Etan Basseri, illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh
A PERSIAN PASSOVER
Moosic, Pa., Kalaniot Books, 2022, ISBN: 1735087564
Reviewed by Annette B. Fromm1
This short and sweet story follows Ezra and Rosa as they help their family in the annual preparations for the Passover seder in the 1950s. The children live in a small town in Iran. Their house and neighborhood are filled with activities as everyone works together to get ready for the holiday. The house and its contents are being cleaned. So much is going on in the very busy kitchen.
A special task awaits the brother and sister, taking the Passover flour to be transformed into matzah in the special oven they see being constructed in the synagogue courtyard. Ezra and Rosa are accompanied every step of the way by their energetic cat, Gorbe. An unfortunate mishap forces the children to venture into the crowded marketplace, where their neighbors are doing last minute purchases for their own holiday celebrations. Luckily, a neighbor whom Ezra ran into early in the story is able to solve their problem. Readers join the family and their neighbor around their seder “table” or sofreh as the father starts their seder.
Bright and colorful, detail-filled illustrations take you into Ezra and Rosa’s home and the marketplace. They capture the movement of the children as they go through their tasks, especially Ezra, whose energy gets them into trouble. Emotional expressions are clearly represented. The bright colors, turquoise, red, and green, are eye-catching.
In the text, readers are introduced to new terms for foods and other items associated with the holiday, such as hallaq or charoset. The story is followed with a brief explanation of Passover, a glossary of Persian (Farsi) and Hebrew terms used in the text, and an illustration and explanation of the seder plate. Also included is a short history of the Jews in Persia or Iran. The final text in this delightful book is the recipe for the family’s Persian-style charoset, or hallaq.
With A Persian Passover, families are introduced to another facet of the diverse worldwide Jewish community. It is commendable that Kalaniot Books is taking this step to expand the horizons, especially for children. Missing from the book is the link to the Activity Guide, which can be downloaded from the publisher’s website (KalaniotBooks.com). This is an added, extra component to the book that further engages the readers.
1 Annette B. Fromm is the review editor and associate editor of Sephardic Horizons.