The Ashkenazi Haggadah: A Hebrew Manuscript of the Mid-15th Century from the Collections of the British Library
by Joel ben Simeon, David Goldstein
Category: Haggadah

The Haggadah - the text of the Seder ceremony of the Jewish Passover, with its evocation of the Jews' escape from Egypt - is in yearly use all over the world. During the Middle Ages, in the centres of Jewish culture in Europe, many illuminated Haggadot were produced. One considered to be amongst the finest and held at the British Library in London, is the 15th-century manuscript by Joel ben Simeon, who lived in medieval Germany. The majority of its 98 pages of Ashkenazi script are illuminated with initials and other ornaments and there are miniatures illustrating the Passover story and the Seder feast itself. It is reproduced in this volume, together with a transcript and a translation, so that the book may be used, as intended, at Passover ceremonies. The medieval commentary in the margins of the text is often inscribed in the form of domestic objects, animals and creatures of all kinds and is also translated here.