Two Interesting Haggadahs from History and The Modern Day

by Kosher River Cruise Kosher Tour Operator

With all the kosher resorts closed and most of the world discouraging excess travel, it looks like Passover will have to be spent indoors this year. Hopefully only this year. While we’re all cooped up in our homes with our families, it’s good to spend your (large amount of) free time keeping busy and keeping your spirits up.

For the Seder, the haggadah is a great piece of written work to find inspiration and hope in. The story of the liberation from Egypt is always an uplifting tale. Over the centuries, there have been multiple kinds of haggadahs that have their own unique spins and styles. Here are two interesting Haggadahs from history with fascinating trivia behind them.

The Widely-Used Maxwell House Haggadah

Here’s a haggadah with a distinctively American origin. Back in the 1920’s, Maxwell House Coffee was convinced by advertiser Joseph Jacobs of Joseph Jacobs Advertising to cater to American Jews. This culminated in their publication of the Maxwell House Haggadah in 1932, which became one of the most popular haggadahs in America.

Maxwell House Haggadah | Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_House_Haggadah

This was because it was easily accessible, in that its layout was easy to read (in both English and Hebrew) and that it could be picked up from virtually anywhere you can buy your coffee. The Maxwell House Haggadah allowed for the easy distribution of an essential piece of Jewish tradition to Jewish families that really needed it.

The Journey of the Sarajevo Haggadah

The Sarajevo Haggadah is a bit of a misnomer. It was originally an ancient Sephardic Jewish illuminated manuscript (meaning that its interior texts were decorated with drawings and images along with inlaid lines of gold and silver), but it ended up in Sarajevo, Capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after its original owners were banished from Spain by the monarchs during the 1492 Expulsion.

Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Haggadah | Copies of the Sarajevo Haggadah in the parliament building of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This richly-illustrated haggadah survived a trip through Italy, where it could have been burned for heresy, and was preserved in the National Museum of Sarajevo. There, it was almost stolen by Nazis if not for the bravery of the museum’s librarian, Dervis Korkut. It survived the Bosnian War later in the 20th Century and has remained safe in the Museum ever since.

Even with two completely different styles and origins, these haggadahs contain stories of triumph and ingenuity, both within its pages and in the way they persisted throughout the years. Reading about them is almost like a Jewish vacation in itself.