With so many Jewish books depicting Ashkenazi history or culture, it’s always a pleasure when we find a quality book about Sephardic Jews. The earth-toned interiors and deep red and blue cloaks firmly root this month’s book for five- and six-year-olds, The Mountain Jews and the Mirror, in a North African Jewish community, where after a wedding the guests congratulate the bride and groom in Ladino: mazel bueno!
In this original folktale, newlyweds Estrella and Yosef reluctantly leave their village in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco to work in the big city. Relatives find them a job and a place to live. But their home village was rustic – so rustic that they have never seen a mirror before. When they separately catch sight of their own reflections, each thinks the other has taken another, more attractive, spouse. Of course, the confusion is resolved, and the young couple, and even the rabbi, come away with a new recognition of their strengths, and themselves.
There is a sweet simplicity to this story. The couple’s error has a touch of Chelm about it, but although Yosef and Estrella are ignorant of modern life, their naivety is treated gently rather than as a joke. Moving outside one’s comfort zone can be alarming for anyone, and the young people’s experience is handled here with respect.
Although they are far from home, the newlyweds immediately become part of a new community (kehillah). Estrella and Yosef both instinctively turn to the rabbi for help with their problem, and it’s the kindness of locals that gives them the foundations to begin their life together.
At ages five and six, children are old enough to have family discussions about the Jewish values in this book, including kindness, community and helping those less fortunate, and they can also begin to learn about the different Jewish communities around the world. This simple folktale yields many rewards.
October 21, 2019