The Origins Of The Seder

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.

After the Bible, the Passover haggadah is the most widely read classic text in the Jewish tradition. More than four thousand editions have been published since the late fifteenth century, but few are as exquisite as the Washington Haggadah, which resides in the Library of Congress. Now, a stunning facsimile edition meticulously reproduced in full color brings this beautiful illuminated manuscript to a new generation. Joel ben Simeon, the creator of this unusually well-preserved codex, was among the most gifted and prolific scribe-artists in the history of the Jewish book. David Stern’s introduction reconstructs his professional biography and situates this masterwork within the historical development of the haggadah, tracing the different forms the text took in the Jewish centers of Europe at the dawn of modernity. Katrin Kogman-Appel shows how ben Simeon, more than just a copyist, was an active agent of cultural exchange. As he traveled between Jewish communities, he brought elements of Ashkenazi haggadah illustration to Italy and returned with stylistic devices acquired during his journeys. In addition to traditional Passover images, realistic illustrations of day-to-day life provide a rare window into the world of late fifteenth-century Europe. This edition faithfully preserves the original text, with the Hebrew facsimile appearing in the original right-to-left orientation. It will be read and treasured by anyone interested in Jewish history, medieval illuminated manuscripts, and the history of the haggadah.

The Passover haggadah enjoys an unrivaled place in Jewish culture, both religious and secular. And of all the classic Jewish books, the haggadah is the one most "alive" today. Jews continue to rewrite, revise, and add to its text, recasting it so that it remains relevant to their lives. In this new volume in the JPS Commentary collection, Joseph Tabory, one of the world's leading authorities on the history of the haggadah, traces the development of the seder and the haggadah through the ages. The book features an extended introduction by Tabory, the classic Hebrew haggadah text side by side with its English translation, and Tabory's clear and insightful critical-historical commentary.

The life and times of a treasured book read by generations of Jewish families at the seder table Every year at Passover, Jews around the world gather for the seder, a festive meal where family and friends come together to sing, pray, and enjoy traditional food while retelling the biblical story of the Exodus. The Passover Haggadah provides the script for the meal and is a religious text unlike any other. It is the only sacred book available in so many varieties—from the Maxwell House edition of the 1930s to the countercultural Freedom Seder—and it is the rare liturgical work that allows people with limited knowledge to conduct a complex religious service. The Haggadah is also the only religious book given away for free at grocery stores as a promotion. Vanessa Ochs tells the story of this beloved book, from its emergence in antiquity as an oral practice to its vibrant proliferation today. Ochs provides a lively and incisive account of how the foundational Jewish narrative of liberation is remembered in the Haggadah. She discusses the book's origins in biblical and rabbinical literature, its flourishing in illuminated manuscripts in the medieval period, and its mass production with the advent of the printing press. She looks at Haggadot created on the kibbutz, those reflecting the Holocaust, feminist and LGBTQ-themed Haggadot, and even one featuring a popular television show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Ochs shows how this enduring work of liturgy that once served to transmit Jewish identity in Jewish settings continues to be reinterpreted and reimagined to share the message of freedom for all.

"A groundbreaking haggadah that presents the Exodus narrative in its entirety and highlights the actions of its female characters. Falk's ... commentaries invite us to bring personal reflections to the story; her revolutionary blessings, in Hebrew and English, offer a nonpatriarchal vision of the divine; and her kavanot--meditative directions for prayer--introduce a new genre to the seder ritual"--Page 4 of cover.

"Although the idea of 'keeping Passover' has too often come to mean the strict observance of an unending string of ordinances, decrees, rules, regulations, testimonies, precepts, laws, and statutes, it can as well mean the safekeeping of something precious and worth preserving. Tradition should be like the ballast that keeps a ship steady in an ocean of constant stormy change." From one of the nation's leading Haggadah experts comes the ultimate guide to creating a faithful and personal seder celebration. Emphasizing "thou may" instead of "thou shalt," Steingroot presents all the traditional and alternative options. Keeping Passover explores: the meaning of the Passover symbols how to choose the right Haggadah food, cookbooks, and table arrangements music, recordings, and learning to sing the songs ways to involve children the art of keeping Passover fresh every year Keeping Passover is a much needed and highly accessible resource offering a rich assortment of methods -- from simple to elaborate, traditional to innovative -- to enhance, preserve, and celebrate the seder.

Passover and Easter constitute for Jews and Christians respectively two of the most important religious festivals of the year. This volume concentrates on the contexts in which they occur - the periods of preparation for the feasts and their connection to Shavuot and Pentecost.