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Full Description
THE HOLISTIC HAGGADAH is a fascinating guide to the inner journey that the Passover Seder evening offers us. It is a daring commentary that challenges each of us to go down into our self-imposed Mitzraim (Egypt) and face our attachments and the false gods that confine us. It then beckons us forth to true freedom and a more meaningful relationship between ourselves and God.
Besides the ritual question How is this night different from all other nights? the most common question asked at the Seder table is probably, When is the food coming? The Holistic Haggadah asks deeper questions: How are you going to be different this night? How are you prepared to let this night change you?
This commentary incorporates a holistic approach to Judaism, which activates the four worlds of the individual: the world of action, the world of emotion, the world of intellect and the world of spirit. It weaves a beautiful tapestry, illuminating the treasures available to us within Passover and the yearly festival cycle.
It is the hope that this Haggadah will find a place in the hearts of all those whose souls, regardless of denomination, yearn for greater depths and higher vistas, and will provide spiritual sustenance not only on Passover but the entire year.
The Holistic Haggadah presents a contemporary spiritual commentary on the meaning of freedom and its relationship to serving God.
From The Holistic Haggadah:
"The Alienated Child is angry. With compassion and understanding must come the answer. Help the child soften. Explain that a rejection of the Divine is a rejection of Self; that giving up leads to self-condemnation in the crucible of enslavement; that there are many questions but not necessarily corresponding answers. The entire evening, in fact, can be seen as being dedicated to this dejected and rejecting child."
"Hametz is bread soft, delicious bread. It consists mainly of empty space produced by a gas that does not sustain human life. Its great volume is an illusion of its true essence. Hametz is symbolic of our inflated, swollen egos mostly hot air."
"Matzah is unleavened bread produced by mixing flour and water, but fermentation is prevented by immediate baking. Matzah is what it appears to be the essence. It is uninflated. It may not be as soft and as tasty as hametz but it doesnt need those facades to be what it is. It represents being. It represents being just you, just who you are with your ego, but an uninflated ego. For after all, the ego is not bad, as it is a necessary part of the interface between the physical world and the spiritual world."
About the author:
Through The Holistic Haggadah, Michael Kagan shares his teachings and holistic approach to Judaism that he has developed through experiential workshops and lectures in Israel and around the world. He moved to Jerusalem in 1977, has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is married to Ruth Gan Kagan and has five children. He describes himself as an ortho-practicing, but unorthodox, Jew.
Includes the full traditional Passover Haggadah text in Hebrew with a new translation and original commentary in English by: Michael Kagan
translations of Hallel and Blessings over the Meal by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
includes illustrations by Sandra Pond
Hardcover, 239 pages
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