One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe

Some of my most distinct childhood memories are from Passover Seders. This makes sense, as one of the largest goals of the ritual is to teach the next generation our collective history. If the kids don’t remember it, then what’s the point? That being said, I also remember the Seders being very, very long. Which is probably a distortion of time since, unlike my friends families who were still telling the stories into the wee hours of the morning, I was never awake past midnight. But STILL, when you have to tell the whole story before eating the meal, things can get pretty long for a kid. Which is why I near lost my mind laughing at the premise of One Little Goat, the graphic novel by Dara Horn and illustrated by Theo Ellsworth – a Seder that never ends.

You see, typically the end of the meal is signified by eating a special piece of matzah called the afikomen. This morsel is supposed to symbolize the sacrificial lamb Jews ate in the time of the temple, and no other foods are supposed to be eaten after it. Of course, once you give a piece of food such hefty meaning new traditions are bound to spring up – including the one that has the leader of the Seder hide the afikomen and all the children search for it throughout the meal so that later they can bargain for a gift in exchange for its return. After all – without the afikomen the Seder cannot end. Which is exactly the problem faced by the family in the One Little Goat. The baby has snatched the afikomen and thrown it somewhere nobody can find, leaving them to continue the Seder for 6 entire months! A time crunch made all the more real by the mother who goes from announcing she is pregnant at the beginning of the book to being nearly ready to deliver by the end.

Now, my father was a big fan of reminding me that technically speaking he was allowed to designate any piece of matzah as an afikomen and therefore I should not be making my demands too high. Halachikally (according to Jewish law) he was right. This Seder could have ended long ago with a random piece of matzah substituted in for the missing one, but I think he would agree to suspend his disbelief because one of his favorite parts of the seder is the singing of the song Had Gadyah. The title refers to one little goat and the song details all the tragedies that befell it. Interpretations are numerous, but the major one insists the goat is the Jewish people and each tragedy is another tragic diasporic event we experienced until God came and rescued us. However, in One Little Goat the goat is the scapegoat, blamed for everything that has gone wrong in anyones life since the beginning of time. Turns out he is the one who threw the afikomen through some kind of time portal, and then forgot where he put it. My Dad was a fan of tricksters too. I think he’d be down for this development.

In any case, the eldest child of the family sets off with the goat through a series of Seders past to hunt down the missing afikomen. Along the way he and his siblings are compared to the four sons in the Haggadah, and he learns about many pivotal historical moments that occurred on Passover – like the Warsaw ghetto uprising and the very first Seder. He also meets such notable Jews as Dona Gracia Nasi and pairs of Talmudic scholars. With each encounter, his appreciation for the Seder and his family grows.

I found the story charming, and well worthy of the time spent reading it. I also think the average middle schooler will enjoy the jokes and gain a deeper understanding of the customs that make the Seder seem so long. I didn’t particularly love the art work, which is a shame since that’s half the battle with a graphic novel, but the story line pulled me through. When the Seder finally ends, the afikomen is not the only thing restored to its rightful place. Our wise son is ready to lead his siblings in a greater appreciation for Jewish history, their ancestors, and their beautiful growing family. It’s a sweet lesson, packaged with humor, and makes a great pre-Passover gift.

Note: Bookishlyjewish received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

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