Haggadah
The Haggadah is a foundational Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table fulfills the mitzvah incumbent on every Jew to recount the Egyptian Exodus story to their children on the first night of Passover.
History
Authorship
According to Jewish tradition, the Haggadah developed during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods, although the exact timeframe is unknown. It has existed in different forms over history and therefore cannot be attributed to a single author. Its corporate author is traditionally designated as the Baal Haggadah. There is also a tradition that the term Baal Haggadah refers to an anonymous individual from the time of the Gaonim who devised the standard version used today. It is unlikely that it was assembled before the time of Judah bar Ilai, the latest tanna quoted therein. It is usually assumed that a set text did not exist prior to a crucial dispute about the Haggadah's arrangement recorded in the Babylonian Talmud. The Vilna edition of the Talmud identifies the participants in that dispute as Abba Arika and Samuel of Nehardea, but the later was more likely Rava. From a statement of Rav Nachman, it appears he was aware of a set Haggadah text, but there is a dispute about which Rav Nachman the Talmud referred to, Rav Nachman bar Yaakov, or Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak. A minority of commentators, including Naftali Maskil LeAison, author of the Malbim Haggadah, believe that the Haggadah's text was already complete at the time of Abba Arika and Samuel and that they were arguing about the Haggadah's interpretation rather than its arrangement. The Malbim Haggadah theorizes that the Haggadah was written by the compiler of the Mishnah, Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi.One of the most ancient parts is the recital of the Hallel, which, according to the Mishnah, was sung at the sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem, and of which, according to the school of Shammai, only the first chapter shall be recited. After the Psalms a blessing for the Redemption is to be said. This blessing, according to Rabbi Tarfon, runs as follows: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, Master of the Universe Who redeemed us and redeemed our fathers from Egypt and brought us to this night.”
Another part of the oldest ritual, as is recorded in the Mishnah, is the conclusion of the "Hallel", and the closing benediction of the hymn "Birkat ha-Shir", which latter the Amoraim explain differently, but which evidently was similar to the benediction thanking God, "who loves the songs of praise," used in the present ritual.
These blessings, and the narrations of Israel's history in Egypt, based on Deuteronomy 26:5–9 and on Joshua 24:2–4, with some introductory remarks, were added in the time of the early Amoraim in the third century CE.
In post-Talmudic times, during the era of the Geonim, selections from midrashim were added. The siddur of Rav Amram Gaon includes one of the earliest examples of the Haggadah, and it served as a foundational source for later iterations. Of the midrashim included in Amram Gaon's version, one of the most important is that of the four children, representing four different attitudes towards why Jews should observe Passover. This division is taken from the Jerusalem Talmud and from a parallel passage in the Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael; it is slightly altered in the present ritual. Other rabbinic quotes from the aggadah literature are added, as the story of Eliezer ben Hurcanus, who discussed the Exodus all night with four other rabbis, which tale is found in an altogether different form in the Tosefta.
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 little goat" and "Who Knows One?", which were added sometime in the fifteenth century, gained such acceptance that they became a standard to print at the back of the Haggadah.
The text of the Haggadah was never fixed in one, final form, as no rabbinic body existed which had authority over such matters. Instead, each local community developed its own text. A variety of traditional texts took on a standardized form by the end of the medieval era on the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities.
The Karaites and also the Samaritans developed their own Haggadot which they use to the present day.
During the era of the Haskalah, some Eastern European Jewish communities began to develop groups, or movements, which shaped their views on modifications to the Haggadah. Reform Judaism, which began as part of the Haskalah, generally does not treat any single Haggadah text as normative and encourages liturgical creativity outside a halakhic framework. While widely used Reform Haggadot exist, individuals and communities are also free to create their own, reflecting contemporary values and inclusive theology. In response to the Reform movement, Orthodox Judaism arose. Orthodox Judaism accepted certain texts as normative, and discouraged changes to the text.
Manuscript history
The oldest surviving complete manuscript of the Haggadah dates to the 10th century. It is part of a prayer book compiled by Saadia Gaon. It is now believed that the Haggadah first became produced as an independent book in codex form around 1000 CE. Maimonides included the Haggadah in his code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah. Existing manuscripts do not go back beyond the thirteenth century. When such a volume was compiled, it became customary to add poetical pieces.The earliest surviving Haggadot produced as works in their own right are manuscripts from the 13th and 14th centuries, such as the Golden Haggadah and the Sarajevo Haggadah. Other significant medieval illustrated haggadot are the Birds' Head Haggadah and the Washington Haggadah.
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, Lombardy 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 to 1960 alone, over 1,100 Haggadot were printed.
It is not uncommon, particularly in America, for haggadot to be produced by corporate entities, such as coffee maker Maxwell House – see Maxwell House Haggadah – serving as texts for the celebration of Passover, but also as marketing tools and ways of showing that certain foods are kosher.
Illuminated manuscripts
The earliest Ashkenazi illuminated Haggada is known as the Birds' Head Haggadah, made in Germany around the 1320s and now in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.The Rylands Haggadah is one of the finest Haggadot in the world. It was written and illuminated in Spain in the 14th century and is an example of the cross-fertilisation between Jewish and non-Jewish artists within the medium of manuscript illumination. In spring and summer 2012 it was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in the exhibition 'The Rylands Haggadah: Medieval Jewish Art in Context'.
The British Library's 14th century Barcelona Haggadah is one of the most richly pictorial of all Jewish texts. Meant to accompany the Passover eve service and festive meal, it was also a status symbol for its owner in 14th-century Spain. Nearly all its folios are filled with miniatures depicting Passover rituals, Biblical and Midrashic episodes, and symbolic foods. A facsimile edition was published by Facsimile Editions of London in 1992.
Published in 1526, the is known for its attention to detail in lettering and for 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 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".
Other illuminated Haggadot include the Sarajevo Haggadah, Washington Haggadah, and the 20th-century Szyk Haggadah.
Passover Seder according to the Haggadah
''Kadeish'' (blessings and the first cup of wine)
Kadeish is the Hebrew imperative form of Kiddush. This Kiddush is a blessing similar to that which is recited on all of the pilgrimage festivals, but also refers to matzot and the exodus from Egypt. Acting in a way that shows freedom and majesty, many Jews have the custom of filling each other's cups at the Seder table. The Kiddush is traditionally said by the father of the house, but all Seder participants participate by reciting the Kiddush and drinking at least a majority of a cup of wine. On Shabbat, it is preceded by a reading from the Book of Genesis recounting God's rest on the seventh day of creation and includes an extended doxology on the blessings of Shabbat.''Ur'chatz'' (wash hands)
Partakers wash their hands in preparation for eating wet fruit and vegetables, which happens in the next stage. Technically, according to Jewish law, whenever one partakes of fruit or vegetables dipped in liquid, one must wash one's hands, if the fruit or vegetable remains wet. However, this situation does not often arise at other times of the year because either one will dry fruits and vegetables before eating them, or one has already washed one's hands, because one must also wash one's hands before eating bread.According to most traditions, no blessing is recited at this point in the Seder, unlike the blessing recited over the washing of the hands before eating bread. However, followers of Rambam or the Gaon of Vilna do recite a blessing.