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ORCHARD LAKE RD. SOUTH OF 14 MILE

Farmington Hills • 851-7000

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Civil War Seders

New books — one for children, one for
adults — weave holiday and history.

Suzanne Chessler

Special to the Jewish News

clAkshing Ouk custometts and blends
a vettg hedthg mad (sappy Tassovett!

The entire staff of Vineyards Deli and Bloom's Jewish Catering

Our specialty
Best Matzo Bread in Town (Fried Matzo)
Open thru Chol Hamoed
For all your Passover needs

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Italian t,2uisiiie

248.476.0044

Buy any dinner entree and receive
00
$6 off the second dinner entree

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Expires: 5/30/09
One coupon per table

Farmington Hills • Corner of Grand River & Haggerty Road
Auburn Hills • 1 i/2 miles south of the Palace of Auburn Hills

1191100

We wish our customers a very peaceful Passover

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DELICATESSEN, RESTAURANT & CATERING

21754 W. 11 MILE RD. • HARVARD ROW

248-352-4940 FAX: 352-9393

B16

April 9 a 2009

E

lka Weber, a religious histo-
rian, never forgot a Passover
children's tale she heard
long ago from her father. She passes
it along through a new picture book:
The Yankee at the Seder (Tricycle Press;
$16.99).
The story, based on a true incident,
takes place just after the
Civil War. It tells about
a Confederate family
that sets aside political
differences to invite a
Jewish soldier from the
North into their holiday
home.
During the Passover
meal, they explore the
meaning of freedom
at the center of their
observance of the
Exodus and at the cen-
ter of what they have to
face at the conclusion of
the nationwide fighting.
The 10-year-old
son is the narrator
and struggles with his
strong anti-Yankee feel-
ings.
"This was a story I
had to tell," says Weber,
a lawyer's wife and
mother of five who
observes Orthodox
traditions and this year is hostess for a
family seder in her New Jersey home.
"The psychology of the story and
the factual aspects attracted me, and
I've been sensitized to the idea of
inviting strangers for Passover. I think
it's a book parents and children can
read and discuss together, perhaps
talking about finding common ground
as a way to resolve conflicts."
Weber, who holds a doctoral degree
in Islamic history, is accustomed to
noting common elements to share.
She has taught her subject at Yeshiva
University in New York.
"I was enrolled in Middle Eastern
studies and found that Islamic tradi-
tions are so close to Jewish traditions
that I felt comfortable with them:'

says Weber, the daughter of a rabbi
and author of Traveling Through Text:
Message and Method in Late Medieval
Pilgrimage Accounts, a work for adults
covering Jewish, Christian and Islamic
experiences.
"I'd like to think that people of dif-
ferent backgrounds will come together,
but I don't think every conflict can be
resolved sitting around a table."
The young people's story, with
illustrations by Adam
Gustayson, is pref-
aced by a glossary of
Passover terms and fol-
lowed with an explana-
tion of Passover and a
summary of the Jewish
presence in the Civil
War. There also are pho-
tos related to the actual
events.
In a somewhat
related writing project,
novelist Dara Horn has
come up with an adult
fictional work that
takes place at Passover
and relates to Jews
fighting in the Civil
War.
All Other Nights
(W.W. Norton & Co.;
$24.95) tells about a
Yankee soldier ordered
to murder his own
uncle, who is thought to
be plotting the assassi-
nation of Abraham Lincoln during the
holiday in 1862.
There is a later assignment for the
soldier that gives the work of fiction
greater momentum. He is recruited
to marry a Confederate spy from
Virginia, and the couple's experiences
relate to divisions that remain in
American life.
Horn, an award-winning writer who
brings issues of Judaism into her work,
has logged two previous novels. In the
Image explores the significance of tra-
dition and law through two characters
representing different generations. The
World to Come weaves religious expe-
riences into the search for a missing
painting. Both received the National
Jewish Book Award. Li