Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1992-04-16

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The Ohio Jewish Chronicle
-«m>v Columbus and the Central Ohio
Jewish Community since 1922
VOLUME 70
NUMBER 16
APRIL 16, 1992
13 NISAN 5752
, DEVOTED   TO   AMERICAN   AND   JEWISH   IDEALS
Stavskys to be
honored by
Central East NCSY
page 2
Business students
create scholarship
in name of peer
',''"'        page 3
Good-bye to
a Mend
page 4
Passover Features
page 21-40
[OVER
1992
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Begins at Sundown, April 17
■H-In The Chronicle m—m
At The JCC   ..„.; 18
CommiiBity .. n. -,.-.. *-*-* r* ?,.,,.... 6-11.
Federation   , 112,13
Front Page  2,3
Lifecycle 14,15
Marketplace  19
New Generation  17
Scoreboard .13
Synagogues 16
Viewpoint 4
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4 3-31
BOOK REVIEW
The Santa Cruz Haggadah—
Why is this Haggadah different?
By Edward Simon
THE SANTA CRUZ
HAGGADAH
A Passover Haggadah, Coloring Book, and Journal for the
Evolving Consciousness Hi-
neni Consciousness Press, Ca-
pitola, CA
Spiral bound, 146 pages, and
72 pages
Editor: Karen G. R. Roekard
Writing a book is an intensely personal experience.
Some do it for a living, scientists and scholars do it because
they have to (publish or perish
is true as often as not) and
some do it because they just
can't help themselves. Karen
Roekard belongs to that select
group. And we are all fortunate that she does.
The Santa Cruz Hagga
dah manages to combine Jewish tradition and New Age
"schtick" in an extraordinary
manner. A yeshiva graduate,
Roekard is well aware of the
technical requirements for a
traditional haggadah, and she
makes certain to incorporate
all of them into the body of her
work. For example, this is the
only non-traditional haggadah
I have seen that includes the
hallel and the benching aftej
meals, albeit in an abbreviated
form. Beyond this, she includes a complete handwritten
haggadah text as an appendix.
Although I think it unlikely
that anyone who purchases
this work will actually use it,
the symbolism of having it
there is profound.
Aside from simplicity and
accessibility, most non-traditional haggadot have something to sell. Vegetarianism,
peace, civil rights, Jewish ac
tivism and what have you.
This one sells Jewish consciousness. Perhaps it reflects
the odyssey of the author's
own life.
. The seder is preeminently a
participatory affair. Not only
does this work encourage the
audience to join in with songs
and readings, but there are
many provocative questions
that the participants are encouraged to answer at the table. There are even places to
write down the answers within
the haggadah itself; thus providing a permanent record of
"where you are at."
For example, before the
enumeration of the ten plagues, question 16 asks: "What
have been the occurrences in
your life or on the planet that
have felt like miracles?"
The whimsical illustrations
by Nina Paley are themselves
designed to be colored by chil
dren (or adults) in preparation
for the great event.
But do not think that this
haggadah merely encourages a
"pooling or ignorance" in the
hope of obtaining a "Great Insight" before the meal begins.
Distributed throughout the
text are many rabbinical comments and poignant Chassidic
tales.
An example of the former.
There are four parts to the
blessing after meals, three of
them (for food, land and Jerusalem) are biblically ordained.
In the fourth we thank Hasem
for His loving-kindness wherever it is manifested. The note
explains that this blessing was
added after the failure of the
Bar Kochba rebellion against
the Romans. The final battle
at Betar was an unmitigated
disaster. For years the survivors were not allowed to bury
5eeHAOOAOAHpg.5