A Cornucopia. Of H gadot
A unique kind of history book
that tells the story of the Hebrew
people's exodus from Egypt, the
haggadah has taken many forms
over the years.
CAROL COTT GROSS
Special to The Jewish News
ne of the staples of
Passover, along with
the seder plate, matzo
and ceremonial wine, is an
unusual history book called
the haggadah. Its pages, tell-
ing the story of the exodus
from Egypt in English and
Hebrew, are read aloud at the
Passover dinner table on the
first and second seder nights
and provide the text for the
Passover ceremony.
For more than 1,000 years,
the story of Passover was
handed down orally. About
2,000 years ago, the haggadah
began to acquire the shape it
has in its printed form today
— an anthology that weaves
folklore and legend, celebra-
tion of the rites of spring and
biblical commentaries, and
songs and nursery jingles.
In the early Middle Ages,
before the invention of print-
ing, wealthy Jews commis-
sioned illuminated and il-
lustrated manuscript hag-
gadahs. These beautiful texts
gave Jewish artists and
scribes the opportunity to ex-
press their aesthetic impulses
without violating the biblical
prohibition against creating
"graven images." So careful
was a 13th-Century German
artist who executed what has
become known as the "Bird's
Head Haggadah," for exam-
ple, that he distorted the
faces of his human figures
lest he violate Jewish law.
After the printing press
was invented, haggadahs
were easily reproduced and
distributed. The haggadah
has been translated into
almost as many languages as
the Bible itself.
The world "haggadah"
comes from the Hebrew ex-
pression for "telling," and
fulfills the biblical edict in
Exodus 13.9: "And thou shalt
tell your child on that day,
saying, It is because of that
46
Friday, April 10, 1987
which the Almighty did for
me when I came out of
Egypt."
The haggadah is a fluid
text, subject to evolution, re-
evaluation and revitalization.
The process of change and
modification prevents the
seder — which is conducted in
the home by participants at
the Passover meal — from
becoming a static ceremony.
Since the 1960s in the
United States, there have
been some dramatic changes
from the haggadahs of
Passovers past. A number of
publishers have been turning
out beautifully produced hag-
gadahs with larger type and
lavish color illustrations by
famous artists.
These newer haggadahs
range over the spectrum of
religious, social, political and
aesthetic concerns of
American Jews. Some hag-
gadahs written in the 1960s
and '70s reflect Jewish in-
volvement in the civil rights
movement, such as the inclu-
sion of the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a
Dream" speech and illustra-
tions depicting whites and
blacks celebrating Passover
together.
Others reflect the sym-
pathy American Jews feel
toward Soviet Jews and the
State of Israel. The women's
liberation movement has also
had its influence on some
Haggadahs: Masculine
references have been changed
to nonsexist nouns and pro-
nouns. During the seder
ceremony for example, "the
youngest child," instead of
"the youngest son," is
directed to ask "The Four
Questions." The title of one of
the familiar parts of the seder
has been changed from"The
Four Sons" to "The Four
Children."
Some Hebrew scholars,
however, do not think
feminism is responsible for
the changes. They say the
changes represent an attempt
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
An illustration accompanying the "Haller hymn: King David kneeling in prayer. In front of him is an open Book of Psalms
and musical instruments; a harp hangs on the central pillar. All illustrations from the Copenhagen Haggadah.
at a more authentic transla-
tion from the Hebrew.
In 1982, the Reform and
Conservative branches of
Judaism published their own
new haggadahs. In these
texts, traditional Passover
rituals, symbols and events
remain constant. Revitaliza-
tion occurs through new in-
terpretations, readings from
contemporary sources and
the addition of modern
artwork.
The preface to the Reform
movement's "Passover Hag-
gadah" by Herbert Bronstein
says that this version "will
bring forth what is utterly
new from what was present in
the old."
In the preface to the Con-
servative movement's "Pass-
over Haggadah: The Feast of
Freedom," published by The
Rabbinical Assembly, the
Illustration of "And they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses
(Exodus 1:11).