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Garden of Time

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Garden of Time

Hardcover

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Hardcover
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Overview

“With beautiful images and words, The Garden of Time offers a magical path through the seasons and allows the sacred breath of life to blow through all our souls. Take a walk in the garden; be refreshed and renewed.” —Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, author of The Shema in the Mezuzah: Listening to Each Other

In this story based on ancient Jewish legend, Adam and Eve walk through the Garden of Eden, noticing what is happening around them and deciding what holidays they will celebrate based on what they see, smell, hear, and taste. Gorgeous text and art illuminate Judaism, the calendar, and the environment for both children and adults. Includes guides to the Jewish holidays and ancient iconography.

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About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558967298
Publisher:	Unitarian Universalist Association
Publication date:	09/01/2014
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Jill Hammer is the director of spiritual education at the Academy for Jewish Religion and a co-founder of the Kohenet Institute, a program in spiritual leadership for Jewish women. She has written four books: Sisters at Sinai: New Tales of Biblical Women, The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons, The Omer Calendar of Biblical Women, and The Hebrew Priestess. Her work has been published in many journals and anthologies, including A Family Treasury of Mitzvah Stories.

Zoë Cohen is a visual artist and art educator. She works from her home studio in West Philadelphia and teaches at The Universityof the Arts. She holds an MFA in visual art from Brooklyn College (CUNY). Her residencies include The Vermont Studio Center, Philadelphia's 40th Street Artist in Residence program, and the Artist-in-Residence program at Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral. Her work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Philadelphia, New York, and Berlin, and is in the permanent collections of The Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art and Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

07/28/2014
Hammer explores the Jewish legend of God’s teaching Adam and Eve the seasons, which Jewish holidays commemorate and are related to. The creative force is presented as the wind: “The wind breathed the breath of life into , and they woke up into the bright sun.” The wind instructs and accompanies them down a path that is a tour of the four seasons. At the end of the journey, the man and woman leave Eden (“Gently, the wind blew the people into the world”) to dwell in the garden of time, marked by the seasons. In an endnote, Cohen explains the ancient Near Eastern sources of her iconography. Her flat, simplified renderings suit the story’s mythic character. In her own endnote, Hammer discusses the relationship between the seasons and Jewish holidays, as well as the legends she drew from. While the text describes Jewish holidays, the book also lends itself to interfaith religious education. All ages. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

As Adam and Eve discover seasons in The Garden of Time, readers become aware of the universal spirituality and meaning for living within each Jewish holiday. Zoë Cohen's beautiful paintings, which echo ancient Near Eastern art, invite readers into an ancient paradise that is both magical and deeply rooted in the earth. Rabbi Jill Hammer is a world-class storyteller, helping children and adults to connect their experiences in nature to festivals like Hanukkah and Passover. A wonderful teaching aid, intergenerational and multifaith discussion starter, and perfect holiday gift.” —Rabbi Goldie Milgram, co-editor of Mitzvah Stories: Seeds for Inspiration and Learning

“The Garden of Time reveals the cycle and meaning of time, the seasons, and the Jewish holidays in many-splendored ways. Jill Hammer's poetic, midrashic writing led me to see the passage of time in technicolor and with all my senses and to experience it with a renewed vision and a bountiful appreciation. I enthusiastically recommend this transcendent book as an intergenerational shared story!” —Peninnah Schram, author of The Apple Tree's Discovery

“Gracefully written and beautifully illustrated, The Garden of Time roots each holiday in its season, in the cycle of nature. In our urban, speeded up, digital lives, nature is often little more than an amusement or an obstacle, and we can forget how integral the seasons are to our cycle of holidays. Jill Hammer's lilting text and Zoë Cohen's surprising drawings remind us that the cycle of our holidays is rooted in the cycle of nature. I look forward to reading this book with children in my family and community.” —Arthur Strimling, Maggid HaMakom, Congregation Kolot Chayeinu, Brooklyn, NY

From the Publisher

2014-06-30
Can a book be too beautiful for its own good?Hammer's sentences sound nothing like ordinary speech. The book is a poem, and every paragraph is packed with dense imagery. Like the best poetry, it teaches readers how to navigate it, but the lesson won't come naturally to everyone. The sentences sound like this: "Always, there was a circle of sun and rain, night and day, seed and fruit, earth and sky. Always, the wind was with them to blow them toward the next season." The phrasing is so formal and stylized that some people may find themselves reading each sentence more than once. Readers who enjoy the challenge will appreciate the story, an extended metaphor in which a tour of the Garden of Eden represents the cycle of Jewish holidays. The imagery is striking: "Name this day Purim, the festival of good luck," is a clear, blunt description of the holiday, but it's also a surprising, complicated metaphor about the nature of Purim. Cohen's painted illustrations are also packed with meaning, and some pages are filled with iconography from Coptic and Mesopotamian cultures.Not everyone will appreciate a picture book that requires a glossary and a guide to iconography, but those who do may find that they need to read this one. (Picture book/religion. 6-10)

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