National Public Radio/WBUR
April 4, 2012
Tom Ashbrook, Host
Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander, Guests
Almost everybody knows the ancient story of MosesMoses was the great Biblical prophet who is credited with leading the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and teaching them the divine laws at Sinai. The story of Moses is told in the book of Exodus in the Bible and is also told in the Qur’an, wher... and the Jews flight to freedom. Egypt. Slavery. The pharaoh, and plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea. Let my people go. It’s bedrock.
Celebrated writers Jonathan Safron Foer and Nathan Englander talk about their new American translation of the PassoverPassover, or Pesah in Hebrew, is a major Jewish holiday, also called “the festival of unleavened bread.” During the eight days of the festival, Jews commemorate God’s deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt, eating only unleavened bre... HaggadahThe Haggadah is the book containing the Passover seder service, retelling the story of the Jews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt., a story of freedom.
The Jewish remembrance of that story each year at Passover is elaborate, also ancient, and guided by the text called the Haggadah. There have been thousands of translations from the old HebrewHebrew is the ancient language of the Israelites in which the Bible and most of Jewish liturgy is written.. Now, celebrated American writers Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander have taken their turn.
This hour, On Point: a new American Haggadah, and the great old story of freedom.
[For full audio, visit “The Passover Haggadah.”]