Non-traditional haggadah, stencil print with impressive illustrations and current texts.
Aside original songs dealing with the exodus from Egypt and springtime, there is harsh text relating to the events of the Holocaust in the present and attempts to immigrate (illegally) to the Land of Israel: ‘And great is the chaos around, and terror around the chaos, and as we pray, which ear will hear … and we clench teeth and raise fists of anger, on whose head will it land, the chaos will swallow all of them , the wind will carry away, and as they are lost, they will be lost, and there is no other way, we are powerless and there is no support … waves of rage surround … the heart is full of anxiety facing a strange enemy world.’
In contrast to these difficult feelings, there is a passage expressing hope: ‘They will gather in the land, those lost at sea … All these, whom no shore in the world will accept except the shore of their land. If there are stray ships at sea with Jewish refugees, their place is with us, because they have no shelter except in this Land. Because the Land of Israel needs everyone who knocks at its gates, loyal and ready to strengthen its settlement … ships at sea with Jewish refugees will enter the Land, the Land of their national home and they will be with us …’ There is also an interesting passage relating to the coming of Mashiach and more.
Givat Brener is a kibbutz established by pioneers from Lithuania and Volhynia in a group that came together in 1926.
[26] pages, 21 cm. Slight diagonal tear in the corner of the second page on the upper left [lack] without damage to text. Aside from this, very fine condition.
Non-traditional haggadah. Duplicate of typewritten print. Current illustrations and texts.
The foreward contains a passage relating to the survivors of the ‘Egyptian bondage’ of Europe: ‘I am hereby prepared to tell of the exodus from Egypt together with all our Jewish brothers, all the Jews who were encompassed by pangs of death and despised by rivers of g-dless corrupt gentiles who arose to swallow them, and said let’s go and annihilate them from among the peoples and the name Israel will be no longer.’
There is a passage relating to the survivors: ‘If our arms were too short to rescue those taken to death, we, those who survived, are responsible for what remains of Israel … there is no back behind which we can hide. The fact is that fate decided we would be standing here, the fate of Israel obligates us to get them to safe haven. It can’t not obligate …’
There is also a passage which relates to the history of the kibbutz: ‘This Passover night, 1946, is the eleventh on our soil in Kibbutz Afikim, the fourteenth year from the outbreak of the Jordan river’s waters into the soil of the Sea of Galilee and its branches, to water every arid clod of earth … the night of the Passover seder is the twenty-first in our kibbutz from the day it became a “HaShomer HaTzair” kibbutz. Groups were scattered in the S.S.S.R until they assembled in Afikim …’ and more.
Kibbutz Afikim was established in 1932 by a seed-group of HaShomer HaTzair members in Russia and was called ‘Kibbutz HaShomer HaTzair from the S.S.S.R.’ also known as Kibbutz ‘Netzach’ – [Noar Tzufei Chalutzi – pioneer scout youth] from Russia, like the name of the HaShomer HaTzair world movement. It included a group of immigrants from the Soviet Union and from Latvia.
[14] leaves. 22 cm. Stains on some of the leaves. Fine condition.
Non-traditional Haggadah – brown ink print with illustrations.
The Haggadah opens with songs dealing with the omer. The Mah Nishtanah text relates to the fate of the Jews among the nations: ‘How is the people of Israel different from all the peoples, all the peoples are not said to be destroyed from under the heavens and only upon us do the gentiles arise to annihilate … All the peoples live in their countries and work their land and only we are dispersed among the gentiles … All the people’s countries gates are open to them when they return home and only the remnants of our people knock repeatedly on locked gates.’ A passage of poetry by C. N. Bialik appears later: ‘MeTehom HaOvdan’ as well as M. Katzenelson’s ‘Hinenu V’Aleinu’ and others.
Kibbutz Ein Charod was established in Emek Yizrael in 1921 by people who came on the second and third aliyahs, pioneers of the work brigade and HaShomer’s people.
24 pages. 22 cm. Very fine condition.
Non-traditional Haggada, stencil print with illustrations. Vivid depiction of events of the time.
In addition to original texts regarding the bringing of the Omer and spring songs, there are texts relating to this critical year [1938] in which the situation of European Jewry plummeted drastically due to the rise of the Nazi government. Includes a take-off of the “Mah Nishtana”: “How are these days different than all other days? In all other days, the world sits in peace with some emergency hours, but in these days everything is emergency. In all other days, some Jewish tribes in the Diaspora live in peace and some are persecuted, but this year everybody is in misfortune. In all other days, the days are for work and the nights for rest, but now our days and nights are guarded….it is a year of emergency for the entire world, a year of emergency for nations and states, a year of nightmare for humanity and all cultured nations. Because the government of wickedness is proud – the government of threat has risen. From the ends of the world…bursts forth the depressed and tortured person….rivers of blood flow without rest in different sections of the world…..Destruction, loss and decimation. There is nothing stopping this, no way to put the brakes on the wicked one’s yearning for conquest, because the nations are startled and have drawn back in the face of this rising power….”
