Why Is This Night Different?

Passover Seders are held for two nights so I thought I’d post this review which appears in our current April issue of L.A. Parent.

Fraught with emotion, The Yankee at the Seder by Elka Weber and illustrated by Adam Gustavson, (Tricycle Press, $16.99 ages 7-9), is an engaging true story based on the life of Philadelphian Myer Levy, a Yankee corporal and Jew who fought in the Civil War and Jacob Josephson, a young Southern boy. With tensions high and Yankee soldiers patrolling the streets of post-war Virginia, Levy seeks out the Josephson family for his Passover leave, much to the chagrin of Jacob. Despite hearing disagreements over dinner, Jacob comes to understand that to celebrate Passover is to embrace the basic human tenets of freedom for all, and a battle for liberty is one well fought and never forgotten. The soldier thoughtfully repays the generosity of his host family one year later during the hard times of Reconstruction and his timeless message engraved on a silver goblet still resonates today, “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All The Land Unto All The Inhabitants Thereof.”