By: Alice B. McGinty / Illustrated by: Jennifer Black Reinhardt"A happy congregation is the sunshine of my heart."Rabbi Benjamin loves his congregation, and they love him. That's why on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the Rabbi's congregation presents
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By: Alice B. McGinty / Illustrated by: Jennifer Black Reinhardt
Rabbi Benjamin loves his congregation, and they love him. That’s why on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the Rabbi’s congregation presents him with a special holiday vest with four silver buttons and decorated with designs symbolizing the major holidays celebrated throughout the year. Rabbi Benjamin loves it! He also loves all the holiday treats that his families proudly fill him with-including delicious, crispy latkes; scrumptious matzoh-ball soup; irresistible apple torte; and honey cake.
As the year passes, Rabbi Benjamin’s beautiful vest stretches tighter and tighter across his belly, and one by one the shiny silver buttons pop!-pop!-pop! off. When summer comes, Rabbi helps his congregation with their gardening, with the hiding of Chanukah presents, with the apple picking, and the fishing. Will all this hard work help Rabbi fit into his beautiful vest when Rosh Hashanah rolls around again?
A charming tale of the joys of community and celebration, with a subtle message of enjoying in moderation and staying healthy. An easy way to keep fit: lend a helping hand.
Jennifer Black Reinhardt’s deliciously sweet illustrations highlight the humor and love that this close-knit congregation shares. Back matter includes traditional holiday recipes and a glossary of terms.
If you like this book, youll enjoy these:
Welcoming Elijah
A Moon for Moe and Mo
The Ugly Vegetables
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Alice B. McGinty, author
Alice B. McGinty is the award-winning author of more than forty books for children. She is a writer, reader, writing coach and instructor, book reviewer, and mom. Alice has led music sessions for religious school and has taught prekindergarten classes in her synagogue for many years. Alice lives in Urbana, Illinois.
Read more about Alice.
Jennifer Black Reinhardt, illustrator
When Jennifer Black Reinhardt was in elementary school, she wanted to draw the pictures on greeting cards when she grew up. She went on to do that and moreshe has an illustration degree from Carnegie Mellon University and is the illustrator of The Adventures of a South Pole Pig. Jennifer lives in Iowa City, Iowa.
Read more about Jennifer.
Publishers Weekly, starred review
Rabbi Benjamin and his congregation are besotted with one another, but when the community presents its leader with a yellow-gold vest to wear on holidays, decorated with four shiny silver buttons, they neglect to factor in one thing: Jewish holidays mean lots of irresistible, calorie- and emotion-laden Jewish cooking. As the rabbi grows increasingly portly at various dinners, its clear to both him and his attentive dog that the vest and its silver buttons are not engineered to expand. Oy-yoy-yoy! You dont have to be Jewish to love this marvelously funny, wholly original story about the intersection of faith, food, and familiesin fact, its got a wrap-up that Michelle Obama would applaud: Rabbi Benjamin discovers that a regimen of community-centered exercise (like helping one family plant a Sukkot garden) can work wonders. McGintys (Gandhi: A March to the Sea) loving, lighthearted prose is as sunshiny as her characters, while Reinhardts (The Adventures of a South Pole Pig) detailed watercolors depict a diverse congregation brimming with endearing idiosyncrasies and mutual affectiona real mishpochah.
School Library Journal
Rabbi Benjamin has a loving relationship with his congregants, who present him with a holiday vest one Rosh Hashanah as a token of their esteem. During Sukkot, Chanukah, and Passover, he overindulges in the treats cooked up by his friends. One by one, his buttons pop off as his stomach expands. Instead of despairing, the man spends the summer helping his friends with tasks that give him a good workout, and by the following Rosh Hashanah, he is pleased to accept a wonderful new vest (with the retrieved buttons) to replace the stretched and battered old one. A number of positive themes run through this story: community, hospitality, health, problem solving. Diversity is celebrated in the cheerful watercolor and ink illustrations, which include mixed-race and single-parent families in the congregation, as well as a dad flouting traditional gender roles as he cooks and takes care of his baby. These holidays provide a framework for the story but are not the focus. The many universal themes are more central to the book than the Jewish content and make it appropriate for general audiences. The four recipes (one for each holiday) will also appeal across cultures. A pleasant story that can be used year-round as a celebration of Jewish heritage, the love of community, and the importance of eating right.