Includes a detailed description of the Nazi abuse of the Jews: ” Jewish assets have been plundered, Jews have been thrown out of their homes, their source of income has been stolen…not by the rabble, not by some secret order…but by the government itself, without hiding their intentions, straightforwardly and in the open. Destruction now faces Austrian Jewry, German Jewry quivers, Polish Jewry sighs, Romania. …” The haggada also discusses the terrible situation in Palestine at the time: ” Terror still reigns here. The murders haven’t stopped, the battles on the roads and in Jewish settlements. Precious souls are lost every time and new sacrifices are added, either individually or in groups. And the gates have been locked in the faces of the tens of thousands who search for refuge…. ” Also includes a poem titled “Our nights are under blockade” that describes the fear that reigned in Palestine in face of the Arab enemy. Some passages express bravery: “You will not overcome us, with our heads we will destroy the iron bars. The new mines that you place for our feet will not make us stumble….the exchange of the Balfour Declaration for a declaration of blood and perversion….for us this is just passing dust….”
Kibbutz Tel Yosef was built in Emek Charod. It was established in 1921 by the Plugat Gedud HaAvoda Ein Charod, on the place of the first settlement near the Charod Springs. The kibbutz was named for Yosef Trumpeldor, a founder of the Jewish Brigades and leader of the Russian pioneering movement.
[19] leaves. 21×17 cm. The front and back jackets are illustrated. Minimal stains. Fine condition.
[19] leaves, 22 cm. Non-traditional Passover Haggada with illustrations by Ludwig Schwerin [apparently] at H. Langer press, Tel Aviv. Texts related to the history of the kibbutzim are interspersed amongst the traditional haggada texts [This Seder eve of 1947 is the 10th seder on our land..it is the twelfth year that our group is united together and includes members from the different exiles….”]. It also mentions the Holocaust victims: “Tens of thousands of souls of our sons and daughters who were cut off before their time..who were killed publicly without having sinned, because they were of Jewish descent…”. It also marks the Ghetto Uprising, “Many of the sons and daughters, successors of the tradition of heroism who sanctified the name of Israel and fought for the honor of the remnant of the nation until they all fell between the walls of the ghetto..”, and the rejuvenation of the Jewish Nation in its land. Very fine condition.
Non-traditional haggadah. Stencil print with illustrations. Current texts relating to the Holocaust of European Jewry, the silence of the nations and illegal immigration to the Land.
The haggadah opens with original texts relating to the bondage in Egypt. In one of them, there is a picture of Moshe in the image of a pioneer with a walking stick and an immigrant ship at sea. Later, there is an interesting passage relating to those killed in the Holocaust, in the style of the war with Amalek: ‘If I raise my hands in faith Israel grows stronger, doubt spreads and I remove my hands and Amalek grows stronger … piles upon piles are knocked down, corpses are killed and slaughtered, sons’ and fathers’ hearts are pierced, who will shed a tear over the flesh and blood upon the destruction of the daughter of my people …’ A passage appears later on relating to the ghettos: ‘We see the seed of Avraham our father in all the ghettos into which they were rejected, all the disintegration of the nation, its contents liquidated and black death lying in wait for her … the whole valley of the agony of massive death-throes … the gentle souls go and rot from slavery and bondage, the poverty and the coarseness and the malice are poured by their governments on all ….’
There is also a sharp text about the silence of the world nations in the face of the destruction of European Jewry: ‘And how will the nations continue to harden their hearts together to not see and not understand why we are tortured so and why we are scorned, and why malice rejoices to make us like mud in the street and our dignity like ashes’ and more.
Kibbutz Ginosar of HaTenuah HaKibbutzit is located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, established by youth from the first cohorts of the Educational Center for Workers’ Children in Tel Aviv. After ascending to the land in 1936, they joined a settlement of graduates of the first class of the Kaduri Agricultural School.
[24] leaves. One of the leaves is duplicated (printed twice). Stains on the binding, except for this, fine condition.
Non-traditional Haggada with many current texts. Stencil print with illustrations.
Along with original spring songs there are difficult passages related to the Holocaust, which was then just beginning: ” Like this day, a day on which with our own eyes we see the degeneration of the progeny of Abraham, in all the ghettos to where they were banished, the disintegration of the nation, the emptiness of its content and the black death that waits in ambush, has come upon it. The depths of the suffering of giant death pains… ” Additionally includes detailed passages related to particular events: ” It is a joke to believe, that it is possible to win with war the situation that the German Nation has created . The barbarians and Facists are shining their swords. They played a dehumanizing game with the Republic of Czechoslovakia. We want to tell the Czech that we are embarrassed of this game, that hundreds of thousands of citizens in our homeland are embarrassed of it..32 months and 9 days the campaign took place in Spain, this difficult lengthy war left 1.3 million dead in battles…2.7 million injured and 0.4 million citizens that were killed by the victors, 3 million souls left without a home…in blood and fire… General Franco broke with the help of the Facists …..signs of murder and destruction can be seen on every step of the land..”
