We are fortunate to have a remarkable opportunity to closely examine the Arthur Szyk's Haggadah at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Szyk (pronounced "Shick") created his magnificent Haggadah in Lodz, on the eve of the Nazi occupation of his native Poland. The Haggadah is filled with sumptuous paintings of Jewish heroes, tyrannical foes and stunning calligraphy. Behind the beautiful design and masterful illustrations Szyk carefully interjects his criticism of Nazism in Europe. Szyk, who immigrated to the US in 1940, was throughout his life a staunch visual commentator on social and political issues. He was known for standing up to tyranny and was dubbed "A Soldier in Art" by his peers. 

Unfortunately, tyranny and enslavement have not been eradicated yet. On Passover night we ought to be mindful of people in the US, in Israel and around the world who are not free. We bring you several samples of "Freedom Haggadot" and other resources with the hope that you will find a way to incorporate them into your Seders. 

Link to Social Justice Haggadot

Freedom and Justice seder

Pesach Seder Supplements on Economic Justice, Slavery, and other issues of Tzedek

A Human Rights Haggadah

Foreign Workers and their families

Bialik Rogozin high school's African refugee cross-country team to rep Israel at world championships    

Strangers No More, a film about the Bialik-Rogozin School in Tel Aviv, won the Academy Award in the category of Documentary (Short Subject) 2011  

Strangers No More - Oscar Winning Movie Trailer

Sudanese refugees

Ha'aretz: Articles on Sudan Refugees

Times of Israel: Topic Sudan 

Palestinians

47 years a slave: A new perspective on the occupation

Human Trafficking

Slavery-Free resources for educators

Global Slavery Index finds Jewish state doing relatively well, but problem persists

Two Historic Haggadot

And their Influence on contemporary Israeli artists

There are several Haggadot dating back to the Middle Ages that we are familiar with. These illuminated manuscripts tell historic tales of Jewish life and creativity. They are also fine examples of ancient Jewish art and are therefore being addressed visually in contemporary Israeli art. Two of the most widespread examples are the Birds' Head Haggadah and the Sarajevo Haggadah.

Birds' Head Haggadah

The Birds' Head Haggadah, the oldest surviving Ashkenazi illuminated manuscript (S. German, c. 1300), derives its name from the birdlike human figures illustrated in the manuscript's margins. This motif is believed to be related to the biblical (Second Commandment) prohibition against creating graven images. The Birds' Head Haggadah, discovered by Israeli art historian Bezalel Narkiss in 1946, the realistic human figure is avoided by providing it with the head and beak of a bird. Some of the figures wear helmet-like hats reminiscent of the conic hats Jews were obliged to wear in Ashkenaz (Germany) during the Middle Ages. From time to time new theories claim that the codex was illuminated by Christian artists who interjected anti-semitic elements by depicting Jews as ravens.

  

Michael Sgan-Cohen The Wandering Jew (left) and Zoya Chekassky The Aachen Hagaddah (right) 

Michael Sgan-Cohen 

Sgan-Cohen used the hybrid figure as a symbol of the wandering Jew and by association as his self-portrait. In his painting The Wandering Jew Sgan-Cohen used the motif of the Hand of God, pointing (in the picture) to the image of a man (the artist's self-image) with a bird's head wearing a Judenhut, a pointed Jewish hat that was forced upon Jews in the Middle Ages. The chair, a symbol of settling down, remains in the foreground empty for now.

Zoya Cherkassky

Cherkassky created the illustrated "Aachen Passover Haggadah" (named after the German city of Aachen where the artist did a residency). The Haggadah portrays graphic designs in red, black and gold - inspired by Jewish images, the Russian Avant-garde and anti-Semitic images. Throughout the Haggadah there are images of birds; their head is a Jewish head wearing a Streimel. These illustrations resemble the ones appearing in the Birds' Head Haggadah.The red, swollen feet symbolize the wandering Jew and the journey from Egypt to the Holy Land. 

The Sarajevo Haggadah

Sarajevo Haggadah - Creation

The Sarajevo Haggadah is an illuminated manuscript one of the oldest Sephardic Haggadahs in the world. Originating in Barcelona around 1350, the Haggadah has survived many close calls with destruction, including World War II and the Bosnian War. Historians believe that it was taken out of Spain by Spanish Jews who were expelled by the Alhambra Decree in 1492. Notes in the margins of the Haggadah indicate that it surfaced in Italy in the 16th century. It was sold to the National Museum in Sarajevo in 1894 by a man named Joseph Kohen.  The novel People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks (2008), crafts a fictionalized history of the Haggadah from its origins in Spain to the museum in Sarajevo. The fascinating history of Dervis Korkut, who saved the book from the Nazis, was told in an article by Geraldine Brooks in The New Yorker magazine. The article also sets out the story of the young Jewish girl, Mira Papo, whom Korkut and his wife hid from the Nazis as they were acting to save the Haggadah. In a twist of fate, as an elderly woman in Israel, Mira Papo secured the safety of Korkut's daughter during the Bosnian war in the 1990s.

Video: Sarajevo Haggadah - The Ultimate Survivor

Video: ABC Nightline - searching for Hope 1996

           

Sarajevo Haggadah "Moses receiving the Torah" (left), Arie Aroch "Moses of Sarajevo" (right)

Arie Aroch

The dramatic history of this Haggadah and its beauty fired the imagination of several Israeli artists, most notably the painter Arie Aroch. Aroch was familiar with the Sarajevo Haggadah and its illustrations, which interested him both thematically and composition-wise. 

Several pieces of his artwork are either directly related to the Haggadah or offer further developments on the themes and composition. These include: Moses from Sarajevo, The Creation, and The Figure 2 (based on a page where the number 2 was scribbles on the margins).

For more paintings by Arie Aroch on the Sarajevo Hagaddah

Other Resources for Passover

About Passover - Goisrael

Jewish Virtual Library

The icenter: The Four Sons of the Haggadah - Creative Midrashim

The iCenter - Passover: Bringing Israel into your Seder

Neot Kedumim - Once we were Slaves

Shitim - Machon Ha'Chagim (in Hebrew)

Good News from Israel blog 

Lookstein resources for Passover

Hazon: Educational Resources for Passover

Hazon: Healthy sustainable passover resources

PJ Library

The Museum on the Seam for Dialogue, Understanding and Coexistence in Jerusalem initiated and produced an unusual and thought provoking poster exhibition.  The exhibition is composed of 32 large posters of coexistence created by artists from around the world.

The ready-to-hang exhibit is accompanied by educational materials including quotes about peace and coexistence, activities designed to engage the students in discussions about coexistence in Israel, around the world and in our community, and suggested art projects.

The Stranger Self in the Stranger Found

We, one-in-two,
Are nameless, oh stranger, when the stranger
Discovers his own true self in a stranger. Ours 
Is the might of shadows from the garden left behind.
Be gone out of your lands of night,
Concealing what you will. In haste we came
From the simultaneous setting of two abodes,
We sought our address together you and I;
Go forth to your shadow

-Mahmoud Darwish

Museum on the Seam Exhibit web site

A pdf of the Educational Booklet

The exhibit and educational resources are available for local schools and organization. 

Please contact lrothman@jewishlearningworks.org