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Ten Plagues from a Haggadah by Asher Kalderon

like-minded learners from

across the state and

24"

Alterman Gift

around the world.

A

You benefit from

dedicated professors

U-M acquires vast Haggadah
collection for study, research.

giving personalized

instruction, as well

as from hands-on

experience in a strong

Yaffa Klugerman
I Special to the Jewish News

West Michigan economy.

f you close your eyes when
you stand next to the extensive
new Haggadah collection at the
University of Michigan Library in Ann
Arbor, you can almost hear the voices:
Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, French,
German, Persian, English and many
others, all telling the same story of the
Exodus in their own unique ways.
The newly acquired collection
includes more than 1,800 different
Haggadot and is said to be the largest
Haggadah collection in any American
public university It includes Haggadot
large and small, ancient and modern,
and illustrated by renowned artists.
"The sheer volume and the variety
of types of Haggadot from a number
of countries in numerous languages
make this a very comprehensive col-
lection:" noted Elliot Gertel, U-M's
Irving M. Hermelin Curator of Judaica.
"It will be of value to scholars in reli-
gious texts, art and design, history, and
Jewish culture and tradition:'
This unique compilation belonged
to the late Irwin Alterman of West
Bloomfield and was donated by his
widow, Marilyn McCall Alterman.
"Irwin appreciated the Haggadot on
many different levels; she recalled.
"He liked them intellectually, reli-
giously, artistically and philosophically.
This was aside from the fact that he

I

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The Alterman Haggadah collection
features more than 1,800 different
Haggadot.

loved Passover; he was so emotionally
attached to that holiday. He began with
a modest grouping, but when we joint-
ly decided to pursue the acquisition of
a wide variety of Haggadot — those
that we found interesting or special —
he became even more enthusiastic and
ambitious:"
Attorney Eugene Driker, a longtime
friend of Irwin's, arranged for McCall
Alterman to meet with Deborah
Dash Moore, director of U-M's Jean
& Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic
Studies. Moore noted that McCall
Alterman felt the Haggadot would be
a valuable asset to the large number
of Judaic Studies students and faculty
who could benefit from them.
"I regularly teach the Passover
Haggadah in my course on the history
of American Jews, in part because it
is the holiday most American Jews
observe," Moore said. "Its structure
around a home ritual meal makes it
particularly amenable to interpreta-
tion. I was thrilled the Frankel Center
could take the initiative to acquire
this collection — to act as shadchan
[matchmaker] between the University
library and Marilyn McCall Alterman
— because it puts U-M into the fore-
front of scholarly repositories of Jewish
ritual creativity:'
McCall Alterman recalled how much
her husband enjoyed his collection.
"He found so much to appreciate in
each individual Haggadah," she said.
"He liked the various twists. He liked
the sizes, the unique shapes and the
different types of covers. Some were
round or triangular, on scrolls or
parchment, and one was entirely in
Braille:'
The gift to U-M, she felt, was a
fitting way to honor her husband's
memory.
"I think," she said, "that he would
hope that people would see that there
are ways to not just tell the story, but
to appreciate the way the story was
told:'

❑

32

April 9 • 2015