It also discusses Jewish building in Palestine in face of the losses in Europe: “Unending darkness for the Jews, without…but we are not in despair….our life in this land is an expression of the efforts of a large Jewish force, but in contrast to our land stands the Russian Diaspora. Jews of Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania live only a life of depression…we have come to summarize in numbers and said: 36 additional settlements on the map of this land, 33 on the map of the Keren Kayemeth L’israel and 31 on the map of the Histadrut HaOvid, 85 thousand dunams have been settled, over 2200 families have immigrated to their land, over 3300 people…” Additionally includes an appeal “to the entire Jewish nation in all countries “Carry these days the appeal and cry of the organized Jewish settlement: Stand up and defend yourselves!”
The haggada concludes with a lengthy, five-stanza passage that opens with an illustrated title page with the title “Megilat HaGivah” describing various events that led to the foundation of Kibbutz Givat HaShlosha, starting in 1923 when its first goals were written, the initial settlement on the land until a unified group was formed. The entire story appears within an illustrated border of a scroll, and more.
Givat HaShlosha is a kibbutz that belongs to the Kibbutz Movement. It is located east of Petach Tikvah. It was named for the three Petach Tikvah workers who were accused of spying during the First World War: Menachem Grolech, Shmuel Streipler and Eizik Maring. The three were sent by the Ottoman government to prison in Damascus where they were tortured until they died. The kibbutz was founded in May 1952 by some members belonging to the “HaChalutz”, “Achva” and “Maavar” movements. At the end of the 1920s, a large group of laborers from Kibbutz Chotzvei Ha’avanim in Klesow, Poland joined them.
30 leaves. 16×21 cm. Stains to the jacket title page. The title page and two last leaves are detached. The body of the haggada is in very fine condition.
[32] pages. 13×19 cm. Non-traditional haggada published by the Ichud HaKevutzot V’HaKibbutzim. Written and illustrated by Dovid Alf of the Ayelet HaShachar kibbutz [d. 1957] at Langer press, Tel Aviv. Throughout the Haggada there are changes to the accepted traditional text. For example it states: “During all other nights we discuss mundane ideas; tonight we speak only about the servitude of our nation and its redemption”, in addition it discusses the national revitalization, “we are the last generation of servitude and the first of redemption…” In addition, supplements written by the author himself and verses and maxims from Chazal related to the exodus from Egypt, but that do not appear in traditional haggadot, are interspersed into the traditional haggada text. Illustrated jacket title page, illustrations in the haggada itself. Very fine condition.
Non-traditional haggadah. Stencil print with impressive illustrations, some depicting Holocaust scenes. Harsh texts relating to the persecution of the Jews among the nations, the Holocaust, the struggle against the Arab enemy and more.
The “Hah lachma anya” relates to the persecution of the Jews among the nations: “Like hah lachma anya d’achlu avhatana b’ar’a D’Mitzrayim our brothers are being devoured in the countries of their exile. The sun has darkened for them and gathered its light and the land refuses to provide a corner for refuge. The enemy’s hand is upon them to obliterate them completely. All roads are closed, there is no escaping the enemy’s sword. Kol dichfin v’kol ditzrich – every persecuted and helpless brother should come and celebrate with us. Every refugee of the inferno who has found freedom should come celebrate Pesach with us. Now we are here, next year in the Land of Israel …”
Aside this is text taken from verses in Prophets: ‘Rachel weeps over her sons’ and a terrifying picture of a Jew hanging on a gallows beside musselmenn falling on a barbed wire fence.
There is text following the pattern of Lamentations: ‘ How will we bear all this? Who has a heart to bear it day and night … the constant mortal danger over the whole world? … Who has tears to weep the cry of the humiliated and orphaned, over the horrors of a child wandering naked in the forests? … Who has tears for this? … How were my babies shattered? How were my daughters forfeited? How were my young men slaughtered? … How were we killed the whole world over for no sin? … My brother, my brother, how? …’
There is also a passage relating to fighters on the various fronts in the Land of Israel: ‘As we sit around the seder, we remember our friends fighting on the various fronts against our enemies. They will yet sit with us when the enemy is vanquished and our people is free on its Land, in brotherhood among liberated nations …’ and more.
Kibbutz Givat Chaim was established in 1932 by pioneers from Europe, south of Hadera. It was named after Chaim Arlozorov who was murdered in 1933, about a year after its establishment.
24 leaves. 21×17 cm. Very fine condition.
A non-traditional Haggadah, published by the Culture Committee of the United Kibbutz Movement, without stating the year. 1940’s [apparently 1948]. Illustrated.
Alongside original poems about spring and excerpts connected to current events which characterized the 1940’s kibbutz haggadot is an interesting text about “The suffering of the difficult times” which discusses the tension in the Land of Israel, apparently during the War of Independence in 1948: “The suffering of the difficult times, a land under siege, strong flashes of fire light us up in the light of the great danger. If only the covenant of the besieged would awaken in us, which would make us daring, united and independent… the country is tired of killings. The land hungers and prays for peace and its hand is on the butt of its rifle, what do they know about us, those who discuss and bargain about our very existence?… On the festival of freedom, our cry goes out to the multitudes of the Jewish People who are being gathered from the Diaspora: Our house is open! Come!”.
