A rare collection of Passover Haggadot from various periods in the history of the Jewish people has been uploaded to the National Library website • Among them is a chilling Haggadah written in the Holocaust • View the moving documentation
In preparation for Passover, the National Library has launched a new website with the stories of some of the most special Passover Haggadot in the world.
The site reveals some of the rarest and most special Haggadahs, some from the period of the establishment of the state and some at the age of several hundred years.
The National Library has a total of about 8,500 Haggadot, in a collection that is considered comprehensive in its field in the world.
The special collection contains thousands of impressive ancient Haggadahs, some of them rare, from different periods and from diverse countries, in printed editions or manuscripts, many of which have great historical value and a fascinating story behind them.
One of the rare Haggadahs is the text of the Haggadah from 1482 that originated in Spain.
This is the only copy in the world of the first printed Haggadah.
This bank was printed in Wadi al Hagara (Guadalajara), in central Spain, about a decade before the deportation of Jews from Spain.
The new technology of printing came to Spain during this period, and this bank is an impressive and rare testament to the high technological level of printing among the Jews of Spain.
The Haggadah was printed in square letters on high-quality dark paper, in a simplistic design, without illustrations.
Another special bank located in the collections of the National Library was printed in 1943 in the city of Benghazi in Libya in honor of Seder, which was celebrated after the liberation of the city by the British Army.
British soldiers drew simple illustrations for the Haggadah, and in order to print enough copies, the editors of the Haggadah confiscated telegrams and office documents of the Libyan Governor-General, typed the Haggadah on the back, and duplicated.
The Haggadah opens with an introduction linking the Exodus from Egypt to the Holocaust taking place in Europe: "Great are the torments and troubles of the nation of Israel and its great heroism ... In every generation enemies have risen to its brim and the present generation has surpassed all in its wickedness. The Jews of Europe are oppressed. "
Another important part of the collection includes dozens of versions of the Haggadot, which were published on the eve of the establishment of the state.
These Haggadahs, designed and planned, express the spirit of the struggle for the establishment of the state and the moods of Jewish society in Israel and the Diaspora, and reflect the process of shaping Israeli culture.
Hitler as Pharaoh and Bondage Camps: The Haggadah from the Nazi Rule
Another Passover Haggadah, also inspired by World War II and the Holocaust, was printed in 1946 for Seder night in the Munich DP camp.
Yosef Dov Shinzon, a Holocaust survivor, arranged and edited the Haggadah in Yiddish and Hebrew, and included illustrations by the Hungarian artist and Holocaust survivor, Zvi Miklos Adler.
The Unified Zionist Organization and Naham (United Pioneer Youth) printed the Haggadah for the survivors, and the U.S. military printed another edition for Seder night, which he conducted for Jewish-American soldiers who served in Munich.
This Haggadah does not include the entire traditional wording, but it does have chilling illustrations, linking the atrocities the survivors experienced firsthand, to the story of the Haggadah.
Pharaoh becomes Hitler, and the enslavement and torment of the children of Israel in Egypt are presented with illustrations of concentration and extermination camps, guard towers, barbed wire fences, and German soldiers.
The illustrations also convey a message of hope and potential redemption, through immigration to the Land of Israel.
For example, in the illustration for "We Were Slaves", between survivors, chimneys and barbed wire fences, the sun shines and symbolizes a new and better future.
Recent illustrations in the Haggadah include ships, beaches, and the verse "Go, go ... to the land," and call on survivors to make "Europe's exit" a reality.
Dr. Joel Finkelman, Curator of the Haim and Hannah Salomon Jewish Collection at the National Library: "In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Haggadah and the story of the Exodus are restored and renewed by Jews from a variety of streams and ideologies, according to their worldview.
They change, "renovate", and recreate the texts and illustrations of the Haggadah, in order to tell the story, which promotes and reflects the narrative and needs of the creators of the Haggadah. "
To view the Haggadot on the new National Library website, click here