The Safran Foer Haggadah
by Daniel Septimus • March 22nd, 2007 2:12 PM
Category: Culture, Daily Life & Practice, Holidays
The Forward’s got the scoop on novelist Jonathan Safran Foer’s next writing projects. The first is a continuation to his vegetarian activism:
Over the course of 2006, Foer spoke to specialists in biology, farming, ethics and nutrition as he drove around America visiting farms of all shapes, sizes and smells, those ranging from the small-scale organic to the industrial and downright toxic. He is chronicling his road adventure and the ecological crisis he observed in a new nonfiction book that looks to be a sort of muckraking cross between Edward Abbey and a modern version of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle.”
The second is a new kind of Passover Haggadah:
“Passover is the jewel in the crown” of Judaism, Foer said, arguing that we don’t hold “capital J” Jewish books like the Haggadah to the same literary standards as “lowercase j” books, like a Philip Roth novel, when we should.
“There’s no reason we can’t make this book as good,” he said. “The themes are so important, so relevant, so exciting. The stories — everybody knows the stories, [from] the 10 plagues to the parting of the Red Sea. They have so much resonance, and this is an opportunity for artists to do something with them. The Haggadah begs us to make it new.” (MORE)
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Member Since: Nov 2008 Posts: 104
[…] The Safran Foer Haggadah The Forward s got the scoop on novelist Jonathan Safran Foer s next writing projects. The first is a continuation to his vegetarian activism: Over the course of 2006, Foer spoke to specialists in biology, farming, ethics and nutrition as he drove around America visiting farms of all shapes, sizes and smells, those ranging from the small-scale organic to the industrial and downright toxic. He is chronicling his road adventure and the ecological crisis he observed in a new nonfiction book that looks to be a sort of muckraking cross between Edward Abbey and a modern version of Upton Sinclair s The Jungle. The second is a new kind of Passover Haggadah: Passover is the jewel in the crown of Judaism, Foer said, arguing that we don t hold capital J Jewish books like the Haggadah to the same literary standards as lowercase j books, like a Philip Roth novel, when we should. There s no reason we can t make this book as good, he said. The themes are so important, so relevant, so exciting. The stories ” everybody knows the stories, [from] the 10 plagues to the parting of the Red Sea. They have so much resonance, and this is an opportunity for artists to do something with them. The Haggadah begs us to make it new. (MORE) […]
Ezekah
Member Since: Oct 2006 Posts: 513
It sounds like Mr. Foer’s new Haggadah’s are nothing more than current liberal political issues wrapped within the context of Passover. While discussions about the issues of Passover are good, they should relate more to Jewish issues than liberal ones.