The Steiner List notes that this Haggadah appeared without a date, and that various additions were added to it over the years. The haggadah before us is one of the early ones which appeared with no date.
[20] leaves, 24 cm. Filing holes connected with a string [originally].
2-31 leaves. Non-traditional haggada, vowelized, printed by stencil, illustrations. Various texts have been inserted into the body of the haggada, such as poems written by kibbutz members, texts related to the establishment of the kibbutz: “This seder night is the 14th year since we’ve become united and joined together members from various exiles, from our dispersed nation” [This line is similar to a statement included in the kibbutz’s haggada from 1947], and more. The inserted texts also relate to the Arab enemy – some of the story of the servitude in Egypt was directed against the Yishmaelites during the War of Independence: “The Egyptians did bad to us too and the Bnei Yishmael, and they said they would destroy our state and would come upon us with great numbers and grand strength and the men spoke to each other, ‘let us go up to Jerusalem and destroy it from its nation, because they are few, but our strength is great and we will divide the spoils and destroy all traces of Yisrael from under the sun.’ But the nation did not get scared and they stood up in small numbers and little ammunition and hit them with ten plagues and liberated their land.” Some texts relate to the Holocaust: “And in this generation, Satan did much when he disseminated hatred for our nation…six hundred ten thousands of our nation were killed before their time. They died from hunger and thirst, under duress, with sword and suffocation and were killed publicly though they did not sin, because they were of Jewish descent.” It also relates to the establishment of the State of Israel: “This seder night is the first of the new State of Israel and the first that we celebrate after the difficult campaign to protect the borders of our state.” In addition to a lengthy poem, a few-pages long, relating specifically to 1948: “1948 is a year of many events in the history of the Jewish Nation, who can express its greatness? On the 17th of Kislev, 1948, the nations of the world recognized the right of the Jewish Nation to have a state…” Rare haggada that is not in the National Library. Illustrated jacke title, filing holes. Very fine condition.
Non-traditional Haggadah, stencil print with illustrations. Printed on one side of the page [left].
Interesting haggadah with ‘reading passages’ and ‘musical passages.’ In contrast to kibbutz haggadahs with a Yizkor text appearing towards the end of the haggadah, in this haggadah, it appears on the first page: ‘We will remember brothers and sisters, parents and children who fell in war in the Jewish communities in the diaspora, by sword, expulsion and starvation. We will remember brothers and sisters, parents and children who fell in the disgrace of people and humanity.’
Immediately following this, passages alluding to the terrible results of the Holocaust, starting with the words: ‘My eyes fail with tears upon the ruination of the daughter of my people.’ ‘In darkness I am like the dead of the world … Death has arisen upon our windows, to destroy a child outside, young men in the street … because with great ruination has the young woman of my people been ruined, a very harsh blow … and great is the chaos surrounding, and terror surrounds the chaos, there is no escape … the chaos will swallow them all, the wind will carry, and as they have been lost they will be lost … how have our daughters been forfeited? How have our young men been slaughtered!? How have our elders been lost?! … Ah, they who have burned our children alive, they who have strangled the choice and pure with their filthy hands under harsh waves – Can this blood be avenged and even more be paid? …
The story of the exodus from Egypt appears after that in the original language, and there are a number of interesting passages under the title ‘Dayan din,’ ‘Mah Yafit HaAviv’, ‘Kumi Tzei’ and more.
Kibbutz Ramat HaKovesh was established in the southern Sharon in August 1932 after seven years of preparation by the ‘HaKovesh’ group which got organized in a ‘HeChalutz’ suburb of Vilna and was the first ‘Kibbutz HaAliyah’ of the movement.
[18] leaves. 21 cm. Very fine condition.
Non-traditional haggadah with sharp illustrations depicting the cruelty of the Nazis, and long, very harsh texts describing Hitler’s crimes in minute detail, the Nazi tyranny and the silence of the nations of the world with respect to the Holocaust, and the locking of the gates to the Land of Israel in the faces of the immigrants, and the bitter lot of those left in Europe. The text of the Haggadah was written by Yosef Dov Shinzon, who wrote the Haggadah during his stay in the DP camp in Munich in 1946. The Haggadah lacks binding and end (bound by other Haggadah from 1944.)
Most of the haggadah is written in Hebrew, with some passages in Yiddish. With the exception of the traditional version of Mah Nishtanah, the entire Haggdah deals with European Jewry and its bitter fate during the years of the Holocaust.
