Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: With Honey, Prayers, and the Shofar by Deborah Heiligman, Shira Stern

From the Publisher

Celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur examines how these Jewish High Holy Days are celebrated worldwide. Rosh Hashanah, known as the Jewish New Year, is a time for reflection and resolution. On Yom Kippur, also called the Day of Atonement, Jews fast, pray, and ask God's forgiveness for their sins. Deborah Heiligman's lively first-person text introduces readers to the sounding of the shofar, the holidays' greeting cards, prayers, and special foods. Rabbi Shira Stern's informative note puts the High Holy Days into wider historical and cultural context for parents and teachers.

Children's Literature

The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is celebrated by Jews around the world. It is a time to reflect on the past and to think of ways to be a better person. The last day of this ten day celebration is called Yom Kippur and it a really important holiday. Jews take time to fast, pray, and ask God, friends and family to forgive their sins and wrongs. The text which describes the foods and activities during this holiday period is accompanied by wonderful photographs. What makes it even more enjoyable is that the pictures are of Jews around the world. Readers get to see children and adults of all ethnicities and the way each has followed and adapted Jewish traditions. It begins at sundown with the lighting of candles and the saying of prayers and special foods which have symbolic meaning are served. The round challah represents the circle of life. Even though some may eat fish heads or pomegranates, honey seems to be one of the consistent foods. It is a dip for the challah and apples which represent the sweet life. At the synagogue, a special ram's horn called the shofar is blown to call everyone to prayer. Jews on Yom Kippur will begin a full day of fasting, and men and woman usually pray in separate areas of the synagogue. At the end of Yom Kippur, there is a big meal with family and friends as all get ready to celebrate a happy new year. There is extra information at the back of the book that explains more about the Torah and the shofar, and it directs readers to other sources to find out even more. Also included is a recipe for honey cake as well as a glossary. Part of the "Holidays Around the World" series.

Kirkus Reviews

This beautiful explanation of the Jewish High Holy Days depicts the celebration and observance from a global perspective in a colorful, clean photographic design. Jews around the world incorporate the universal symbols of honey, prayers and the Shofar with similar significance. A montage shows multicultural faces of families and children attending services in Zimbabwe, Peru, Portugal and India, and eating slightly different meals. Yet all understand the meaning of a hopeful new beginning symbolized by sweet honey, the atonement everyone feels through prayer and fasting and the blowing of the Shofar to signal the end of a long day of reflection and the start of a new year. The text design is especially well thought-out as key sentences are highlighted in large print that reads as one simple text for preschoolers, while a slightly longer explanation is presented in a smaller font for older children. An appendix of basics regarding the holidays offers facts, explanations of the Torah and the Shofar, the important "Al Het" prayer said as a community and an easy-to-follow recipe for the traditional honey cake. Glossary, bibliography, websites and a map noting the sites of each photograph complete this handsome Holidays Around the World edition. (Nonfiction. 4-10)

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