One of the causes of the renaissance of the illumination of Haggadoth, Esther scrolls and other religious manuscripts during the eighteenth century, was the rise of new circles of wealthy court Jews, who endeavored to ״imbue every circumstance of Jewish religious life with an atmosphere of luxury and beauty.[״[1 Though numerous editions of the printed paper Haggadah were available, they preferred to commission scribes with artistic abilities to produce illuminated, multicolored manuscript Haggadoth on parchment.
The original of the Haggadah, a facsimile of which is presented here, was completed in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the first day of Rosh Hodesh Adar I 5529 (1769). The manuscript artist indicated his name and origin in the text at the bottom of the title page as well as in the colophon: Yehoshua ben Rabbi Mordecai Babad of Walcz.[2]
The Babads were a distinguished family of rabbis, who played a very important role in the life of Polish Jewry. The name is an acronym of the Hebrew Bnei Av Beth Din (the children of the Av Beth Din).
The scribe also informs us that he is a descendant of the author of Ir Binyamin, a book about the Aggadoth of the Tamud. The author, Rabbi Binyamin Ze’ev Wolf Romaner, served as rabbi in Lakacze (Wolyn), Zmigrod (Galicia), Dessau and Metz. The two parts of his book were printed in Frankfurt on the Oder (1698) and in Fuerth (1722), respectively.
The Haggadah like most manuscript Haggadoth of the eighteenth century, is modeled after the 1695 and 1712 Amsterdam Haggadoth, whose copper plate illustrations were widely copied and imitated by artists and printers.
The illustrations, in the order of their appearance in the Haggadah, represent the following: The Seder of the Sages in Bnei Brak, the Four Sons, Abraham destroys the idols of this father, the three angels visiting Abraham, Moses slaying the Egyptian, Pharaoh’s daughter finding Moses, the exodus of the Israelites, the plague of the frogs, Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh, a series of miniatures depicting the Ten Plagues, the Israelites crossing the sea, the giving of the Law, the Passover meal in Egypt, the Israelites’ hard labor, David at prayer, Nissan-whose zodiacal sign is Aries-the month of the the exodus, and the Temple in Jerusalem.
All pictures, with the exception of those showing the month of Nissan and the Israelites’ hard labor, are based on the illustrations of the 1712 Amsterdam Haggadah.
The title page is adorned with the figures of Moses and Aaron, who are also found on the title pages of the Amsterdam Haggadoth and as well as on the title pages of many other printed Hebrew works. The illustration on top of the title page represents Jacob’s dream.[3]
This Haggadah, like the Amsterdam Haggadoth, presents the instructions for the observance of the Seder in Hebrew, Judeo-German and Judeo-Spanish, features both the Ashkenazi and the Sefardi versions of the Grace after Meals, and contains the Judeo-German versions of the songs Adir Hu, Ehad Mi Yode’a and Had Gadya. There are only short explanations of the ״order״ of the Seder and of Had Gadya.[4]
The illustrations reveal considerable artistic skill. The text of the Haggadah is clearly and beautifully written, but is not vocalized.
The original of this Haggadah is in the possession of Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem Ms. 4-540. It is written on parchment and the illustrations are in color. Four years ago it was shown in the Israel Museum in an exhibit of illuminate Haggadoth of the eighteenth century.[5]
The Babad Haggadah, 1769, as we chose to call it for its scribe and illustrator is a Haggadah of artistic and historic interest. Rabbi Munish Weintraub, deserves our thanks for his great efforts in preparing the first printed edition of this illuminated manuscript Haggadah, to be presented to the friends and supporters of the Diskin Orphan Home in Jerusalem.
Tovia Preschel March 1987Acknowledgement We wish to express our thanks to Mr. Refael Weizer and the directors of the Jewish National and University Library of Jerusalem for having granted us permission to reproduce this Haggadah Ms. Heb. 4-540.
1. See Ernest M. Namenyi “The Illumination of Hebrew Manuscripts after the Invention of Printing” in Jewish Art (edited by Cecil Roth, 1971, p. 156).
2. In Illustrated Haggadoth of the Eighteenth Century, published by the Israel Museum (see below note 5), the manuscript artist’s place of origin is given as Wolletz, which, probably, is the place by that name in East Germany. It is more likely that Walcz in Poland is meant here.
3. See note 4 in Hebrew article.
4. See note 5 in Hebrew article.
5. On the occasion of the exhibit the Israel Museum published Illustrated Haggadoth of the Eighteenth Century (Hebrew-English) by Haviva Peled-Carmeli. It contains comments on some pictures of our Haggadah.