One of the most prominent passages describes Hitler’s crimes in language characteristic of Pharaoh’s decrees: ‘When the righteous among the nations saw everything Hitler decreed and that he is consuming Israel, their great Sanhedrin stood up, and out of great mourning, declared silence … they stood for a short while mourning and with heads bowed low … and Hitler sends hungry dogs upon Jewish babies, who tear them to shreds. The same evil man would go on to build gas chambers and furnaces and consume Israel in them. And great is the sorrow among the world’s nations. And the righteous among them declare: Who are we and what power do we have to save them from that evil person … and the people of Israel ask that their babies be saved, they stand and give them over to Christians to hide them, and they hide them from them and demand their pay … they hide them and find them afterwards to be killed … and they proselytize them and make them gentiles. And the fathers of those babies are dragged to camps by the murderers where they are consumed by harsh work, starvation and all types of torture and disease. And everyone sees the Jews soaked in their own blood and they pass right by …”
Later on, there is a harsh passage relating to the bitter fate of the survivors: ‘And the survivors gather together from their caves, forests and extermination camps and they come and go to the lands of their exile … and the Jews flee for their lives, smuggling them through borders and there they rob them of everything they have … and they go and collect the babies of Israel like abandoned eggs. And there is tremendous controversy, and each camp pulls towards his own… Those who are unafraid kidnap the babies of those who are afraid, and those who are afraid kidnap the babies from those who are unafraid … and the children stand and argue each digs in his heels and brothers are separated from each other, because they do not come to any agreement … and they cannot sit together … and emissaries go out from the Land to the survivors, with all sorts of keys in their hands in order to cause division amongst the survivors and to open their closed hearts ….”
The text which deals with the four sons whom the Torah discusses relates to those prevented from immigrating to the Land of Israel with various claims: ‘The evil one, what does he say – is this country too narrow for you that you pressure your way into the Land of Israel … go with your own powers and build the destroyed Europe. Strike his teeth and say to him: We moved to Europe and they built us gas chambers and cremetoria, they destroyed us with all sorts of cruel inventions, and for this we should rebuild Europe? … The simple one, what does he say? Will you gather in such a small land? What will become of Yishmael? Say to him … we are not coming to take advantage of another, we will build our own homes … as for Yishmael – Israel will not short-change him of his rights ….”
“Dayeinu” lists a long series of decrees, persecutions and pogroms against the Jewish people beginning with the crusades: ‘If only we were dispersed among the nations and suffered the decrees of the first crusades, it would have been enough for us … if he would have given us ‘the mark of disgrace’ and not given us the decree of the black plague, it would have been enough for us … if he would have given us the inquisition and not the decrees of 1648 and 1649, it would have been enough for us … if he would have given us the slaughter of 1919 in the Ukraine and not given us Hitler, it would have been enough for us … if he would have established the ghettos and not the gas chambers and crematoria, it would have been enough for us … How much more so, in that all these came to be, we must immigrate, even illegally, end the exile, build the Chosen Land and make a home for ourselves and our children forever.’
In one of the passages there is a reference to the place where the Haggadah was written in the DP camp among the survivors of the Holocaust: “The twelve months of the month of Herut were liberated, and the remnant still lives in Bavaria the state …” This section refers to delegations from Eretz Israel to the camps, According to She’erit Hapleitah.
Between the pages of the haggadah, there are large pictures on entire pages in linocut style [Signed in print Ben Benyamin – Zvi Miklos Adler – Hungarian Holocaust survivor who decorated the Haggadah with drawings from his personal memory as a prisoner in the camp] depicting the forced labor the Jews endured during the Holocaust and the Nazi tyranny. One shows a soldier with gun drawn and Jews digging a mass grave, another picture depicts a soldier with a whip beating forced laborers and a dead Jew at his feet, a picture of Jews on a death march and a soldier slaughtering them with a few dead lying next to him, Jews standing in line to receive a portion of soup, and SS soldier with a swastika on his arm oppressing forced laborers with yellow patches on their clothes, and more.
[13] leaves. Some of the leaves are detached. Tears in the margins of the title page and the last two leaves. Missing the end of the haggadah [possibly a number of leaves]. missing binding (binding on other cover from 1944 haggadah.) Moderate-fine condition.
Non-traditional haggada, stencil print with illustrations. 1940. Double pages. Each set of leaves are attached at their edges.
Interspersed with passages relating to the troubles of the Jewish Nation during this critical year at the start of the Holocaust, written in current terms: “Go out and learn what did Lavan HaArami set out to do, and what others wished to do … they trampled and did not have pity on … Yaakov … they were evil and waves of wickedness rage in the world. The chains of iniquity have been let loose, nations are being trampled, racists rule. The proud, free thoughts of humanity have been closed. The open battles kills tens of thousands … an entire nation roils in its blood, brought to slaughter … a decree of destruction stands up against us and our eyes see and are gone … The strongest nations battle to conquer the world, and we the poor are scattered and crushed, annihialated, destroyed …” Underneath the text of “Avadim Hayinu” there is an illustration of an SS soldier kicking a Jew in the street with Jews doing forced labor in the background.
[26] pages. 22 cm. Tear, reinforced with tape, on the front binding. Light tears in the bottom of the binding margins. Very fine condition.
