Haggadah
The Haggadah (Hebrew: הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a foundational Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder.
According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table fulfills the mitzvah incumbent on every Jew to recount the Egyptian Exodus story to their children on the first night of Passover.
It is usually assumed that a set text did not exist prior to a crucial dispute about the Haggadah's arrangement recorded in the Babylonian Talmud.
"[citation needed] Another part of the oldest ritual, as is recorded in the Mishnah, is the conclusion of the "Hallel" (up to Psalms 118), and the closing benediction of the hymn "Birkat ha-Shir", which latter the Amoraim explain differently,[8] but which evidently was similar to the benediction thanking God, "who loves the songs of praise," used in the present ritual.
[citation needed] These blessings, and the narrations of Israel's history in Egypt, based on Deuteronomy 26:5–9 and on Joshua 24:2–4, with some introductory remarks, were added in the time of the early Amoraim in the third century CE.
This division is taken from the Jerusalem Talmud[9] and from a parallel passage in the Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael;[10][11] it is slightly altered in the present ritual.
Other rabbinic quotes from the aggadah literature are added, as the story of Eliezer ben Hurcanus, who discussed the Exodus all night with four other rabbis, which tale is found in an altogether different form in the Tosefta.
(אחד מי יודע), which were added sometime in the fifteenth century, gained such acceptance that they became a standard to print at the back of the Haggadah.
[citation needed] The text of the Haggadah was never fixed in one, final form, as no rabbinic body existed which had authority over such matters.
[14] During the era of the Enlightenment the European Jewish community developed into groups that reacted in different ways to modifications of the Haggadah.
It is not until the nineteenth century, when 1,269 separate editions were produced, that a significant shift is seen toward printed Haggadot as opposed to manuscripts.
[17] The earliest Ashkenazi illuminated Haggada is known as the Birds' Head Haggadah,[18] made in Germany around the 1320s and now in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Meant to accompany the Passover eve service and festive meal, it was also a status symbol for its owner in 14th-century Spain.
Nearly all its folios are filled with miniatures depicting Passover rituals, Biblical and Midrashic episodes, and symbolic foods.
Published in 1526, the Prague Haggadah [he] is known for its attention to detail in lettering and for introducing many of the themes still found in modern texts.
Acting in a way that shows freedom and majesty, many Jews have the custom of filling each other's cups at the Seder table.
[28] At this point in the Seder, Sefardic Jews (North African) have a custom of raising the Seder plate over the heads of all those present while chanting: Moroccan Jews sing "Bivhilu yatzanu mimitzrayim, halahma anya b'nei horin" (In haste we went out of Egypt [with our] bread of affliction, [now we are] free people), Algerian Jews sing "Ethmol 'ayinu abadim, hayom benei 'horin, hayom kan, leshana habaa bear'a deYisrael bene 'horin" (Yesterday we were slaves, today we are free, today we are here -in exile-, next year we will be in Israel free".
The opening line of Maggid following the Four Questions reads: עֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרָיִם, וַיּוֹצִיאֵנוּ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מִשָּׁם בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה, We were slaves (Avadim Hayinu) to Pharoah in Egypt, and the Lord our God took us out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.
[31][32] A respona of Natronai Gaon mentions that this traditional opening sentence is not in the Torah, drawing the objection of Karaites.
[33] According to the Scholar's Haggadah, the intentional mistranslation of Deuteronomy 6:12 in the Septuagint, the 3rd century BCE Greek translation of the Torah, makes specific reference to Avadim Hayinu.
", is characterized by the Haggadah as isolating himself from the Jewish people, standing by objectively and watching their behavior rather than participating.
And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God: 'A wandering Aramean was my parent, and they went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.
8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders.")
A mnemonic acronym for the plagues is also introduced: "D'tzach Adash B'achav", while similarly spilling a drop of wine for each word.
After this is a declaration (mandated by Rabban Gamliel) of the reasons of the commandments concerning the Paschal lamb, matzah, and maror, with scriptural sources.
All agreed that five cups should be poured but the question as to whether or not the fifth should be drunk, given that the fifth expression of redemption concerned being brought into the Land of Israel, which—by this stage—was no longer possessed of an autonomous Jewish community, remained insoluble.
Psalm 136 (the Great Hallel) is then recited, followed by Nishmat, a portion of the morning service for Shabbat and festivals.
Most Ashkenazim recite Yehalelukha immediately following the Hallel proper, i.e. at the end of Psalm 118, except for the concluding words.
In some Ashkenazic communities following in the tradition of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, the fourth cup is not drunk until after the recitation of some of the piyyutim of Nirtzah.
Although the 15 orders of the Seder have been completed, the Haggadah concludes with additional songs which further recount the miracles that occurred on this night in Ancient Egypt as well as throughout history.
