[The haggadah] was made to teach, and it will continue to teach. And it might teach a lot more than just the Exodus story." What do you mean?" Well, from what you've told me, the book has survived the same human disaster over and over again. Think about it. You've got a society where people tolerate difference, like Spain in the Convivencia, and everything's humming along: creative, prosperous. Then somehow this fear, this hate, this need to demonize 'the other' -- it just sort of rears up and smashes the whole society. Inquisition, Nazis, extremist Serb nationalists.. same old, same old. It seems to me that the book, at this point, bears witness to all that. Geraldine Brooks
About This Quote

In Jewish tradition the Haggadah is a book that accompanies the Passover service. It is made from lambskin and contains all of the text that is recited during the Passover service. The Haggadah has been translated into numerous languages and is a vital part of Jewish culture. The Haggadah tells a story of a people who were oppressed by a foreign empire and a small community who had to flee from their homeland to find freedom. Now, it has been translated into over fifty languages and continues to be used every year by thousands upon thousands of Jews who celebrate Passover.

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More Quotes By Geraldine Brooks
  1. [The haggadah] was made to teach, and it will continue to teach. And it might teach a lot more than just the Exodus story." What do you mean?" Well, from what you've told me, the book has survived the same human disaster over and over...
  2. A book is more than the sum of its materials. It is an artifact of the human mind and hand.
  3. Book burnings. Always the forerunners. Heralds of the stake, the ovens, the mass graves.
  4. Who is the brave man--he who feels no fear? If so, then bravery is but a polite term for a mind devoid of rationality and imagination.
  5. I wonder where he lies. Wedged under a rock, with a thousand small mouths already sucking on his spongy flesh. Or floating still, on and down, on and down, to wider, calmer reaches of the river. I see them gathering: the drowned, the shot. <span...
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