Workitu’s Passover

In this touching, folk-like tale, Workitu, a young Ethiopian Jewish girl, discovers that her family’s Passover ritual of smashing their hand-made clay dishes, including her favorite cup, is a meaningful tradition of transforming the old into something new. Eden Spivak’s illustrations depict the warmth of rural village life.’  – Jewish Telegraph Agency 

‘In this charming and lovingly illustrated tale of a Jewish Ethiopian family, a young girl, Workitu, learns about her family’s Passover custom of breaking their dishes to be certain every trace of chametz is destroyed. Workitu cherishes certain pieces of the family pottery and can’t understand why the beautiful, graceful vessels should be shattered each year and then ground into powder.

Nevertheless, Workitu follows her mother’s instructions, and along with her little sister Almaz, carries the pottery to her nearby Auntie Balainesh’s where the shattering and grinding is to be done. Auntie Balainesh patiently explains that the old must make room for the new, and Workitu allows Auntie to teach her to mix the powder from the broken vessels with clay, to knead it and create new vessels. When Workitu realizes that the family’s dishes were made over at each Passover through the generations, she comes to appreciate the tradition and learns that sometimes you have to say goodbye to treasured things. She is proud of the new oil jug she fashioned out of her favorite cup and pot, and is ready to enjoy all the new pottery the next day at Passover.

I love the lyrical text by Zahava Workitu Goshen and the neutral tones (except for some small splashes of color) in the artwork by Eden Spivak. The Jewish content is strong and the book gives American children a wonderful opportunity to learn about an ancient Jewish Ethiopian tradition still carried on today. But you certainly need not be Jewish to enjoy this story and empathize with Workitu. There is a full recounting of the Passover story in the front of the book’. — Arlene Schenker, SydneyTaylorSchmooze.com

‘In this touching, folk-like tale, Workitu, a young Ethiopian Jewish girl, discovers that her family’s Passover ritual of smashing their hand-made clay dishes, including her favorite cup, is a meaningful tradition of transforming the old into something new. Eden Spivak’s illustrations depict the warmth of rural village life..’ – Penny Schwartz, Jewish Press of Tampa Bay

Which of us hasn’t smashed a bowl or two in changing over our chametz and non-chametz crockery for Passover? In Zahava Workitu Goshen’s childhood in Ethiopia, it was the practice to smash every chametz vessel in the home – and then grind down the clay, mix it with new and use it to shape fresh vessels for Pesach, which would be deemed free of chametz. This breaking and re-making is now the focus of a memorable picture book, co-written by Goshen and Maayan Ben Hagai, illustrated by Eden Spivak and translated by Jessica Bonn.’ – Angela Kiverstein, The Jewish Chronicle

‘With beautiful illustrations throughout, this is a meaningful tale about the importance of letting go of the old to make space for the new, and how family traditions are passed on through generations.’ – Jewish Book World

‘This charming story is a perfect example of multicultural representation of the Jewish diaspora. Most Jewish children’s literature depicts white Ashkenazic Jews of European decent. It is important for children to see that there are Jews of all colors from all over the world. Jewish children will enjoy reading a different type of Passover story. But any child can appreciate the themes presented.’  – StoryBook Lady (Posted on Amazon.com and GoodReads) 

 ‘This fantastic new book tells the tale of a young girl as she prepares for Passover in her small Jewish community in Ethiopia. This story centers on the themes of tradition and the importance of family, renewal, and of remaking the old into the new. Workitu is upset because it is the custom in her village to break all the clay dishware every year and make new dishes. She does not want to give up her favorite dishes that her mother made. It is only when she helps her aunt make new ones, that she learns the old dishes are ground to powder and mixed into the clay for the new dishes. Then she can appreciate that in remaking the dishes, they are handed down through the generations and all her family are honored. Readers will appreciate this diverse Jewish representation.’ — story.book.lady (Instagram) 

‘Those accus­tomed to a thor­ough house-clean­ing before Passover will like­ly be intrigued to learn that the Beta Israel of Ethiopia pre­pare for the hol­i­day with a very dif­fer­ent rit­u­al. Instead of try­ing to remove every par­ti­cle of chametz from the home, the Beta Israel smash dish­es and then cre­ate new ones out of the remain­ing dust mixed with new clay. In Workitu’s Passover, the tit­u­lar young girl is ambiva­lent about this prac­tice but, through the sup­port of a strong female rel­a­tive, she learns how destruc­tion of old objects can cre­ate space for the new.

