Page 174 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

WHAT IS TRUE ABOUT THIS BOOK

ALTHOUGH THE STERNS' SEDER IS NOT STRICTLY A
traditional one, it is a mirror of the Seders my family
used to hold. My Uncle Louis was the one who always
said, "And how do I know? Because I was there!" while
hiding the afikoman in plain sight under his chair for
the youngest to find and hide again. The word Seder
literally means "order," but my family's religious life
was not an orderly one. Like many American Jews, it
was one of rough-and-tumble choices and lots of love.
We were Jews because we were born Jewish, not be-
cause of following strict rules. When I had to memorize
Hebrew and history for my Confirmation, I continually
complained how tired I was of remembering. However,
there is an orderly progress to a Seder that a perusal
of its guidebook, the Haggadah, will show to the curious
reader.

All the facts about the horrible routinization of evil in

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