A Feast of History

THE Seder meal on the eve of Pass over is "the most universally ob served and therefore the most unifying of all Jewish ceremonies," says British Author Chaim Raphael. When Jews throughout the world sit down to the meal this week, they will recount and reflect again on the 3,000-year-old story of how the Angel of Death "passed over" the Israelites when slaying Egypt's firstborn, as told in the Seder narrative, the Haggadah.

They could have no better guide than Raphael's lively, scholarly new history of Passover, A Feast of History (Simon & Schuster; $12.50). Drawing on a rich selection of illustrations, Raphael traces celebrations of the Seder back through the centuries, all the way to Abraham (rabbinic lore anachronistically had it that he celebrated a Seder with the three angels who visited him centuries before the Exodus).

Raphael also provides the full Hebrew-Aramaic text of the Haggadah, along with his own English version. For the translation of the Bible narrative he eschews modern editions in favor of the King James Version, because it preserves the "loving intimacy which the rabbis had with the original." But when it comes to the Haggadah's blessings, prayers and songs, he applies a free hand, as in his cheerful rendering of this favorite from 7th century Palestine:

When Pharaoh cried: "O woe

is me!"

Passover Eve, Passover Eve, God passed our doors, so all

could see

His firm resolve to set us free On Passover Day in the morning.

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