In the Market of Zakrobat

‘The Tal­mu­dic sto­ry about Yosef, a poor man whose unerr­ing love for the obser­vance of Shab­bat grants his life dig­ni­ty and pur­pose, has been recre­at­ed for young chil­dren by Ori Elon and Mena­hem Hal­ber­stadt in their book In the Mar­ket of Zakro­bat. With tex­tu­al atten­tion to the details that con­vey mean­ing in a sim­ple way, and with del­i­cate­ly beau­ti­ful pic­tures, both author and illus­tra­tor con­vince their read­ers of an impor­tant truth; hold­ing on to mate­r­i­al pos­ses­sion brings their own­er noth­ing, while shar­ing enrich­es both the gen­er­ous per­son and those who ben­e­fit from his or her kind­ness. Its ancient set­ting and fairy tale qual­i­ty pair with a clear sense of rel­e­vance today, as two very dif­fer­ent char­ac­ters con­trast to make a gen­tle point about lead­ing a mean­ing­ful life….   Halberstadt’s char­ac­ters are com­ic and dig­ni­fied at the same time. The car­toon-like sim­plic­i­ty and exag­ger­a­tion of their faces make them rec­og­niz­able types; the wealthy miser [Bal­tosar] radi­ates resent­ment, but the man of faith is able to appre­ci­ate what he has. When Yosef finds a giant gem inside his care­ful­ly cho­sen Shab­bat fish, two pic­tures define his per­son­al­i­ty. In the first, he rais­es one eye­brow in aston­ish­ment, then he embraces his young daugh­ter. At the meal where he has invit­ed every­one to enjoy his good for­tune, he rais­es his arms in their frayed sleeves and clos­es his eyes, trans­port­ed to a lev­el of hap­pi­ness that Bal­tosar will nev­er know. Elon and Halberstadt’s inter­pre­ta­tion of Yosef’s sto­ry is as sweet and reward­ing as Yosef’s Shab­bat celebration.’ – Jewish Book Council

Ori Elon co-created the popular Israeli TV show/Netflix series Shtisel, and he brings the same winning combination of deep Jewish rootedness and up-to-date storytelling sensibility to this delightful picture book…. His lively, sometimes-silly storytelling is well matched by Menahem Halberstadt’s colorful art, which is cartoonish but never crass. People are depicted with varying skin tones, hair types, and styles of dress, reflecting the ethnic diversity of a place that was an international crossroads….  The story, which opens by mentioning the Gemara, is thoroughly Jewish. The lesson about the mitzvah of honoring Shabbat is crystal clear, but never explicitly stated as a lesson. Restoring the much-told tale to its Babylonian source is a welcome touch, and Elon and Halberstadt’s light-hearted treatment will appeal to today’s readers, whether they’re hearing the story for the hundredth time, or the first.’ – The Sydney Taylor Shmooze