The Haggadah of Pesach: text, illustrations, editions

The Haggadah of Pesach is the booklet that guides the conduct of the Seder, the ritual meal of the first (and, in the diaspora, the second) night of the Passover festival, organizing the narration of the Exodus from Egypt. Its text, fixed for the most part in the era of the Geonim but nourished by Mishnaic and midrashic materials, articulates narrative, the children's questions ('Ma nichtana'), commentaries, blessings, psalms of the Hallel, and songs. Fulfilling the commandment to recount the deliverance 'from generation to generation,' the Haggadah is one of the most copied, printed, and illustrated Hebrew books in history, from illuminated medieval manuscripts to the thousands of modern editions. Its versions reflect the sensibilities of each community and each era: Ashkenazic or Sephardic Haggadot, secularized kibbutz editions, Haggadot produced by survivors after the Shoah. The study of its texts and iconography thus constitutes a privileged prism through which to read the cultural, religious, and political history of the Jewish world.

Sources & resources

• Sefaria ↗
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan