Pesach for the Rest of Us: Making the Passover Seder Your Own | 
|  | | | Title: | Pesach for the Rest of Us: Making the Passover Seder Your Own | | Author: | Marge Piercy | | Publisher: | Schocken | | Type: | Book / Hardcover | | Publication Date: | 20 February, 2007 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0805242422 / 9780805242423 | | List Price: | $22.95 | | Amazon Price: | $22.95 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Every year, poet and novelist Marge Piercy creates her own Passover seder with a group of family and friends. Babies have been born and grown up, friends have moved or divorced, but the principals continue to gather in her rustic Cape Cod home to participate in a seder that Piercy takes joy in tweaking each spring to make it more meaningful. In this journey through the ritual, Piercy coaxes us toward “a significant contemporary interpretation, rather than an emphasis on what is strictly ‘correct’ or traditional.†She reminisces about her grandmother, who thought herself unworthy to lead a seder because of her limited Hebrew but presided “morally†at the table; she urges adding an orange to the seder plate; she even describes her heroic efforts to make her own gefilte fish (an experiment not to be repeated).
Piercy offers her distinct slant on each element of the feast and provides dozens of her own wonderful recipes, which she delivers in the same warm, commanding voice as is heard in her poems and prose: “When I told Ira that I was going to explain how to cook matzoh brei, he thought I was crazy. Everybody knows how to make matzoh brei, he said. But I am of the opinion that there is no longer anything that everybody knows how to cook.â€
It is in that spirit–no question too simple–that Piercy welcomes readers to her kind of seder: a homemade and personal affair, the kind we all wish we could attend. This charming and instructive book of Passover wisdom, brimming with favorite dishes and Marge Piercy’s own moving Passover poems and blessings, invites us to look at an important Jewish ritual in a whole new way.
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Customer Reviews:
• Very Personal, Very Interesting, And Useful 09 April, 2007
Jewish tradition and feminism collide in this book. I found the tension fascinating. There are a lot of personal stories, a lot of recipes done the way I cook ("add a little of this, or, if you don't like it, add a little of that.") There were a few new poems, but the ones I liked best are already in The Art of Blessing the Day. I didn't always agree with her, but she always provided food for thought. At my seder, I found myself citing this book several times. Plus I cooked a tsimmes from one of her recipes, and it was quite good.
This is far from being a haggadah; just commentary on the various sections of the seder and a lot of interesting stories and recipes.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2ERHICGOLFTUI
• I Thought It Was A Parody 02 April, 2007
In the Thirties in the USSR Ms. Piercy would have been a Stalinist hack. This is the most slavish and trite abasement of Jewish tradition to PC platitudes that I have ever seen. For a so-called 'poet' there isn't the slightst trace of history, collective memory and awe that has always infused the Passover, even for the barely observant Jew. It is deeply offensive and truly revolting. It is like reading bumper stickers. If this is the 'only seder some marginal Jews can tolerate' I wish they'd stay away from the table.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3VPMXREZV2WSY
• Thought-provoking! 26 March, 2007
A must-read before Pesach for the traditionalist or modern Jew alike. A very easy book to read packed with information and advice. The recipes look great too!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3H63LXDITF8XW
• Offbeat Pesach Musings 06 May, 2007
As a fan of Marge Piercy's writings, I was curious about this new endeavor. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was and the memories it evoked for me. Our Passover seders always include new poetry (many of them from her previous poetry books)and readings, and my attitude about Pesach mirrors hers, "whatever works, do it". I was so impressed that I sent a copy to my niece. Her recipes were an added feature and the macaroons came out great.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AZSQUKAZ78WS0
• Make Passover Even More Meaningful This Year 02 April, 2007
I really appreciate this book. It is respectful of tradition but it also helps to infuse the holiday with personal relevance, which is what it's all about anyway. I love the poems, the prayers, the recipes and wonderful stories that add such richness. Pick and choose what's meaningful to you and "pass over" the rest!
- Reviewed by customer ID: AFV1U7I5QVAWQ
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