Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
86
result(s) for
"Haggadah"
Sort by:
Wrathful Rites: Performing Shefokh ḥamatkha in the Hileq and Bileq Haggadah
This essay explores a remarkable manuscript, the so-called Hileq and Bileq Haggadah (Paris, BnF Ms. Hébreu 1333), illuminated in southern Germany in the fifteenth century. Our focus, in particular, is on the image that accompanies the Shefokh ḥamatkha prayer, an invocation of God’s vengeance upon nonbelievers. Here, we posit the role of the Shefokh ḥamatkha folio within the context of the Hileq and Bileq Haggadah, suggesting that its prominent position and extravagant visual program involve the reader–viewer in a performative scenario that inflects the meaning of the other images in the book as well as the enactment of the Seder ritual itself. The messianic import of the folio is underscored by its enactive language, both visual and oral, and predicated on the emotional communities that coalesced around the Passover ritual in the later Middle Ages.
Journal Article
Paper Trail
The photocopy of a Passover Haggadah, a modest edition glossed in the Arabic of Iraqi Jews (written, as is customary, in Hebrew letters) leads to the contemplation of the recent and current status of the language and wades gently into the question of the hyphen. A few examples from literature, life, and especially life literature, are offered to illustrate the tongue’s afterlife. The conclusion reveals partiality for continuity over rupture and finds in the language continued expressions of identity and memory.
Journal Article
Our Lady at the Seder Table
This paper discusses a unique miniature in a fifteenth-century Ashkenazi Passover Haggadah. The image represents a young woman holding an open book at a spread Seder table at the opening words of the Maggid, the narrative part of the Haggadah. The image of the woman is reminiscent of Christian representations of female patrons, saints, and the Virgin Mary herself. Having demonstrated this similarity, this article attempts to explain it by exploring to what degree the concept of the ‘ideal woman’ was shared in Jewish and Christian cultures. Since the lady in the Haggadah is clearly interacting with a book, the article also surveys textual evidence of female education in medieval Ashkenaz and women’s participation in religious rituals, to examine to what degree portraying the lady this way could reflect the reality of fifteenth-century Ashkenaz. The findings suggest that the authorship of the Haggadah may have deliberately drawn a visual parallel between the lady in the Haggadah and the Virgin Mary in order to challenge the latter’s unique position in Christianity and counterweight her ever-growing cult.
Journal Article
An Illustrated Haggadah for Sefardi Exiles in Istanbul
The first illustrated haggadah of the print era was published around 1505 by David and Samuel ibn Nahmias in Istanbul (henceforth “Istanbul Haggadah”). It was embellished with woodcuts that had been commissioned in 1492 in Naples. This paper approaches the Istanbul Haggadah as a cultural product of the early Sefardi Diaspora. A comparative iconographic method reveals idiosyncrasies in relation to the tradition of medieval manuscript haggadot, which are then contextualized within the cultural ambience of the early Sefardi Diaspora in Naples, where Don Isaac Abarbanel played a central role as a spiritual and communal leader. My analysis is based on three types of information and sources: Abarbanel’s post-expulsion writings, among others a commentary on the haggadah; book-historical data on the early phases of printing; and historical information on the lives of the refugees. Most Sefardi printing projects from the post-expulsion years were aimed at meeting the spiritual needs of the community of exiles. The Istanbul Haggadah, and particularly its illustration program, was a fitting compliment to these endeavors.
Journal Article
Actor in History: A Hasidic Tsadik's Journey from Uman to Brownsville
Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel Rabinowitz (1860–1938) was one of the first Hasidic rebbes of stature to come to America. An Orthodox Jewish leader and author with uncommon historical consciousness, he strove to revitalize religion as an existentially vital facet of being. Keenly attuned to the complexities of moments of transition, he reflected on his own experience of migration. His response to modernity differs from that of most traditionalist communal leaders of his day—both those who stayed in Europe and those who came to America. In the New World, now in his sixties, his understanding of Jewish history and the ongoing transformation of modern Jewish society and self continued to evolve as contemporary challenges demanded new responses. His life and works—written in Hebrew in a strikingly modern idiom—add important dimensions to the story of Hasidic migration, resettlement, and spiritual revival during a volatile historical era. Retracing his long path from Ukraine to New York, from the \"valley of slaughter\" to the goldene medina , through close readings of ego-documents and other resources that have received little attention to date, this paper considers his importance as a Hasidic figure worthy of note.
Journal Article
Jewish Reform Movement in the US
This volume examines the development of the non-liturgical parts of the Central Conference of American Rabbis' Haggadot.Through an understanding of the changes in American Jewish educational patterns and the CCAR's theology, it explores how the CCAR Haggadah was changed over time to address the needs of the constituency.
eBook
Midrashic Traditions, Literary Editing, and Polemics in Midrash Tehillim 22: Between Judaism and Christianity
Abstract
In this article I demonstrate how a careful reading of the text of Midrash Tehillim 22 reveals a clear distinction between its different developmental layers. While we do find the identification of particular verses with Esther in the early stages of the midrash's development, there is no reason to assume that this identification was rooted in an anti-Christian polemic. On the other hand, in the later layers of the midrash, we find clear echoes of the systematic creation of a continuous exegesis that focuses on identifying the entire Psalm with Esther. The background for this trend was a polemical confrontation with the Christian interpretation which viewed the Psalm as a prefiguration for Jesus's crucifixion. The midrash also serves as a Jewish counter to the Christian liturgy created in the wake of the Christological reading.
Journal Article
Elijah the Prophet
This essay discusses the roles ascribed to Elijah the biblical prophet by Jews of medieval Northwestern Europe (Ashkenaz), with particular attention to the rituals of Passover Seder. Elijah served as a symbol for the theme of redemption, and his inclusion in the ceremony was introduced and gained momentum specifically in Ashkenaz during the High Middle Ages. The symbol of Elijah eventually overshadowed the image of the Messiah (for whom he was seen as a forerunner) by becoming the ultimate guest of honor at the ceremony. Passover Haggadah illumination programs reveal another facet of Elijah’s characterization in Ashkenazi thought: as the loyal protector of Israel symbolized by the image of a dog.
Journal Article