‘Authors Zaha­va Work­i­tu Goshen and Maayan Ben Hagai set the scene with a poet­ic descrip­tion of a village’s sounds: ​“a cow moo­ing, leaves blow­ing in the breeze, and the click­ing of her mother’s pes­tle and mor­tar.” In this world, slow and care­ful labor is required to pro­duce what is need­ed. Workitu’s sis­ter, Almaz, is enthu­si­as­tic about the new dress­es their father will weave for them for Passover, but Work­i­tu is dis­tressed: she finds the smash­ing of beau­ti­ful dish­es painful. Eden Spivak’s illus­tra­tion shows Work­i­tu sit­ting slumped on her bed, eyes down­cast. Sip­ping milk, she grasps her favorite cup with both hands and clos­es her eyes, as if think­ing about her immi­nent loss.

‘‘Work­i­tu is for­tu­nate to have the guid­ance of Aun­tie Bal­ain­ish, who patient­ly explains the impor­tance of main­tain­ing ties to the Jew­ish past, both recent and ancient. This con­nec­tion tran­scends geog­ra­phy, unit­ing dis­tant com­mu­ni­ties. It also val­i­dates the spe­cif­i’. It should be ‘Work­i­tu is for­tu­nate to have the guid­ance of Aun­tie Bal­ain­ish, who patient­ly explains the impor­tance of main­tain­ing ties to the Jew­ish past, both recent and ancient. This con­nec­tion tran­scends geog­ra­phy, unit­ing dis­tant com­mu­ni­ties. It also val­i­dates the spe­cif­ic prac­tices of Beta Israel. Only by work­ing togeth­er with a wise, old­er woman, does Work­i­tu come to under­stand her own role in this chain of tra­di­tion. ​“Her old things were secret­ly hid­den inside the clay they were using to make new things,” she rea­sons to her­self. Dis­cus­sion alone is not enough to con­vince Work­i­tu, but hands-on activ­i­ty makes the abstract idea real. Artis­tic cre­ativ­i­ty is also insep­a­ra­ble from Workitu’s change of heart. A care­ful descrip­tion, with an accom­pa­ny­ing pic­ture, details the indi­vid­ual choic­es she makes in craft­ing a new jug to hold olive oil. Chil­dren will relate to the styl­ized form, with han­dle and pitch­er resem­bling an ear and a nose. Spi­vak even adds an eye and a smile, cap­tur­ing Workitu’s con­cep­tion of her pot­tery as almost human. Earth col­ors, and var­ied com­po­si­tion, give a uni­fied tone to the illus­tra­tions. Obser­vance of Passover unites the Jew­ish peo­ple every­where. Work­i­tu learns to hon­or that ide­al while cel­e­brat­ing her own com­mu­ni­ty and her dis­tinc­tive char­ac­ter as well. This high­ly rec­om­mend­ed book includes an explana­to­ry afterword.’ — Penny Schwartz, Jewish Book Council

‘We must break old things to make room for the new. We break, but then we make again. Both with the same hands. Workitu’s Passover, written by Zahava Workitu Goshen and @maayanbenhagai, published by @green_bean_books is a GORGEOUS story of intergenerational connection, loss, rebirth, and tradition. Centered in Workitu’s own memories of her Ethiopian Jewish village, we learn about Beta Israel’s traditions to break and reshape their clay kitchenware and weave new clothes for Passover – but this story is so much more than that, filled with heartfelt emotion and familial love.’ — DiverseJewishBooks (Instagram)

‘Workitu’s Passover is a charming story that exposes children to a Jewish community and custom that is probably unfamiliar to them. Workitu is a fully realized character, as are her enthusiastic little sister and loving wise aunt. The conflict in the story, while the details are specific to this culture, is a universal one. Most children will be able to empathize with how hard it can be to give up old familiar things, especially when they’re cherished.
The stylized artwork is line drawings with digital colors added. The palette is subdued tones, like the clay pottery. The artist has added a curious baby goat to most of the pages.
This book could be a springboard for a discussion of how families prepare for Passover, the history of the Ethiopian Jewish community, or the difficulty of giving up old things. This title is highly recommended for purchase for homes, schools, and libraries.’ — Hillary Zana, Association of Jewish Libraries newsletter