Association of Jewish Libraries
As a token of their love for Rabbi Benjamin, his Walnut Street congregants give him a yellow vest embroidered with a menorah, lulav branches, and torah scrolls. Four shiny silver buttons down its front complete the rabbi’s new multi-holiday look. Over the course of the year, as Rabbi Benjamin liberally samples Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Hanukkah, and Passover foods, his belly expands. Eventually, the vest fabric stretches so much that each silver button pops off. Lacking basic sewing skills, the portly rabbi uses a safety pin, tallit clips, string, and staples in a makeshift attempt to replace the stray buttons. Over the summer, Rabbi Benjamin loses the extra weight by planting a garden, hiding Hanukkah presents, fishing for carp, and harvesting apples. The now baggy vest still doesn’t fit, but the story’s sweet ending is tailor-made to bring a smile to every food-loving fashionista. Reinhardt’s illustrations of the bearded rabbi, who favors not only cheery vests but also high-water black pants, are done in watercolor and ink. The book includes a one-page glossary of Judaic terms and recipes for honey cake, fruit strudel, latkes, and matzo ball soup.
The Horn Book Magazine
“A happy congregation is the sunshine of my heart,” proclaims Rabbi Benjamin. The love-fest goes both ways, and his congregants at the Walnut Street synagogue present him with a Jewish holiday-themed vest on Rosh Hashanah. After blowing the shofar, it’s time to eat: homemade apple torte, honey cake, and more, “until his holiday vest stretched tightly across his belly.” A couple of weeks pass; now it’s Sukkot, and as Rabbi Benjamin feasts at each family’s sukkah, all of that stuffed cabbage, sweet-potato pie, and fruit strudel cause him to quite literally burst one of his buttons–“pop!” With first Hanukkah, then Passover still to come, the rest of those buttons don’t stand a chance. “Oy-yoy-yoy…I’ve ruined my special holiday vest!” laments the rabbi as the last buttons fly off during the Goldwassers’ Seder (one button lands in the horseradish, the other in the prophet Elijah’s cup). A little physical activity throughout the summer and fall brings back his waistline…but what about his special present? Nisht gedeyget [don’t worry]! When Rosh Hashanah rolls around again, the congregants have a little something up their sleeve. There’s much joy in this cheery holiday book, from the spry text’s kid-pleasing sound effects (pop! splat! plop! splish-splash!), to casually presented but informative details about each holiday, to the matter-of-fact depiction of a range of Jewish families in the detail-filled watercolor and ink illustrations, to that bright-yellow, menorah-festooned vest–which is ugly in the way that all good holiday garments are. Back matter includes information about and recipes for each holiday and a glossary.
Booklist
A grateful congregation presents their beloved Rabbi Benjamin with a special holiday vest containing four silver buttons. He proudly wears the garment for Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Hanukkah, and Passover, although the vest gradually becomes a bit soiled and quite tight as he overindulges in holiday foods, resulting in buttons popping off at inopportune times. Embarrassed, Benjamin spends the summer and early fall hard at work for his familiesplanting, picking, sweating, and fishing. By New Years, the vest again fits, but without the buttons its not quite the same. Luckily the congregation is one step ahead with a brand new vest. Reinhardts watercolor-and-ink illustrations are well suited to this sunny, slyly humorous text: at each holiday, families ply the rabbi with delectable goodies, and buttons always pop into the festive foods. Concluded with recipes and a glossary, this makes a good introduction to the cycle of Jewish holidays. (The gentle caution about overeating is a bonus.)
Download the CoverDownload the Educators GuideTry a Chanukah RecipeTry a Passover RecipeTry a Rosh Hashanah RecipeTry a Sukkot Recipe
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-58089-432-6
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-58089-433-3
E-book
ISBN: 978-1-60734-747-7 EPUB
ISBN: 978-1-60734-632-6 PDF
Ages: 4-8
Page count: 32
10 1/2 x 9 1/2
Correlated to Common Core State Standards:
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 2. Standards 1-7 and 10.
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 3. Standards 1-7 and 10.
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