[14] leaves, 21 cm. Illustrated jacket. Jacket illustrated in black and red. In addition to non-traditional poems, the haggada includes supplemental material meant to strengthen the national spirit. For instance, “We are prepared to relate about the exodus from Egypt, from servitude to freeom, from servitude to redemption, because we also left the house of slaves, the valley of death, and we built a house for the rejects of Israel on their land..”. “We are heroes! We are the last generation of servitude and the first for redemption! Our hands alone, our strong hand lifted the heavy yoke from our neck…”, in addition to an abridged version of Haim Gouri’s poem about the Convoy of 35. Ends with a summary of the Israeli Declaration Independence, with changes to the usual text. Very fine condition.
[18] leaves, 21 cm. A nontraditional Haggadah published by Kibbutz HaZoreah [a member of HaShomer HaTzair], Alina printing press, Haifa, 1948. Printed in a special stencil printing in which folded leaves are attached at their ends for thickening. On page 4 is a different liturgy for “Ma Nishtana” which includes the question “How is this night different…for on it we relate the story of the exodus from Egypt while the gates of Israel are locked and rejoice with the arrival of spring while nations lift up their swords against each other in our land?”. On page 8 is mention of an event during the Holocaust – the Haggadah relates the story of the Actzia on the night after Yom Kippur in which 3800 Jews were murdered, with detailed descriptions of the Nazi atrocities. To the traditional text of “In every generation a person must see himself as if he left Egypt” they added the words “as we also left the house of slavery, the valley of death, and we built a house which will not be destroyed, for the dispersed ones of Israel in their land…”. Later on are songs which combine the emotions of the survivors about the tremendous loss of those murdered in the Holocaust, and words of encouragement and strengthening about the revival in their land. A rare Haggadah which does not appear in the National Library. A tear in the upper left-hand corner of the binding, fine condition.
Non-traditional Haggadah, stencil print with illustrations – Land of Israel, 1940s. Unidentified group.
The Haggadah is written in the style of a play with a number of narrators. In a number of places in the Haggadah, the expression ‘member of our movement’ or ‘members of the group’ without indicating the name of the kibbutz [or movement] which published the Haggadah. From various passages, it is possible to make various assumptions regarding the source of the Haggadah, but we were unable to identify the source with certainty.
There is an interesting “Mah Nishtanah” text relating to changes which occurred in the group: ‘Every night we sit here all together, members of the group and guests … in the party club and not in our clubhouse which was promised to us from time immemorial … this Passover we sit, for the first time, devouring and drinking, remembering the quiet and silent … As in all our meetings, only one speaks, and this time – many! … As in all the meetings, there are only five, and tonight, fifty-five!’ Or, for example, the ‘Yizkor’ text: ‘We will remember the fallen with pride and sorrow, including members of our movement’ without mentioning the name of the movement. There are also passages which relate to the increasing immigration: ‘They come today, and they are arriving in camps, they come and go from seventy countries in seven days, they come and go …’ and more.
Dust jacket. 17 leaves. Lacking back binding. Brittle brown paper. Detached front binding and last two leaves. Tears in the margins of the front binding. Stains on the binding. Moderate condition.
Kibbutz Maoz Chaim Sturman – Non-traditional Haggada, printed by stencil with impressive illustrations. Difficult texts characterizing the Holocaust survivors, shell-shocked in the face of the magnitude of the tragedy. Missing [1] leaf at the start.
The title page notes: L’Yesha U’LiOrot – Seder Leil Pesach 1944. Along with original spring songs there are difficult texts pertaining to the Holocaust: “We have all been orphaned, orphaned of our parents, I have been orphaned of our only child, of a young wife, of my whole family, the whole settlement has been orphaned, the nation has been orphaned from the center of Judaism, Where is Polish Jewry? Where is the Chassidic center? Where is the Torah center? Where is the center of pioneering Zionism? Who will replace the Jewish youth of Poland, Lithuania, Lativa, Estonia? I saw hundreds and thousands of death cars. When I sat in my house in the paths of Lemberg, as if a pure Aryan, I saw the deaths cars and I heard the “HaTikva” song from the Jewish youth of Lemberg from within the death cars. I heard a mother calling her son – “remember my son, to take revenge!” Because the destruction is very great, greater than you imagine, we have six-million martyrs, friends . Only a handful remain: one out of ten thousand, and that’s it. The Russian Jews have been lost from European Russia … The Polish Jew, the Lithuanian, the German, the French, the Belgian and the Dutch …” The lengthy text ends with the words: “Call for salvation! Call for revenge!” and more.
The Maoz Chaim kibbutz was founded in 1937. Its first group of settlers were from the Tenuat HaKibbutz HaMeuchad and were joined by three groups of settlers from “Akiva”, “Messed” and “Mesila” of the Shomer HaTzair. Most of the members of the kibbutz served in the Palmach and fought in the battles of the Israeli War of Independence.
[24] leaves. Missing [1] leaf at the start. Tear along the front binding, taped. Loss to the bottom of the front binding – about 1 cm. wide along its length, light tears in the margins. Minimal stains near the staple. The back binding is partially detached [reinforced with tape]. P. 9 has a light restored tear that does not affect the text.
