Haggadah des Kindes, (Children’s Haggadah) Berlin, 1933
AM Silbermann and Emil Bernhard Cohn edited this “Children’s Haggadah” in Berlin in 1933. Intended to involve children in the seder, it features “moving picture” illustrations by Erwin Singer. Children are invited to “pull slowly” on tabs connected to inserts in the illustrations, which move to reveal hidden elements of the pictures. The book also contains songs by the composer Arno Nadel (who served as Choir Director of the Jewish Community in Berlin) and other contemporary artists.
The entire book has been digitized and can be viewed online.
Hagadah le-Yeladim or Haggadah Des Kindes, edited and translated by A.M. Silbermann and E.B. Cohn and Illustrated by Erwin Singer.
The final illustration, with the title “Next Year in Jerusalem”, is an idyllic scene of children on a farm in Palestine. Emil Bernhard Cohn whose son, Rabbi Bernhard Cohn, was for many years the Rabbi of Congregation Habonim in New York emigrated to the United States in 1939.
Many families still use an English adaptation of this book. This Haggadah was donated to Leo Baeck Institute by Marianne Salinger.
-
- Hagadah le-Yeladim or Haggadah Des Kindes, edited and translated by A.M. Silbermann and Illustrated by Erwin Singer.
-
- “Once we were slaves of the Pharoah in Egypt.”
-
- A Levite woman hiding near the water.
-
- Pharoah’s daughter discovers a child floating on an ark of rushes.
-
- The wheel in the center of the page turns to reveal slaves being whipped while performing various tasks.
-
- Pharoah’s soldiers enter the Red Sea in pursuit.
-
- With the flap extended, the Pharoah’s soldiers are swallowed by the sea.
-
- “Next Year in Jerusalem.”
Offenbacher Haggadah, Offenbach am Main, 1927
The Offenbach Haggadah was commissioned by Dr. Siegfried Guggenheim (1873-1961) an attorney and avid collector of rare books in Offenbach, near Frankfurt. The type designer Rudolf Koch created new fonts and the painter Fritz Kredel, a student of Koch’s, illustrated the new Haggadah inspired by the first Offenbach Haggadah which was printed in 1772. The new version was published in 1927 by the brothers Klingspor in a bibliophile edition of 300 copies. Guggenheim translated the Hebrew text into German, provided the transliterations of the Hebrew blessings and also inserted a novelty into the service. Instead of ending with “next year in Jerusalem, the Offenbach Haggadah concludes with the words: “next year in Worms on the Rhine, our home.”
The entire book has been digitized and can be viewed online.
Fritz Kredel’s illustration of Pharoah’s army in the Red Sea. The Offenbacher Haggadah, Published by Dr. Siegfried Guggenheim, Offenbach am Main, 1927
Leo Baeck Institute has digitized Siegfried Guggenheim’s archival collection, which includes extensive materials about the Offenbach Haggadah, including his correspondence with artists and designers and the original printing blocks.
-
- The epigraph in the 1927 edition is from Meister Eckhart, the 14th century Christian theologian and mystic.
-
- The Offenbacher Haggadah, Published by Dr. Siegfried Guggenheim, Offenbach am Main, 1927
-
- The left page of the spread depicting the plagues.
-
- The right page depicting the plagues.
-
- A map of the Sinai peninsual showing the route of the Israelites to Caanaan.
-
- Translation: “The Haggadah Manuscript preserved in the Germanisches Museum in Nuremberg, created in the year 5252 (or 1492 in our customary reckoning) by the German scribe Joel b.R. Simon for Nathan b.R. Salomo adds to the words “leshana haba b’yerushalayim” (next year in Jerusalem) the addendum, “or in Brünn.” The author, we assume, was probably expelled with the Jews from Brünn in 1454, and here in his old age, he gives moving expression to his longing for the home he was forced to leave in his youth. This kind of conscious reinterpretation of the formerly intended meaning is not unusual. In the house of our parents in Worms, we traditionally called out with joyous voices “leshana haba b’ Worms am Rhein.” “Next year in Worms, our home.”
-
- This review of the Offenbacher Haggadah in the German-Jewish exile paper, Aufbau, mentions that its publisher is now in New York.
Hagadah Shel Pesah, Amsterdam, 1711
This Haggadah was published in Amsterdam around 1711. In addition to woodcut initials, this volume contains beautiful engravings illustrating scenes from the Haggadah.
