Non-traditional haggadah – 5 מ.ט. Hebrew Transport Unit, Mid East Forces, Field. 1942. Stencil print with an illustration of the unit’s emblem י.ע.ל. a star of David within a circle on the back binding.
The haggadah was written under difficult field conditions in on the Red Sea coast Egypt, during operations. The haggadah opens with mention of the gates of the Land of Israel being closed to Jews: “We will recall the Jewish ship Suara, whom beaches would not receive, and the one coast, desired, is bolted closed … because the cutter has arisen upon the house of Israel.” Later, there is chilling mention of what happened to the soldiers the previous Passover eve, “As the holiday is sanctified, we remember last year’s ‘seder,’ when we celebrated, and we are collapsing upon rocks in the Tobruk channel under siege, and we felt the siege had not lifted, and the siege would close in all around us” – relating to the siege that the Germans had imposed a year earlier on Tobruk – a port city on the peninsula in northern Libya near the Egyptian border.
A poem appears on leaf 9 about “A young man among the youth of Israel in the Polish exile” – a story about a Jew who left his parental home during the difficult events of the Holocaust and never returned …” On leaf 12, an interesting passage appears about the harsh surroundings in which the unit’s soldiers worked: “Along the length and width of the desert, you meet tribulations … in yellow military vehicles … there are many ways of desolation, and along the length and width of the desert, you will meet them, the drivers – the Jewish soldiers …” and more.
15 leaves. Jacket cover. 16×21 cm. Fine condition.