where the organization 
sponsored seders for the 
local Jewish community.
After last year’s invasion 
of Ukraine by Russia, Jewish 
holidays were important 
to sustain after an estimat-
ed tens of thousands of 
Ukrainians became refugees. 
For them, and the majori-
ty of Ukrainian Jews who 
remained in the country, the 
Joint has reissued its 1992 
Haggadah, with new intro-
ductions in English, Russian 
and Ukrainian. 
“Know the Jewish people 
remain responsible for one 
another,” stated the English 
introduction by Mark Sisisky 
and Ariel Zwang, JDC presi-
dent and CEO, respectively. 

Haggadot were among 
the yom tov necessities 
the JDC distributed shortly 
after its founding in 1914 to 
needy Jewish communities 
(including in Ukraine) and to 
Jewish soldiers in World War 
I, says Linda Levi, the JDC’s 
recently retired assistant 
executive vice president for 
global archives. “Facilitating 
Pesach and Pesach supplies 
was something we did since 
our earliest years.”
The full-color, bilingual 
1992 Haggadah, produced 
in collaboration with Scopus 
Films, a Jerusalem-based 
multimedia firm, was used 
by some Ukrainian refu-
gees and Jews remaining in 
Ukraine a year ago at JDC 

and local Jewish communi-
ty-organized seders. It was 
distributed to Jewish com-
munities in several countries 
— including Ukraine as well 
as Poland, Romania, Hungary 
and Moldova, where some 
Ukrainian refugees continue 
to find refuge.
As some Ukrainian Jews 
find it “politically sensitive” 
— and uncomfortable — to 
speak Russian and use a 
Haggadah in the language of 
the country that has attacked 
their homeland, almost all of 
them speak Russian — which 
was the lingua franca of the 
Soviet Union. Responding to 
communities’ request for a 
Ukrainian version, JDC has 
created and will publish a 

Haggadah in that language 
this year and will distribute 
it to Jews and Jewish com-
munities throughout Ukraine 
and to refugees remaining in 
Moldova and Poland. 
They will be used at JDC-
organized Passover events, 
which the relief group plans 
every year, as well as the 
distribution of matzah to 
tens of thousands of Jews. 
The new Haggadah will 
include the traditional text of 
the holiday booklet as well 
as the stories of Ukrainian 
Jews recounting, as the 
introduction says, “your joys, 
your challenges and your 
resilience.” 
This year in Ukrainian, 
indeed! 

56 | MARCH 23 • 2023 

continued from page 55

continued from page 55

PASSOVER

multivocality of the tradition 
itself. The Haggadah is such a rich 
and layered text, with so many 
additions from different times and 
places throughout Jewish history. I 
wanted to ... bring in new voices.”
Spitzer, who grew up in a 
rabbinic family, is steeped in 
Passover memories. “My parents 
routinely have seders that last five 
or more hours — we had long 
conversations.
“When I engage in a seder,” she says, 
“I bring my knowledge of Jewish text 
and Jewish history and of queer history 
… I bring my environmental planning 
career, my whole body and my artistic 
vision.”
Like many contemporary Haggadot, 
hers includes such features as Miriam’s 
Cup and gender-non-specific language 
(“ruler” instead of “king”) and Four 
Children instead of the familiar Four 
Sons. 
Spitzer calls her Haggadah “a 
pandemic project.” During COVID 
isolation, she had “time to engage with 
the Haggadah text, with the external 
sources that comprise much of the 
commentary, and with my art.” 

The result: A “Midrash 
in a new and exciting 
way.” It’s art that she 
designed as “a Midrash 
on Jewish text” — a 
visual commentary.

A NEW 
TRANSLITERATION
Next, we have Haggadah l’Pesach: 
Haggadah with Transliteration into 
Palestinian Arabic by Robby Berman, 
illustrations by Tali Povoloski (self-
published, 55 pages, $90.
The Haggadah, regarded as the 
most-published book in Jewish history, 
has appeared in all the scores of lands 
where Jews have lived. Berman has 
brought out a version in one of the 

official languages of the Jewish 
state — Arabic.
Sort of. His Haggadah includes 
transliterations, in Hebrew script, 
of the seder’s sung parts — like the 
Four Questions and Dayenu and 
the songs at the end of the evening 
— all in the Palestinian dialect 
spoke by local members of 
the Arab community. 
Berman, a native of 
Woodmere, Long Island, 
who formerly served as 
founding director of the 
Halachic Organ Donor 
Society, made aliyah three 
decades ago, lives in Jerusalem 
and works as a licensed tour 
guide.
A day school graduate, he 
identifies himself as “the only 
tour guide in Israel who is a Harvard 
graduate.” He also has degrees from 
Baruch College and Yeshiva University, 
speaks Arabic, Hebrew and English and 
performed stand-up comedy on the 
Tonight Show.
Berman’s Haggadah (available at 
intheboydem.com) is equally unique. 
While many full versions appeared in 

Gabriella 
Spitzer at work. 
RIGHT: Spitzer’s 
Haggadah

