By Stanley Aaron Lebovic

"As the son of the Nazi concentration camps, I grew up hearing the first-hand testimony of a witness to humanity s darkest moment. Dr. Mengele supplanted Dr. Seuss, and the Big Bad Wolf did a lot more than huff and puff. 

Sleeping with the lights on might keep the Boogie Monster at bay, but nothing could beat back the horror of being tucked under the covers by an arm branded with death camp numbers.

As my father left my bedside and headed out the door, he would pause and turn back toward me. Did you say your prayers? he would invariably ask.Did I what?!How can you bequeath me such an encounter with the devil, and expect me to believe in a loving God?Do you really believe in a happy ending?

Yet somehow, he did. He and countless other survivors experienced hell on earth, and still found the strength to believe.What happens when a generation grows up in comfort on the heels of so much horror?

How do I make peace between my tranquil existence and my father s brutal past?When the life you are bequeathed does not resemble the life you are leading, there exists a great inner dilemma. Moreover, I am raised, not only to believe in, but to embrace the very God responsible for the atrocities of my father's generation.

It is this struggle to have faith in the midst of madness, and the unique Jewish response to it, that is the subject of Black is a Color, a collection of works, rendered through art and prose, that express how traditional Jews found and still find hope and faith in the midst of the deepest darkness.It is an illumination of man s post-Holocaust spiritual stature; a search for the happy ending."

By Stanley Aharon Lebovic

Escape Velocity works under a very simple assumption:

The Haggadah is the one source Jews use, on the one night they have, to express, and be impressed, by their faith.

Escape Velocity sees to it that the Haggadah lives up to that promise. It strives to find relevance in a story few Jews can relate to. It recognizes the intent of the text and places enormous demands on it to not only be a good read, but for it to be a good feel ... for it to be felt: deeply.

Escape Velocity is a how-to of sorts. It sets an example of how to bring one's self to the Seder table and intertwine the richness inherent in each of us with the poetry and song found throughout the Haggadah. It reveals an ancient tale which is told by the wise and the pious, but one that is meant to be read and listened to by the Jew of today. It is a celebration of synthesis between the wisdom of the ancient's and modern man's unique vantage point - a post-Apocalyptic vantage point.

When the Haggadah is read through the eyes of such a generation, it takes on an existential tone and moves from a commemoration of an event in the past, to a celebration of our lives in the now.

Large heirloom edition: 13.75 x 9.75 inches and weighs almost 4 lbs.

Gripping illustrations with over 60 full-page and in full-cover

Silver gilded pages provide a luxury finish

A fully illustrated pull-out section that spans more than 3 feet!

The perfect gift to buy for the host of your Seder or to provide for each person at your Seder (they will not want to share this one.)

Also makes an excellent Bar and Bat Mitzvah gift.

A set of Black Is A Color and the Escape Velocity Haggadah by Stanley Lebovic.