Haggadah and History: A Panorama in Facsimile of Five Centuries of the Printed Haggadah » (Reprint)

Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi is the Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture, and Society at Columbia University. The author of numerous books, Yerushalmi received his B.A. from Yeshiva University and his Ph.D. from Columbia University.

A panoramic view of the evolution of the Passover Haggadah,
from the beginnings of Hebrew printing into modern times

Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize when it was first published in 1975, Haggadah & History  is much more than a history of the Passover story. It is also a mirror of the last five centuries in Jewish history-as reflected in the haggadah itself.  In an updated preface to the book, Yerushalmi recounts the story of the discovery of the Sarajevo Haggadah, which he says is "arguably the most renowned illuminated haggadah manuscript from the Middle Ages to have survived."

Two hundred facsimile plates reproduce representative pages from rare printed haggadot in two of the world s outstanding Judaica collections:  the libraries of Harvard University and The Jewish Theological Seminary. This visual history is complemented by Professor Yerushalmi s fascinating historical introduction and richly detailed place descriptions. The result is a rare blend of scholarship and art.

As Yerushalmi demonstrates, to follow the haggadah through history is to follow the course of the Jewish people, who are its custodians. The diversity of the Jewish Diaspora comes to life in haggadot that emanated from communities around the world, in a host of languages.