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Aharon's Jewish Books and Judaica
600 South Holly Street Suite 103
Denver, Colorado 80246
303-322-7345
800-830-8660
Map to Aharon's Jewish Books and Judaica
Store Hours
Monday
through Thursday 9 AM to 6 PM
Friday 9 AM to 2 PM
Sunday 9 AM to 4 PM
History
As of 2006[update], the oldest complete readable manuscript of the
Haggadah is found in a prayer book compiled by Saadia Gaon in the
tenth century. The earliest known Haggadot (the plural of Hagaddah)
produced as works in their own right are manuscripts from the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries such as "The Golden Haggadah"
(probably Barcelona c. 1320) and the "Sarajevo Haggadah"
(late fourteenth century). It is believed that the first printed
Haggadot were produced in 1482, in Guadalajara, Spain; however this
is mostly conjecture, as there is no printer's colophon. The oldest
confirmed printed Haggadah was printed in Soncino, Italy in 1486
by the Soncino family.
Although the Jewish printing community was quick to adopt the printing
press as a means of producing texts, the general adoption rate of
printed Haggadot was slow. By the end of the sixteenth century,
only twenty-five editions had been printed. This number increased
to thirty-seven during the seventeenth century, and 234 during the
eighteenth century. It is not until the nineteenth century, when
1,269 separate editions were produced, that a significant shift
is seen toward printed Haggadot as opposed to manuscripts. From
1900–1960 alone, over 1,100 Haggadot were printed.[6]
Published in 1526, the Prague Haggadah is known for its attention
to detail in lettering and introducing many of the themes still
found in modern texts. Although illustrations had often been a part
of the Haggadah, it was not until the Prague Haggadah that they
were used extensively in a printed text. The Haggadah features over
sixty woodcut illustrations picturing "scenes and symbols of
the Passover ritual; [...] biblical and rabbinic elements that actually
appear in the Haggadah text; and scenes and figures from biblical
or other sources that play no role in the Haggadah itself, but have
either past or future redemptive associations".[7]
While the main portions of the text of the Haggadah have remained
mostly the same since their original compilation, there have been
some additions after the last part of the text. Some of these additions,
such as the cumulative songs "One Kid" ("חד
גדיא") and "Who Knows One?"
("אחד מי יודע"),
which were added sometime in the fifteenth century, gained such
acceptance that they became a standard to print at the back of the
Haggadah. In more recent times, attempts to modernize the Haggadah
have been undertaken primarily to revitalize a text seen by some
as "no longer expressing their deepest religious feelings nor
their understanding of the Passover festival itself".[8] However,
Orthodox Judaism does not approve of this "modernization"
and still uses the historical texts.[9]
Notes and references
1. pesachim 116a
2. see tosafos bava batra 46b who states that every time the Talmud
says Rav Nachman it is Rav Nachman bar Yaakov
3. see Rashi there
4. Taub, Jonathan; Shaw, Yisroel (1993). The Malbim Haggadah. Targum
Press. ISBN 1-56871-007-0.
5. As Rav Yehudah haNasi was a student of Yehudah bar Elaay and
the teacher of Rav and Shmuel
6. Yerushalmi pp. 23–24
7. Yerushalmi p. 34
8. Yerushalmi p. 66
9. Yerushalmi p. 98
* Scherman, Rabbi Nosson & Zlotowitz, Rabbi Meir, Artscroll
youth haggadah: Mesorah Publications (ISBN 0-89906-232-6) |