Fine condition.
[36] pages, 23 cm. Nice manuscript with brown illustratons. Non-traditional texts have been added to the haggada, poems and national texts referring to the establishment of the political State, such as: “This Passover we will note the memory of our holy martyrs, the soldiers who fought for the establishment of Yisrael in our land…we will bless the pioneers for their immigration…who turned the burning marshes into flour fields….who paved the roads and built the desolation…”, in addition “and now, we have arisen to remove the yoke of exile from upon us and to make us a new land…to find rest for our feet and renew our treaty with the land…” It also mentions the Holocaust: “And we screamed to Hashem our G-d from the servitude and the auto-de-fe and were not answered…,” and more. The haggada ends with a summary of the Israeli Declaration of Independence [as part of the haggada text], and an illustrated chart of the years since the destruction of the First and Second Temples, the fall of Masada, the Warsaw Uprising, the immigration of the Shiller group and the establishment of the State of Israel. Not included in Steiner’s list of Kibbutz haggadot. Paper jacket with illustration on back, aging stains, fine-very fine condition.
Non-traditional haggadah with reference to the events of the period. Stencil print with illustrations.
Alongside original spring pieces, following the phenomenon of leaving kibbutzes after the establishment of the State, an interesting piece appears relating to the importance of living in the kibbutzes, even after the State’s establishment: ‘And also after the establishment of the State – the kibbutz is the way of the king. It’s not a legacy, not an aftermath of earlier periods, and not the creation of a sect of chassidim clinging to the obsolete. The kibbutz is a creation of this Land and its unique conditions … As long as the Land is not completely inhabited, as long as the entire nation is not concentrated in its Land – the kibbutz is a Zionist imperative … The kibbutz is the seed of socialism in the Land and the base of its struggles, and therefore is our inevitable reality for the present and the future.’
The haggadah’s author attempts to counter claims against the character of the kibbutz which was perceived as intended for minority groups: ‘The kibbutz is not a commune of chosen people, not a commune of the poor and not a commune of monks. The kibbutz – is a commune charting the way for the masses and its purpose is the spiritual and material wealth of man …’ There is also a piece which refers to Jewish heroism is the Land of Israel after the holocaust: ‘From within the holocaust, the destruction and the horror which came upon our people – we have arisen.’
There is an interesting piece relating to immigration from various countries: ‘Kibbutzes and blocks, tribes of Israel are uprooted intact to their countries from their adopted homelands and are newly planted in the ground of the homeland, from Bulgaria and from Yemen, from Poland and from Morocco, from Greece and from Turkey, from Iraq and from America, from Germany and from Austria, from Tunisia and from Algeria, from Iran and from Egypt … from Chicago … from Aleppo …’ and more.
[11] leaves. Book jacket. Stains on the jacket. Fine condition.
Non-traditional haggadah published by the Vaadat HaChagim of the Kibbutz HaArtzi – sharp, vivid mention of the events of the time: Holocaust, immigration, Jewish police guard [notrim], the Arab enemy, Yemenite immigrants, etc.
Along with the traditional texts regarding the exodus from Egypt, there are texts expressing the new settlements’ complete surprise at the events of the Holocaust relative to the renewal of settlement of the Land of Israel years before: “Our shoes are off before the camp to breach the locked gates … until we reached the ground … and we put in a peg to prepare its dust and put an end to the darkness of the exile …” In contrast: “The distress grew and increased and a wave of evil arose … and it is seven-times more threatening … in the scattered of Israel they wanted to destroy them from being a nation as they hadn’t been for generations and Israel is once again a sheep scattered on the fields of destruction, wandering between the borders, degraded in the ghettos, trampled by the boot of tyrants.” It then includes touching text in rhyme, that opens with the words “With the cries of our children in the shadow of the scaffold,” referring to the children killed in the Holocaust: “We did not hear the anger of the world because You chose us from all other nations … the Norwegians, Czech, British … and when our children walk to the scaffold, Jewish children, wise children, they know that their blood is not considered blood – they only call to their mothers, “Don’t look!” … you chose us from all the children to be killed in front of Your Throne … and You gather our blood … because we have no one who gathers us other than You …” Includes a Yizkor text for the Holocaust victims “who were taken out to be killed publicly for no wrong, because they are from the seed of the Jews, who were drowned in the waves of evil in the paths of their wandering and their hearts full with the vision of going up to their homeland.”
These texts are followed by some references to the existential threats in face of the Arab enemy in Palestine and reactions to the Jewish settlement: “This is the fifth Seder night that we sit, when outside the sword of war causes bereavement. And if, as a minor crime, the threat has receded from our threshold, but the conspiracy from within is great … because the enemy plots against our enterprises and evil plots desire to stain our reputation in the world and hit our level of conquest from the back. The plot will not be fulfilled! … Our brethren the soldiers and “notrim” and defense force who are with us now … we send our blessings … and blessed will be our brethren the new immigrants, the few survivors of the terrible inferno and our brethren who have returned from Yemen … if only tens of thousands will follow in your footsteps …”
32 pages. Illustrated jacket title page. Stains on the binding and some leaves. Fine condition.
