Only a grump could dislike the Passover song “Chad Gadya,” about the Old Country goat whose untimely death led to a string of other events.
Whether sung in English or Hebrew, called “One Only Kid” or “The Lone Goat” or whatever, the lively folk song offers a rousing close to what can be a tedious, eye-drooping seder — for children, anyway.
Adults, too, (perhaps due to warm childhood memories, if nothing else) warm up to the Haggadah song.
Likewise, with the new children’s book “Had Gadya,” what’s not to like?
Quite simply, it provides the song lyrics in English and transliteration, accompanied by wonderful paintings. Afterwards, there is a transliteration of all 10 verses, a one-page musical arrangement, and a two-page blurb on the history and symbolism of the song.
Seymour Chwast’s folksy, almost rustic renderings of Eastern European village life evoke the generic shtetl that is harkened by the song. An artist of national stature whose work can be found everywhere from Manhattan’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to the cover of the New York Times’ Book Review, Chwast said he wanted to illustrate the song “because I was fascinated by the idea of what happens when you end up where you began.
“In the cycle of life, every year there is renewal and every year there is Passover.”
Following the song and pictures is a rounded viewpoint of “Chad Gadya,” by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism. Examining the folk song from multiple perspectives, he lends insight into its meaning — including its dark side, though he does not dwell on this.
His enlightening analysis may come as a shock to the innocent: The seder song about the little goat can be viewed as a metaphor for the oppression and liberation of the Jewish people, Strassfeld explains. But even in that light it is a “hopeful expression of the inevitable triumph of good in the world,” he writes.
But this is not meant to be a heavy book. One can skip the analysis, in fact, and just enjoy the words and pictures.
And though the Angel of Death is indeed frightful, he only appears on two pages, and is stricken down by a blaze of God’s light.
At the end of the story, a happy family sits round the seder table, toasting “l’chaim!” Outside, the villager and his benevolent goat look on.
“Had Gadya” illustrated by Seymour Chwast (28 pages, Roaring Brook Press, $16.95).