Book of Customs: A Complete Handbook to the Jewish Year » (First Edition)

Scott-Martin Kosofsky is an award-winning book and typeface designer in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For the past fifteen years he has worked increasingly in the field of Jewish studies, having produced such notable books as The Harvard Hillel Sabbath Songbook, The Jews of Boston, A Survivors' Haggadah, and Esther's Children, a lavishly illustrated history of the Jews of Iran.

Fifteen years ago while researching Jewish imagery, award-winning book designer Scott-Martin Kosofsky happened upon a 1645 edition of the Minhogimbukh—the "Customs Book"—a beautifully designed and illustrated guide to the Jewish year written in Yiddish, the people's vernacular. Captivated, he investigated further and learned that from 1590 to 1890, this cross between a prayer book and a farmer's almanac was immensely popular in households all across Europe. Published in dozens of editions and revised over the centuries in Venice, Prague, Amsterdam, and throughout Germany before moving eastward in the nineteenth century to Poland and Russia, these books detail the evolution of Jewish custom over three hundred years. But by the 1890s, as Jewish practice became polarized between the secularist and traditionalist views, the Minhogimbukh disappeared.

There are no works quite like the historical customs books available today—none so thorough and concise, intuitive in organization, and beautiful. Inspired by the originals, Kosofsky set out to make his own, adapting the books for modern use, adding historical perspective and contemporary application. The result is the reappearance of the Minhogimbukh after more than a hundred-year absence, and the first complete showing of all the original woodcuts—a visual vocabulary of Jewish life—since the 1760s. Faithfully based on the earlier editions, The Book of Customs is an updated guide to the rituals, liturgies, and texts of the entire Jewish year—from the days of the week and the Sabbath to all the months with their festivals, as well as the major life-cycle events of wedding, birth, bar and bat mitzvah, and death. With the revival of this lost cultural legacy, The Book of Customs can once again become every family's guide to Jewish tradition and practice.

Library Journal

For over 400 years, The Book of Customs was "among the most popular Jewish books in the European Diaspora, just after the Bible, the siddur (prayerbook), and the Passover haggadah." Originally published in Yiddish in the late 1500s, it was a basic explanation of Jewish customs written for the everyday reader. What made it so visually appealing was the inclusion of many woodcuts, which appeared in versions from 1593 to 1768. Kosofsky, a book designer and editor specializing in Judaica and a trustee of the Associates of the Boston Public Library, has resurrected and updated this commonplace book, which has evolved through the centuries. The book is divided into chapters that address the fundamentals of Jewish custom and law, prayer, Sabbath, the Jewish holidays, weddings, and more. Kosofsky has updated the material with an easy-to-read text, and he has wisely loaded the book with stunning woodcuts. Libraries with strong Judaica or religious studies should definitely consider adding this delightful and accessible little volume.-Paul Kaplan, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.