through
decorative spigots into small serving
cups for guests. Several styles of this
nifty table toy are available at gift
shops; prices vary.

Story Time

What would Pesach be without a
new Haggadah? The text of the
seder service recounting the Jewish
people's exodus from Egypt has
been published in innumerable ver-
sions.
The Hagada de Pesaj in Spanish is
available at Esther's ($9). Russian
Haggadot are available at Spitzer's
($5).
For beginners, the Step by Step
Haggadah offers not just translation,
but transliteration of the Hebrew
text ($10 at Esther's). The Metsudah
Linear Haggadah translates line by
line, a great help for those less than
fluent in Hebrew ($12, all book
stores). The Chofetz Chaim
Haggadah ($15, all bookstores) fea-
tures, in English, the laws of the
seder accordinc, to the Mishnah
Berurah, the definitive halachic work
by this Torah sage.
A Passover Haggadah as

Commented Upon by Elie Wiese'

($16, Jewish.com ) contains com-
mentary on the seder service by the
Nobel Peace Prize-winning author.
Higher-end gift Haggadot
include many with artistic render-
ings of the Passover story. A half
moon-shaped hardcover text is by
artist Raymond Cintas ($36 at
Tradition! Tradition!). A large,
boxed Haggadah, adapted from the
so-called Bird's Head Haggadah
from the 1300s, features pop-ups
and pull-tab action scenes of the
strange illustrations ($40, Spitzer's).
Because of the Torah prohibition
against making images, depictions
of humans were defaced in this
medieval period work by replacing
the heads with bird heads.
The Little Midrash Says Hagg,ada.
($20 at Borenstein's and Spitzer's) is
a perfect afikomen gift for the chil-
dren. This 350-page compilation of
the Haggadah and commentary, in
question-and-answer format, along
with stories, parables and gematria
(numerical-letter) riddles, is enough
to keep the kids educationally enter-
tained for all of Pesach and then
some.
Children, of course, are the focal
point of the seder, the time when
the mitzvah v'higaddita rvincha
requires us to relate the exodus
story to the next generation.

Just For Kids

A few years ago, some inventive soul
marketed the "bag of plagues" to
liven up the seder. Several versions
of this cute shtick are now available,
with everything from Styrofoam
"hail balls" to vibrating plush
locusts ($12-14, most stores).
Just a Week to Go is a lovely photo
essay book that children will find fas-
cinating. The story follows Raffi, a
young boy living in Jerusalem's Old
City, as his family prepares for Pesach
($12, Spitzer's).
The little ones are sure to enjoy
"Passover Slides and Ladders" ($11,
Spitzer's), a Passover version of the
classic "Chutes and Ladders" board
game. Sample moves have players
advance for reciting the Four
Questions or retreat for eating too
much horseradish. For the littlest of
them, Spitzer's carries a matzah print
bib to catch the crumbs ($9).
To indulge the kid in all of us,
Tradition! Tradition! stocks artsy
"Jewish" kaleidoscopes ($50), with
glittering Stars of David and other
symbols mixed in with the beads and
colored liquid. El

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2002

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