NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.
Book Review: The Koren Magerman Youth Haggada, by Dr. Daniel Rose
I just received the new Koren Magerman Youth Haggada for review and I really like it.
Haggadas, or Haggadot, are among the most widely published books in Jewish culture. Historically there is a tremendous variety of styles of Haggada, each specializing in a different style. Some are distinguished for the unique commentary, while others for the unique artistic illustrations, and others for the layout, some for the translations, others for the redesigned text and others for whatever else you can think of. Haggadas have been printed since the year 1486 (and possibly earlier), while there are manuscripts of haggadas that have survived since as way back as the 10th century, and remain among the most widely printed of Jewish books with numerous new haggadas published each year.Back to the new Koren Youth Haggada.
The cover of the haggada itself is artistic, with the byline "An Illustrated Haggada For Reflecting, Questioning, and Experiencing". The cover alone makes me want to open it up and see the artistic illustrations. It makes me curious about the style that makes it for reflecting and experiencing and wonder what that means.
When you open it up you will enjoy the beautiful layout, meshing classic Koren style with clear and captivating text and imagery. The artistic illustrations (by Rinat Gilboa) are interesting, relevant to the text of the page, beautiful and enchanting.
The pages are not large and the text is not crammed together to squeeze a lot in. Just the opposite. The haggada is laid out with only a small amount of text on each page in a way that gives one pause - pause to focus on the text of each page and to consider it and reflect on it.
Each double page has on the left page the Hebrew text with English translation. On the right page is a set of interesting features - instructions for whatever needs to be done on that page, an activity to experience, a thought, quote or story to reflect on, and a question to discuss. the art is interspersed among both sides of the double page.
The Koren Youth Haggada does a wonderful job in engaging the celebrant and making him or her experience the seder and the text in a way that other haggadas do not.
Not only will the Koren Youth Haggada find its place on our table this coming Pesach, I may use it myself when leading the seder rather than giving it to one of my kids!
I looked for the Koren Youth Haggada on the Koren Publishers website and on Amazon and I do not yet see it for sale. On Koren it says "coming soon" and it is not yet listed on Amazon at all. Keep an eye out for this so you can get it before it sells out.
UPDATE: Actually, the hagada is available for purchase already now on the Israeli site of Koren, but will only be available on the US site soon..
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