Stencil print with illustrations. Print on double pages [each pair of leaves is attached at the edges].
Original songs of spring with some practical passages. “Yizkor” for the Holocaust victims and the bitter lot of European Jewry, written in current terms: ” We will remember the remnant of Israel who remained after the Nazi hell, the remnant from the sword, hunger, torture and fair, who are rotted and childless and bereaved … without a home and without a homeland in the lands of the Diaspora, wandering on the paths and in the camps … we will remember the tens of thousands of our brethren who were destroyed by the human animals who transported them in death cars to the inferno, who were imprisoned and tortured and died in the concentrations camps … our brothers … the heroes who sanctified in the ghettos and the forests and the cellars … who preserved the G-dly spark in their hearts and adopted the weak and the pained …” Additionally, includes Yizkor for those who died in battle for the land of Israel, interesting passage with the title, “The dynasty has not yet been detached, it continues on” that describes the history of the members of the “Gush Chevron” and mentions those who died in battle for its capture [“Here is a very long row of bodies. Our faces have changed, death is reflected in our eyes”] and more.
19 leaves. 22 cm. Minimal stains. Illustrated jacket title. Fine condition.
[20] leaves. 26 cm. Illustrated jacket title page. Kibbutz haggada written and illustrated by Yehudit Yellin. Offset press [by Multilit], Tel Aviv, 1950. In contrast to other kibbutz haggadot that integrated text from the Israeli Declaration of Independence at the end of the Haggada, this haggada opens with a quote from the Declaration. It later integrates current texts regarding the Holocaust, Arab riots, immigration, soldiers who fell in battle and the establishment of the State. [“In our generation, millions of our brethren were destroyed from under the heavens of G-d…and the Arabic states stood up to destroy us…and the remnants of our nation stood up and immigrated illegally in ships to the shores of the land…thousands of soliders fell on the battlefield…including our sons and brothers the builders…of the State of Israel…”]. Illustrations throughout the Haggada, some hand painted. The National Library has other Degania Bet haggadot from 1946,1949 and 1956, however this haggada, from 1950, is not in its collection. Very fine condition.
* Non-traditional haggadah published by the holiday committee of the National Kibbutz – HaShomer HaTzair, stencil print with impressive illustrations by Shraga Weil, HaShomer HaTzair Press, 1955. Aside original texts about spring, passages relating to the generation of the revival which arose among the Holocaust survivors, vs. the generation of the destruction: ‘We, too, went out of the house of slavery, the killing valley, and we built an infallible house for the remote of Israel on their land … for this we gather on this night … to tell of the redemption of Israel and the liberation of every person from the hand of his oppressors …’ There are two Yizkor texts which relate to those killed in the Holocaust, one deals with ‘Remember what Amalek did to you’ – the Nazi enemy, and the second refers to the fallen from the ghetto uprisings and the war for the Land, a special passage on peace in the State of Israel: ‘Establish peace upon the remainder of the house of Israel and on the State of Israel and the stranger in it … and for the instigators, quarrelers and warmongers let there be no hope, and may all evildoers perish …’ and more. [18] leaves. Stains. Slight tears in the margins of the jacket. Moderate-fine condition.
* Non-traditional haggadah published by the culture committee of the United Kibbutz written and drawn by Gidon Keich. Undated. Many original texts. Interesting passage: ‘I dreamed a dream, I awoke with a scream’ about a third of the Jewish people who were killed in the Holocaust ‘Very terrifying … my people of whom I dreamed are no longer … youth, elders … also women and children why and for what are they no longer, no longer, my people is no more!’ Passage relating to the survivors: ‘You are remnants of the bayonet and refugees of starvation! Place before your eyes just one, one: salvation, refuge. because not for our belief are we slaughtered, the Jewish people, not for our wickedness are we killed, not for our righteousness are we stabbed, not for the sanctification of Hash-m’s name are we burned. All are after us only because we are hated … we will prepare a country for our children’s children. Not a country for today, which we have already lost, but for tomorrow, for the coming generations.’ There is also a passage about the immigrants from Yemen, a passage called ‘Distress of the Harsh Days’ which refers to the pogroms of the Arab enemy in the Land of Israel and more. [20] leaves. Fine condition.
* Non-traditional haggadah, no indication of location or year. Apparently from the beginning of the 1950s, copy of typewritten print. Aside original songs of spring, there is a passage which refers to the builders of the kibbutz: ‘We too left the house of slavery and the killing valley and we built an infallible home for the remote of Israel on their land …’ Poetry passages by Yehudah HaLevi appear, as well as by poets Natan Alterman, C. N. Bialik, the fourth cup is dedicated ‘to all the work of our hands, the fruit of the land and the produce of man, to a day of labor and cooperative life, to life and blessing! and more. [23] leaves. Book jacket. Stains on the binding and some of the leaves of the haggadah. Moderate-fine condition.
