Nostalgia Sunday – Old-New Haggadah

April 17, 2011 - 1:27 PM by Rachel Neiman

In every generation, the Haggadah says, we must regard our telling of the Passover story not as a retelling but as a personal history, “as if he himself had come out of Egypt”. Perhaps that’s the reason that, although the Seder ritual was put into writing in Mishnaic times (70-200 CE), the Haggadah continued to evolve over the centuries, with songs, chants and other bits added in until it’s form was more or less set with the advent of the printing press.

It took the mimeograph machine and the advent of short-run office-scale printing to enable people, once again, to tell their personal Passover story. Since the mimeo’s invention more or less coincides with the Zionist movement and the birth of the Jewish State, there’s little wonder in the fact that every youth movement, kibbutz, moshav or workers union stencil-printed up a non-traditional Haggadah, each with its own ritual and its own ideological bent.

For example, in 1944, the members of Kibbutz Heftzibah printed up a Haggadah that included a few passages from the traditional text. Mostly, it presented songs and reading-texts by Hayim Nahman Bialik (who would become Israel’s first national poet), Labor Zionist thinker Berl Katznelson, Biblical leader Zrubavel, 11th century poet Yehuda HaLevi as well as references to the recent Holocaust and current efforts, in opposition to the will of the British Mandate, to bring the Jews of Europe to the Land of Israel.

This simple little pink-covered pamphlet, by the way, recently sold at auction for $220, after having been listed for $100.

In 1943, the members of Kibbutz Kfar Giladi created a stenciled Haggadah, with hand-painted illustrations. In addition to passages from the traditional text and reading passages, it refers to the new immigrants from Iran, the “Teheran Children”: ” In two Egyptian trains the young olim from Teheran arrive, in all 1,200 people…”

In 1948, the year of Israel declared and battled for its independence, the cultural committee of the Histadrut — a.k.a., the General Union of Hebrew Workers in Eretz Yisrael — published a Haggadah that, alongside the traditional text, included prayers over the four glasses of wine: one for the liberty of Israel, one for the Jewish State, one for free Aliya, and one for the defenders and the army, as well as a special “Yizkor” memorial prayer for the War of Independence victims.

The Haggadah printed up by Haifa’s Central Youth Circle of the Eretz Yisrael Workers Party in 1949 doesn’t have outstanding graphics but is noteworthy for the whiny tone taken in its alternative to the traditional text: “This night we dine all of us together, members of the circle and guests, joyous and celebrating… in a banquet hall and not in our own clubhouse as was promised to us for a very long time”. Despite their obvious disappointment at not having their own digs, we can only hope they had a good time anyway.

The history of Kibbutz Be’eri can be told through the above three Haggadot. The first (far left) was issued in 1946 by a Binyamina-based group of Israeli scouts, Kvutzat HaZofim Bet. The second (center) was printed in 1948, after HaZofim Bet merged with Kvutzat Be’erot. According to Kibbutz Be’eri’s website (wittily entitled Wikibbutz), “The Haggadah was similar in nature to those commonly accepted by the Kibbutz movement in those days… integrating biblical and traditional Haggadah texts with contemporary poetry and prose divided along the following themes: spring, the Exodus from Egypt, freedom, the Holocaust and the ingathering of the Exiles in the Land of Israel, liberation of man and the Jewish people from slavery, and Israel’s independence.

The third (at right) was first issued in 1951 and represents how far the kibbutz had come in so little time. The Haggadah, published by Be’eri Printers, founded in 1950, features striking illustrations by Paul Kor, one of Israel’s leading graphic artists.

Be’eri Printers continues today to be a leading innovator in print, specifically advanced mailing and personalized printing.

Israeli artist Arieh Allweil, created the Haggadah for I.D.F. soldiers, published by the Chief Military Rabbinate in 1950. According to the Kedem Auction House’s notes, “The Haggadah opens with a blessing by Chief Military Rabbi Shlomo Goren followed by Pesach regulations for soldiers”.

The Ministry of Defense has since published a new Haggadah, under the supervision of Chief Military Rabbi Yisrael Weiss, illustrated with military pictures relating to story of Pesach.

No artist is credited for the dancing Miriam crossing the Red Sea with her darbuka in tow, but you’ve got to love the image that embodies so much of the non-traditional ideals expressed at Passover: joyous spring spirit, leaving slavery for freedom and independence and — at least on paper — gender equality. This Haggadah was created by Moshav Beit Herut in 1957.

While those of us who grew up in the States made Seder with the Maxwell House Haggadah (reissued this year after a long absence), urban Israelis celebrated with the HaSneh Insurance Company whose 1957 Haggadah deviated from tradition by presenting company promotional material. The cover was by Iris Schweitzer, who went on to write and illustrate children’s books in Israel and the US.

More fascinating Haggadot, traditional and non, may be found in the Kedem Auction House online catalogue — a real find for lovers of Judaica, Israeliana and related ephemera. The Duke University Library has an extensive collection that includes a long out of print bibliographic source book by Haggadot collector Nathan Steiner.

Enjoy them all and Chag Sameach! We wish our Israelity readers the happiest of holidays.

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